Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ The plaintiffs in error are met at the outset by a denial of the jurisdiction of this court. The main grounds upon which the supreme court of the state decided the case were that the relators had been guilty of laches, and that the act of 1873 did not authorize contracts to be made by the school board in such wise as to bind the city to levy the tax. ”

“ We discover nothing. If it was true that there was no contract binding the city to levy an extra tax, or that the parties demanding it had lost any rights they might have had by laches, there was no occasion to invoke or enforce any law later than the act of 1873. ”

“ New Orleans, 215 U.S. 170, 175-178, 54 L. ed. 144, 30 Sup. Ct. Rep. 40) ; and that a sufficient amount has not been levied for the years mentioned. The supreme court denied the mandamus (121 La. 762, 46 So. 798) , and this writ of error was brought. ”