Stephen Johnson Field

“ In some of the states the sessions of the legislature are biennial. The interval between the sessions might be increased, and there would be quite as much objection, so far as power is concerned, to the levy of taxes and the appropriations for those periods as for one year.
The tax provided and the appropriation of its proceeds were made for many years by the amendment to the constitution, which expressed at the time the will of the people of the state. Nothing is to be done by the court, and nothing is asked of it, but to require that this will be obeyed. ”

“ With the knowledge that the federal constitution ordains 'that no state shall pass any law impairing the obligations of contracts,' Louisiana proclaims that each provision of the act shall be and is thereby declared to be a contract between her and each and every holder of the bonds issued under the act. ”

“ In Great Britain the king himself is sued in the respectful form of a petition, and he never fails to comply with the judgment of his court.'
'The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right. ”

“ The objections to proceeding against state officers by mandamus or injunction are-First, that it is in effect proceeding against the state itself; and, secondly, that it interferes with the official discretion vested in the officers. It is conceded that neither of these things can be done. A state, without its consent, cannot be sued by an individual, and a court cannot substitute its own discretion for that of executive officers, in matters belonging to the proper jurisdiction of the latter. ”

“ If a state can successfully repudiate her solemn obligations, can obtain the surrender of a large portion of the demands of her creditors upon pledges for the more prompt payment of the remainder, and then set aside as worthless the pledges given, with no possibility of redress to the creditors, either by enforcement of the pledges or by a return of the surrendered demands, what confidence can be reposed anywhere? Public faith will be the synonym of public dishonesty ”

“ The doctrine of stare decisis is deemed of great importance on questions affecting private rights. Much more ought it to be respected and resolutely adhered to in determinations touching the limits of the powers of the federal and state governments, and the authority of each over the contracts of states with individuals. ”

“ Under this act and the constitutional amendment, obligations of the state, amounting to over $12,000,000, were surrendered, and bonds taken for 60 per cent. of their amount, which are held all over the country. The complainants in the injunction suit, and the petitioners for the mandamus, hold for themselves and others, whom they represent, $900,000 of the bonds. The interest on them has not been paid, and yet a portion of the tax levied to meet such interest has been collected and is now in the hands of the treasurer of the state, one of the board of liquidation. ”

“ No interference is sought with the general financial affairs of the state. These she may manage as she chooses. What is sought is an injunction to prevent her officers from diverting to other purposes funds collected for the payment of her creditors, and a direction to them to proceed and carry out her command as to the collection hereafter of the specific tax levied by herself, and the disbursement of its proceeds. ”

“ That writ is the common and appropriate remedy to enforce such payment.
Nor is there any weight in the objection that the officers of the state are called upon to enforce the collection of the tax. They are simply called upon to obey the mandates of the law and constitution of the state; both levy the tax, and designate its amount and the officers to collect it. The statute declares that the tax shall be a 'continual annual tax' until the bonds are paid or redeemed. ”

“ Protection to one goes with protection to the other, and there can be neither prosperity nor progress where this foundation of all just government is unsettled.' Sinking-fund Cases, 99 U.S. 767.
On he argument much weight was placed upon the decision of the supreme court of Louisiana in State v. Burke and Hart v. Burke, and they are cited as authority to the point that no remedy by mandamus exists in the courts of the state to compel her officers to carry out her engagements ”

“ Is it to be contended that the heads of departments are not amenable to the laws of their country? Whatever the practice on particular occasions may be, the theory of this principle will certainly never be maintained. ”

“ By this act the governor, lieutenant governor, auditor, treasurer, secretary of state, and speaker of the house of representatives, and a seventh person to be selected by them, called a fiscal agent, were constituted a board of liquidation, and were authorized to issue bonds of the state, to be called consolidation bonds, payable in 40 years, with interest at 7 per cent., and to exchange them for valid outstanding bonds and auditor's warrants at the rate of 60 cents on the dollar. ”

“ These provisions are sufficiently comprehensive to embrace the present cases, and authorize compulsory process against the defendants to enforce the performance of the duties with which they are charged under the act and constitutional amendment of 1874. ”