Horace Gray

“ The prohibition extending to debts contracted 'in any manner, or for any purpose,' it matters not whether they are in every sense new debts, or are debts contracted for the purpose of paying old ones, so long as the aggregate of all debts, old and new, outstanding at one time, and on which the corporation is liable to be sued, exceeds the constitutional limit. ”

“ It is hardly necessary to add that the payment of some installments of interest cannot have the effect of ratifying bonds issued beyond the constitutional limit; for a ratification can have no greater effect than a previous authority; and debts which neither the district nor its officers had any power to authorize or create cannot be ratified or validated by either of them by the payment of interest or otherwise. ”

“ There could be no better illustration of the reasonableness, if not the necessity, of this construction, in order to secure to municipal corporations the protection intended and declared by the constitution of the state, than is afforded by the facts of the present case. The total valuation of the property of the district, as shown by the last state and county tax-list before it issued the bonds in question, was $131,038, 5 per cent. of which, or $6,551.90, was the limit beyond which it was prohibited by the constitution to contract debts. ”