Henry Billings Brown

“ Defendant, in his supplemental answer, denied that he was ever the holder of the bond, or that he had ever sold the same to the plaintiff; and averred that he had never purchased or acquired any such bond that was not acquired in good faith, in open market, before maturity, in the due and regular course of trade, as commercial paper; and that any law of the state of Louisiana supposed to affect or alter the contract contained in the consolidated bonds of the state, issued under the act of 1874, was repugnant to the constitution of the United States. ”

“ That the constitution of a state is a 'law' of the state, within the meaning of the constitution of the United States, prohibiting states from passing laws impairing the obligation of contracts, is not denied, and the plaintiff in error assumed the position that it is beyond the power of the state to annul or cancel bonds outstanding and presumably in the hands of bona fide purchasers. ”

“ The article in question declares the debt due by the state to the Agricultural and Mechanical fund to be $182,313.03, being the proceeds of the sales of lands and land scrip granted by the United States to the state for the use of a college for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanical arts; directs that said amounts shall be placed to the credit of said fund on the books of the auditor and treasurer as a perpetual loan; that the state shall pay an annual interest of 5 per cent. ”