Morrison Waite

“ The right of the State to repeal the charter of Memphis cannot be questioned. Municipal corporations are mere instrumentalities of the State for the more convenient administration of local government. Their powers are such as the legislature may confer, and these may be enlarged, abridged, or entirely withdrawn at its pleasure. ”

“ We answer, it is the private property of the corporation, that is, such as it held in its own right for profit or as a source of revenue, not charged with any public trust or use, and funds in its possession unappropriated to any specific purpose. In this respect the position of the extinct corporation is not dissimilar to that of a deceased individual; it is only such property as is possessed, freed from any trust, general or special, which can go in liquidation of debts. ”

“ The courts cannot continue in force the taxes levied, nor levy new taxes for the payment of the debts of the corporation. The levying of taxes is not a judicial act. It has no elements of one. It is a high act of sovereignty, to be performed only by the legislature upon considerations of policy, necessity, and the public welfare. ”

“ Debts are obligations for the payment of money founded upon contract, express or implied. Taxes are imposts levied for the support of the government, or for some special purpose authorized by it. The consent of the tax-payer is not necessary to their enforcement. They operate in invitum. Nor is their nature affected by the fact that in some States-and we believe in Tennessee-an action of debt may be instituted for their recovery. ”

“ In the third place, we say that taxes previously levied, but not collected on the dissolution of the corporation, do not constitute its property; and in the absence of statutory authority they cannot be subsequently collected by a court of equity through officers of its own appointment, and applied to the payment of the creditors of the corporation. Taxes are not debts. ”

“ It has unhesitatingly brushed aside all legislation of the State impairing their obligation. When a tax has been authorized by law to meet them, it has compelled the officers of assessment to proceed and levy the tax, and the officers of collection to proceed and collect it, and apply the proceeds. ”

“ He has had no opportunity to establish a defence to the debt itself, or, if the judgment is valid, to show that his property is not liable to its payment. It is well settled that legislaive exemptions from taxation are valid, that such exemptions may be perpetual in their duration, and that they are, in some cases, beyond legislative interference. The proceeding supposed would violate the fundamental principle contained in chapter twenty-ninth of Magna Charta, and embodied in the Constitution of the United States, that no man shall be deprived of his property without due process of law ”

“ If the officers who are charged with the duty of laying or collecting taxes refuse to perform their functions, the court, in a clear case of failure, and at the instance of a party directly interested, can, by the prerogative writ of mandamus, compel them to perform acts which are ministerial, as distinguished from those which are judicial or discretionary. ”

“ Levied only by authority of the legislature, they can be altered, postponed, or released at its pleasure. A repeal of the law, under which a tax is levied, at any time before the tax is collected, generally puts an end to the tax, unless provision for its continuance is made in the repealing act, though the tax may be revived and enforced by subsequent legislation. ”

“ The act prohibited the commissioners from issuing any bonds, notes, scrip, or other evidences of indebtedness, or from contracting for work, material, or services in excess of the amount levied for them for that year; and declared that no property, real or personal, held by them for public use should ever be subject to execution, attachment, or seizure under any legal process for any debt created by them; that all taxes due, or moneys in the hands of the county trustee, or on deposit, should be exempt from seizure under attachment, execution, garnishment, or other legal process. ”

“ That upon the application of any person or persons, who are the holders and owners of any past-due and unpaid bonds, coupons, or other indebtedness of said municipal corporations, not less in amount than one hundred thousand dollars, it shall be the duty of the Chancery Court to appoint a receiver for said municipal corporations, who, as the officer of the court, and not otherwise, shall, under the order and instruction of the court, act for such municipal corporations. ”

“ Property held for public uses, such as public buildings, streets, squares, parks, promenades, wharves, landing-places, fire-engines, hose and hose-carriages, engine-houses, engineering instruments, and generally everything held for governmental purposes, cannot be subjected to the payment of the debts of the city. ”

“ They are in no proper sense of the term assets of the corporation. They are only the means provided for obtaining funds to support its government and pay its debts, and disappear as such means with the revocation of the charter, except as the legislature may otherwise provide. When they are collected, the moneys in the hands of the collecting officer may be controlled by the process of the courts, and applied by their direction to the uses for which the taxes were levied ”

“ City of Watertown, from which we have already quoted, the power asserted by the decree was claimed by counsel, but was rejected by the court. 'Assume,' said the court, 'that the plaintiff is entitled to the payment of his judgment, and that the defendant neglects its duty in refusing to raise the amount by taxation, it does not follow that this court may order the amount to be made from the private estate of one of its citizens. This summary proceeding would involve a violation of the rights of the latter. He has never been heard in court. ”

“ He shall distinguish, in making such payments, the respective sources from which the moneys paid in are derived, showing what is collected from taxes for general purposes, and what for taxes for special purposes, designating the particular or special purpose, so that the same may be kept separate in the State treasury, in order that the treasurer may pay the same according to any lien, priority, or equity, if any, which may be declared by the Chancery Court touching any of said funds, in favor of any creditor or class of creditors. ”

“ The act also declared that all the property previously used by the corporations for purposes of government was transferred to the custody and control of the board of commissioners of the taxing districts, to remain public property for the uses to which it had previously been applied, and that all indebtedness for taxes or otherwise, whether in litigation or not, due to the extinct municipalities, should vest in and become the property of the State, to be disposed of for the settlement of their debts as should thereafter be provided by law. ”

“ In this respect its position is not materially different from that of a private individual, whose property must, upon his decease, go to the satisfaction of his debts before those who succeed to his rights can share in its distribution. ”

“ Provided, however, that in every case where a bond of any kind or character, whether it be a compromise bond or other kind of bond, is received or taken up before maturity, all immatured interest coupons shall be surrendered with it, and no bond of any kind shall in any case be received before maturity which has the interest coupons detached, and nothing shall be allowed such immature coupons. ”

“ That, for the purpose of collecting the revenue embraced in the provisions of this act, the receiver and back-tax collector is empowered and authorized to file a general creditors' bill in the name of the State in behalf of all creditors against all the delinquent tax-payers who owed taxes to the extinct corporation at the time of the repeal or surrender of its charter, which bill shall be filed in the Chancery Court of the county in which such extinct corporation was situated. ”

“ There is no contract between the State and the public that the charter of a city shall not be at all times subject to legislative control. All persons who deal with such bodies are conclusively presumed to act upon knowledge of the power of the legislature. There is no such thing as a vested right held by any individual in the grant of legislative power to them. United States v. Railroad Co., Commissioners v. Lucas, Treasurer, 93 U.S. 108; People v. ”

“ Publication for non-residents shall embrace in the same publication, if practicable, all non-resident defendants,-the object being to make one proceeding embrace the whole taxes of such extinct corporation. All pending suits are to be received in the name of the State, and consolidated with the general proceedings herein provided for, and, when so consolidated, to form part of said general proceeding. ”

“ It is a power that has not been extended to the judiciary. Especially is it beyond the power of the Federal judiciary to assume the place of a State in the exercise of this authority at once so delicate and so important.' 19 Wall. 107, 116.
In the case of Heine v. The Levee Commissioners of New Orleans, the question again arose whether it was competent for the Circuit Court of the United States to direct its officers to levy and collect a tax to pay the claims of the plaintiffs, who were holders of bonds issued by the commissioners ”

“ That all bonds and matured coupons and judgments, and all paving scrip certificates issued by said corporation, and all receipts for money paid by tax-payers to paving contractors for making Nicholson and stone pavement, &c., by virtue of any contracts with said corporation, may be funded at such a rate not exceeding the maximum above mentioned, and into such bonds, bearing not exceeding six per cent per annum interest, as may be agreed on between the parties, the holder, and said commission. ”