Joseph P. Bradley

“ Linn County Court (44 Mo. 510) , 'It has no power by itself to make independent contracts, or to become bound in its separate capacity. The law has not invested it with that power. It forms an integral part of the county, and the county to a certain extent controls and acts for it.' That the framers of the constitution intended to require the assent of two-thirds of all the qualified voters of a 'county, city, or town,' as a prerequisite to a subscription to a railroad or other company, and did not intend the same thing with regard to townships, seems almost absurd. ”

“ The subscription was made under a law of Missouri, called the 'Township Aid Act,' passed in 1868; by which, on the application of twenty-five tax-payers and residents of any township, for election purposes, in any county, the County Court may order an election to be held in such township to determine whether and on what terms a subscription to any railroad to be built in or near the township shall be made ”

“ It may transfer the vested rights of one railroad company to another, upon a consolidation being effected; but it does not continue in existence powers to subscribe for stock given by one person to another, which, by the general law, are extinguished by such a change. ”