Hannibal v. Marion County
Supreme Court of Missouri
Error to Marion Circuit Court. I. The county had no power, in the absence of an express legislative enactment, to subscribe for stock in the railroad company and issue its notes or bonds therefor. A county is a territorial division, such as a senatorial district for the election of a State senator — a congressional district — a judicial circuit. It is not a corporation or artificial person, hence has not the general powers of a corporation. (15 Johns. 382 ; N. York Eire Ins.
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Error to Marion Circuit Court. I. The county had no power, in the absence of an express legislative enactment, to subscribe for stock in the railroad company and issue its notes or bonds therefor. A county is a territorial division, such as a senatorial district for the election of a State senator — a congressional district — a judicial circuit. It is not a corporation or artificial person, hence has not the general powers of a corporation. (15 Johns. 382 ; N. York Eire Ins. Co. v. Ely, 2 Cow. 699 ; Ang. & Ames, § 2 & 256.) The 4th sec. of plaintiff’s charter exhausts its force in reenacting…
1Opinion of the CourtWagner, Judge
This is a suit brought by the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company against Marion County, on a warrant for sixty dollars, being the amount of one year’s interest which had accrued on a note given by said county to said company in payment of subscription on stock.
By section four of said company’s charter, which was approved February 16, 1847, it is enacted: “ The said company shall have power to view, lay out, and construct a railroad from St. Joseph in Buchanan county, to Palmyra in Marion county, and thence to Hannibal in said county of Marion, and shall in all things be subjected to the…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Hodgson v. DexterSupreme Court of the United States · 1803
- Tutt ex rel. Hardy v. HobbsSupreme Court of Missouri · 1853
3Cited by28 opinions
- Steines v. Franklin CountySupreme Court of Missouri · 1871
- Peterson v. Kansas CitySupreme Court of Missouri · 1930
- Smith v. County of ClarkSupreme Court of Missouri · 1873
- County of Scotland v. ThomasSupreme Court of the United States · 1877
- Simpson v. Stoddard CountySupreme Court of Missouri · 1903
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