Noah Haynes Swayne

“ To pay this balance the mayor and aldermen are commanded to cause the real and personal property of the city to be assessed for the year 1868 at its real cash value, and upon such valuation to levy over and above the five mills on the dollar for ordinary city purposes, a specific tax sufficient to pay the balance of the interest on the railway bond debt, amounting to $22,390 75/100; and a specific tax of one mill on the dollar, to be applied in payment of the principal of the bonds embraced in the judgment ”

“ The learned counsel for the plaintiffs in error have referred to a statute of Iowa as regulating the practice in this class of cases. It is proper to remark that the provisions of that statute not having been adopted by a rule of the Circuit Court for that district, could have no effect in this proceeding. ”

“ It appears by the record that, on the 6th of November, 1867, the relator procured to be issued against the plaintiffs in error an alternative writ of mandamus, which was substantially as follows:
It recites that the relator recovered a judgment in that court against the city of Davenport, on the 15th of May, 1867, for the sum of $63,509 68/100, and costs; that the city is a municipal corporation, and that its affairs are managed by a mayor and aldermen, who perform all the duties of the corporation in relation to levying and collecting taxes, and paying its debts ”