Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/125/39/case.html
Timestamp: 2016-07-28 01:01:58
Document Index: 417467143

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 765', 'art. 2', '§ 10', 'art. 1', '§ 1', '§ 25', '§ 2', '§ 709']

Kreiger v. Shelby R. Co. :: 125 U.S. 39 (1888) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
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Kreiger v. Shelby R. Co. 125 U.S. 39 (1888)
U.S. Supreme CourtKreiger v. Shelby R. Co., 125 U.S. 39 (1888)Kreiger v. Shelby Railroad CompanyNos. 948-950Submitted December 12, 1881Decided March 19, 1888125 U.S. 39ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS
Statutes of a state authorized a district in a county, defined by exact boundaries, to determine by the vote of its inhabitants to subscribe for stock Page 125 U. S. 40 in a railroad company, and required bonds to be executed in its name by the county judge to the railroad company for the amount of stock so subscribed for. By later statutes, it was enacted that this district should be entitled to vote on the amount of its stock, and in so doing be represented by certain magistrates of the county, and that it should have a certain corporate name, and by that name might sue and be sued. The highest court of the state held that by the earlier statutes, the district was made a corporation, and entitled to vote and to receive dividends on its stock in the railroad company, and that the later statutes made no change in the contract created by the earlier statutes. Held that this Court had no jurisdiction on writ of error.
By an act of the Legislature of Kentucky of March 15, 1851, the Shelby Railroad Company was incorporated; its capital stock was fixed at $600,000, in shares of $50 each, to be subscribed for by any individual or corporation; at any meeting of the stockholders, each stockholder was to be "allowed one vote for every share owned by him, her, or it;" on every share subscribed, one dollar was to be paid at the time of the subscription, and the residue in installments and at times to be fixed by the president and directors; all payments made on the stock were to bear interest until a dividend made, certificates of stock were to be issued to the persons entitled in addition to the shares subscribed or held by them, and no certificates of stock were to be issued until they were paid for; the County Court of Shelby County was empowered to subscribe for stock in behalf of the county, its subscription was to be made payable at such times and places and upon such terms as might be agreed on between it and the Page 125 U. S. 41 commissioners or directors taking its subscription, and, for the purpose of paying that subscription, it was authorized to levy and collect a tax on all the property subject to taxation within the county, and every person paying any part of the tax was to be entitled to his pro rata share of stock, and to receive a certificate thereof on paying, or producing transfers from those who had paid, for a full, half, or quarter share.
"SEC. 6. Where any such subscription to the capital stock of said company shall have been ordered and the conditions aforesaid complied with, bonds shall be executed in the name of and under the seal of or scroll of said portion of Shelby County, or said counties, as the case may be, in such form and in such amounts, the entire amount of said bonds not to exceed the sum subscribed, and payable at such places, and bearing interest payable semiannually at such rates, not exceeding eight percentum per annum, as the president and directors may elect. The bonds shall be due and payable twenty years from their date, with the privilege reserved to the said counties to pay them after three years from date. The bonds shall be signed by the judge of the county court Page 125 U. S. 42 and countersigned by the county clerk. When so executed, said bonds shall be delivered to the president and directors of said company in payment of said subscription, and they may be by them negotiated, hypothecated, or sold upon such terms and at such times as may by said president and directors be deemed expedient, and may be transferred by endorsement."
"SEC. 3. When any county, or part of a county, city, town, or precinct shall have delivered its bonds in payment for stock subscribed, it shall be entitled to representation, and to vote the amount of such stock in any meeting of the stockholders of said company. The stock owned by a county shall be represented by the county judge and all the justices of the peace of the county; stock owned by a part of a county, or a precinct, by the county judge and by the justices of the peace residing in the district or precinct taxed; stock owned by a city or town, by its general council or board of trustees; and Page 125 U. S. 43 these several bodies may designate a suitable person or persons as their proxies to represent them in any meeting of the stockholders of said company. It shall be the duty of the county judge to call together at the county seat the justices entitled to vote, and to cause their action to be spread upon the records of the county court."
Another act, passed February 26, 1873, enacted that "the part of Shelby County embraced in the boundary given" in the act of 1869 should "have the corporate name of the Shelby Railroad District of Shelby County," and by that name might sue and be sued. In accordance with the provisions of the act of 1869, that portion of Shelby County therein defined forthwith subscribed $300,000 to the stock of the railroad company, and its bonds for that amount were issued and delivered to the railroad company on June 1, 1869, and were sold by the company and the proceeds applied to the construction of its road, and a tax was annually levied and collected, amounting in all to more than $300,000, which was applied to the payment of interest becoming due on the bonds, and of part of the principal, leaving such bonds, or others given in renewal thereof, now remaining unpaid to the amount of $248,000, and the district holds certificates of stock to that amount, and always voted upon its stock until these suits were brought. Certificates of stock to a large amount have also been issued to taxpayers and are held by Kreiger and others. The first dividend on the stock was declared in December, 1881, and was paid to all the stockholders, including the district. The Court of Appeals of Kentucky, affirming the judgments of a lower court of the state, adjudged that the Shelby Railroad District of Shelby County was a stockholder in the Shelby Railroad Company to the extent of the principal of the bonds of the district, issued and delivered to the railroad company, and still outstanding and unpaid, and was entitled to vote and to receive dividends accordingly. Kreiger and others sued out these writs of error, which the railroad company and the district now moved to dismiss for want of jurisdiction. Page 125 U. S. 44
The statutes of Kentucky require written opinions to be delivered by the Court of Appeals in all cases, and to be recorded by its clerk. Code Civil Proc. § 765; Gen.Stat. c. 28, art. 2, § 10; c. 16, art. 1, § 1. By the settled course of decision under the existing Judiciary Acts of the United States, this Court may examine opinions so delivered and recorded to ascertain the ground of the judgment of the state court. Murdock v. Memphis, 20 Wall. 590, 87 U. S. 633; McManus v. O'Sullivan, 91 U. S. 578; Gross v. United States Mortgage Co., 108 U. S. 481, 108 U. S. 487; Adams County v. Burlington & Missouri Railroad, 112 U. S. 123, 112 U. S. 129; Detroit Railway v. Guthard, 114 U. S. 133, 114 U. S. 137; Jacks v. Helena, 115 U. S. 288; Philadelphia Fire Association v. New York, 119 U. S. 110. The decision in Fisher v. Cockerell, 5 Pet. 248, 30 U. S. 255, cited by one of the defendants in error, in which, on a writ of error to the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, this Court held that the Page 125 U. S. 45 opinion of that court could not be taken into consideration, was decided under the Judiciary Act of 1789, which contained a provision, omitted in the later acts, expressly requiring the error assigned as a ground of reversal to appear on the face of the record. Acts of September 25, 1789, c. 20, § 25, 1 Stat. 86; February 5, 1867, c. 28, § 2, 14 Stat. 386; Rev.Stat. § 709.
The opinion delivered on overruling the petition for a rehearing reaffirms the positions of the former opinion, and declares Page 125 U. S. 46 that while the provisions of the act of 1869 amending the original act of incorporation were indefinite as to the manner in which stock held by the district should be voted on, the acts of 1870 and 1873 did no more than make that certain which was before uncertain or had been omitted from the original act of incorporation by giving the district a distinct name and authorizing it to be represented by the county judge and justices of the county and providing a remedy by which the rights of the corporation might be asserted and its liabilities enforced, but that there had been no change of contract.
It thus appears that the state court, upon full consideration, decided that the acts of 1870 and 1873 conferred no new rights, but only defined more clearly the manner in which the rights conferred by the earlier statutes should be exercised, and that it based its judgments entirely upon the construction and effect of the earlier statutes and upon grounds which would have been equally controlling if the later acts had not been passed. The necessary conclusion is that this Court has no jurisdiction to review those judgments. Bank of West Tennessee v. Citizens' Bank of Louisiana, 13 Wall. 432; 81 U. S. 14 Wall. 9; Palmer v. Marston, 14 Wall. 10; Kennebec Railroad v. Portland Railroad, 14 Wall. 23; Stevenson v. Williams, 19 Wall. 572; New Orleans Waterworks v. Louisiana Sugar Refining Co., ante, 125 U. S. 18.