North Carolina v. Temple

Supreme Court of the United States

Mar 3, 1890

392

Versions:134 U.S. 22

10 S. Ct. 509

33 L. Ed. 849

1890 U.S. LEXIS 1944

Dissenting Opinion

Me. Justice HaelaN

dissenting:

'■ I dissent from so much of the judgment in this case as holds that this suit cannot be ■ maintained against the. auditor of the State-of 'North Carolina.- The legislation Of which complaint- is here made impaired the obligation of the .State’s contract, and was therefore unconstitutional and void. It did not, in law,- affect the existence or operation of the previous statutes out of which the contract in' question arose. So that the court was at liberty to compel the officer of the State to perform the duties which the statutes, constituting the' contract, imposed upon him. A suit against him for such a purpose is not, in my judgment, one against the State. It is' a suit to compel the performance, of ministerial duties, from the performance of which the state’s officer was not, and could not be, relieved by unconstitutional and void legislative enactments.

Lead Opinion

Me. Justige Beadley,

after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

We think it perfectly clear that the suit against the auditor in this case was virtually a suit against the State of North Carolina. In this regard it comes within the principle of the cases of Louisiana v. Jumel, 107 U. S. 711; Cunningham v. Macon & Brunswick Railroad Co., 109 U. S. 446; Hagood v. Southern, 117 U. S. 52; and In re Ayers, 123 U. S. 443. We do not think it necessary to consider that question anew. ■

The other point, the suability of the State, is settled by the decision just rendered in Hans v. The State of Louisiana, ante, 1.

To the question on which the judges of the Circuit Court were opposed in opinion, our answer is in the negative, namely, that the suit could not be maintained' in the Circuit Court against the State of North Carolina by the plaintiff, a citizen thereof.

The decree of the Circuit Court is

Reversed and the cause rema/nded with instructions to dis- " miss 'the Mil of corrvplaAnt.