Peerless Construction Co. v. Bass

The Construction Company brings this suit to enforce by mandamus the payment to it, by the State Highway Commissioner, of an unliquidated claim for compensation for work alleged to have been performed in highway construction in connection with, but in addition to, a certain contract with the Commissioner, acting for the State. The Chancellor sustained a demurrer raising, in substance, the twofold defense, first, that the suit was, in effect, against the State, and second, that no case for mandamus was presented.

Appealing, and apparently conceding the general rule that the state may not be…