STATE OF FLORIDA ex rel. JOHN NUVEEN, Relator, v. W. B. GREER, R. E. CANTEY, ARTHUR CORRY, J. D. BAILEY, GEORGE B. GREGORY AND T. E. DICKENSON, MEMBERS OF AND CONSTITUTING THE CITY COUNCIL, AND J. P. SMITH, CLERK OF SAID COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF QUINCY, FLORIDA, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, Respondents.
SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
October 9, 1924
Motion for leave to file petition for rehearing denied December 20, 1924.
88 Fla. 249 | 102 So. 739
Division B.
- The writ of mandamus does not supersede legal remedies, but rather supplies the want of a legal remedy, therefore two prerequisites must exist to warrant a court in granting this extraordinary remedy; First, it must appear that the relator has a clear, legal right to the performance of the particular duty by the respondent; and second, that the law affords no other adequate or specific remedy to secure the performance of the duty which it is sought to coerce.
- A peremptory writ of mandamus will not be issued to compel a tax levy and the payment of bonds that were illegally issued by a municipality and their payment has been duly enjoined by judicial decree; but the holder of the bonds may recover judgment in an action at law, on appropriate common counts, for the money paid for the bonds with appropriate interest, where the issue of the bonds or the borrowing of the money was not expressly forbidden by law and the purpose for which the money was used is not immoral or contrary to public policy, and the money has been received and used in good faith by the municipality for a useful public purpose pursuant to express statutory authority though such statute was subsequently judicially declared to be contrary to implied limitations of organic law.
On Motion for Leave to File Petition for Rehearing.
- Where in adjudicating litigated rights under a statute, it appears beyond all reasonable doubt that the statute is in conflict with some express or implied provision of the Constitution, it is then within the power and duty of the court, in order to give effect to the controlling law, to adjudicate the existence of the conflict between the statute and the organic law, whereupon, the Constitution, by its own superior force and authority, eliminates the statute or the portion thereof that conflicts with organic law, and renders it inoperative ab initio, so that the constitution and not the statute will be applied by the court in determining the litigated rights.
- The courts alone are by the organic law empowered to authoritatively declare or to adjudge a statute to be in accord with or in conflict with the Constitution, so that the statute, if valid, stands, or if contrary to organic law, will by the operation of the Constitution be rendered invalid from its enactment.
- If a legislative enactment conflicts with an existing provision of the Constitution, such enactment does not become a law.
- The intent of a Constitution may be shown by the implications as well as by the words of express provisions.
- Where a legislative enactment authorizing a municipality to issue bonds has never been adjudged to be constitutional, and it is judicially declared to be in conflict with organic law, the Constitution by its dominant force renders the enactment inoperative ab initio, and bonds issued thereunder are void because issued without authority of law.
- Bonds sold to bona fide holders while the statute authorizing the bonds is duly adjudged to be Constitutional, are valid, and the purchaser is protected from a subsequent decision of invalidity by the property rights clause of the organic law, because the bonds being valid when issued are lawful obligations to pay money, therefore property, and
- Where a statute is unconstitutional and has never been adjudged to be valid, bonds issued thereunder are void and a purchaser acquires no lawful property rights therein as bonds that are secured by the Constitution.
- Rules of decision applied in the Federal Courts do not empower a State Court to hold a statute, which has never been held to be constitutional, but is adjudged to conflict with organic law, to be valid as to past transactions but invalid as to the future, so as to render valid bonds previously issued under the invalid statute to bona fide holders for value. The State Courts have no such power under the Constitution, and it cannot be assumed.
- The doctrine of estoppel is a part of the common law that is in force in this State and it should be appropriately applied when the facts in a litigated case justify it. But the principal of estoppel does not operate to confer authority, though it may under some circumstances be invoked to preclude a denial that authority conferred was duly exercised.
- While a municipality may be estopped to deny that the authority to issue bonds given by a valid statute was not properly exercised, in issuing bonds to bona fide holders for full value (County of Jefferson v. B. C. Lewis & Sons, 20 Fla. 980), yet a municipality will not be estopped from denying the validity of a statute under which bonds were issued even to bona fide holders.
- A municipality can exercise only such powers as are conferred by law, and where a legislative enactment purports to confer upon a municipality authority to issue bonds, and such authority is in conflict with express or implied provisions of the Constitution, the enactment confers no authority and bonds issued thereunder are void even in the hands of bona fide holders and the municipality is not estopped to deny the validity of the bonds.
That which is implied in a Constitution is as much a part of it and is as effective as that which is expressed; and grades or degrees of implication, if there be any, do not affect the operation of the constitution to nullify statutes that are duly adjudged to be in conflict with the Constitution. - All persons are held to notice that all statutes are subject to all express and implied applicable provisions of the Constitution, and also that should a conflict between a statute and any express or implied provision of the Constitution be duly adjudged, the Constitution by its own superior force and authority would render the statute invalid from its enactment, and further that the courts have no power to control the effect of the Constitution in nullifying a statute that is adjudged to be in conflict with any of the express or implied provisions of the Constitution.
- Rights acquired under a statute that has not been adjudicated to be constitutional are subject to a subsequent adjudication that the statute is unconstitutional, even though the statute had been generally considered valid.
- Rights acquired under a statute while it is duly adjudged to be constitutional are valid legal rights that are protected by the Constitution, not by judicial decision. But rights acquired under a statute that has not been adjudged valid are subject to be lost if the statute is adjudged invalid; though the statute was considered valid by eminent attorneys, public officers and others.
- The Federal and State organic prohibitions against “impairing the obligation of contracts,” relate to legislative action and not to judicial decisions.
A case of original jurisdiction.
Motion to quash granted.
Wm. W. Flourney, for Relator;
WHITFIELD, P. J.—In mandamus proceedings brought in this Court it is sought to require designated municipal officers of the Town of Quincy to levy a tax to pay interest on, and ultimately to pay the principal of $10,000 of bonds issued in 1909 by the Town of Quincy under express statutory authority to issue such bonds “for the purpose of erecting school houses and maintaining a system of public education in said municipality.” Sec. 22,
On motion to quash the alternative Writ it is in effect urged that it appears thereby that the bonds have been judicially held to be invalid and their payment enjoined and that the allegations of the Writ make it appear that the relator has no legal right to require, or the respondents no legal duty to perform, the official acts commanded by the Writ.
A Writ of Mandamus does not supersede legal remedies, but rather supplies the want of a legal remedy, therefore two prerequisities must exist to warrant a Court in granting this extraordinary remedy; First, it must appear that the relator has a clear, legal right to the performance of the particular duty by the respondent; and, second, that the law affords no other adequate or specific remedy to secure the performance of the duty which it is sought to coerce. Myers v. State ex rel. Thompson, 81 Fla. 32, 87 South. Rep. 80. See also State ex rel. Ellis v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 53 Fla. 650, 44 South. Rep. 213, 13 L. R. A. (N.S.) 320; 12 Ann. Cas. 359.
The bonds in this case issued by the municipality were expressly and specifically authorized by statute. The
Mandamus will not compel the tax levy and payment of the bonds or the interest thereon, for the reason that the bonds being illegally issued, it is not the duty of the municipal officers to pay them. Such payment of the bonds has been enjoined. But the holder of the bonds can recover in an action at law, on appropriate common counts, the money paid for the bonds with interest according to law.
In County Commissioners of Columbia County v. King, 13 Fla. 451, mandamus was utilized because the issue of similar bonds had been held valid by the Supreme Court when the bonds sought to be enforced were issued. In that case, the bonds being valid, there was a legal duty to pay them and mandamus was applied. Here the bonds are invalid and there is no duty to pay the bonds. But there would be a legal duty to pay a judgment duly obtained for the return of the money, with appropriate interest, that was received and used by the municipality.
Issuance of the bonds was not expressly forbidden and penalized and the municipality and the relator, bond holder, were not in pari delicto. Thomas v. City of Richmond, 12 Wall. (U. S.) 349, 20 L. Ed. 453. Neither party was at fault in the premises. The bonds were expressly authorized by statute and were issued as required by the statute. The proceeds were received by the municipality and used for its benefit. The implied limitation that was
In Morton v. City of Nevada, 41 Fed. Rep. 582, cited in
The bonds having been issued contrary to law as judicially determined, it is not the legal duty of the municipal officers to levy taxes to pay the interest on or the principal of the bonds as such, or to pay the indebtedness according to the tenor of the bonds; and correlatively, the bonds being illegal, the relator has no legal right to have them paid by the process of mandamus. Payment of a judgment duly obtained for the money received by the municipality would be a legal duty of the municipal officers,, which duty the relator could enforce by mandamus or other appropriate proceedings in due course of law.
In Pine Grove Township v. Talcott, 19 Wall. (U.S.) 666, 22 L. Ed. 227, the action was in assumpsit to recover “the amount of bonds” that had been held to be invalid by the State Court but which were in effect held to be valid by the United States Supreme Court.
The motion to quash the alternative writ is granted.
WEST AND TERRELL, J. J., concur.
TAYLOR, C. J., AND BROWNE, J., concur in the opinion.
ELLIS, J., concurs in the conclusion.
On Motion for Leave to File Petition for Rehearing
WHITFIELD, P. J.—The 30 days allowed by Rule 25 of the Supreme Court Rules for filing applications for rehearing having expired, a motion is made herein by counsel for the relator for leave to file an accompanying petition for rehearing.
The suggestion is that certain contentions made upon authorities citied were overlooked by the court in rendering the opinion herein. All the contentions made were carefully considered.
In this case the statutory provision under which the bonds were issued, was held to be invalid because it provided for a bond issue by the city as a municipality “for the purpose of erecting school houses and maintaining a system of public education in said municipality,” when
Where in adjudicating litigated rights under a statute, it appears beyond all reasonable doubt that the statute is in conflict with some express or implied provision of the constitution, it is then within the power and duty of the court, in order to give effect to the controlling law, to adjudicate the existence of the conflict between the statute and the organic law, whereupon the constitution, by its own superior force and authority, eliminates the statute or the portion thereof that conflicts with organic law, and renders it inoperative ab initio, so that the constitution and not the statute will be applied by the court in determining the litigated rights. The courts alone are by the organic law empowered to authoritatively declare or to adjudge a statute to be in accord with or in conflict with the constitution, so that the statute, if valid, stands, or if contrary to organic law, will by the operation of the
If a legislature enactment conflicts with an existing provision of the constitution, such enactment does not become a law. The intent of a constitution may be shown by the implications as well as by the words of express provisions.
Where bonds are issued pursuant to a valid statute, mere irregularities in issuing the bonds may not affect. their validity. County of Jefferson v. B. C. Lewis & Sons, 20 Fla. 980. But when a statute violates the constitution in authorizing bonds to be issued, the statute being inoperative as authority for their issue, the bonds are void (State ex rel. Bours v. L‘Engle, 40 Fla. 392, 24 South. Rep. 539; Holland v. State, 15 Fla. 455); and the courts may enjoin their issue (Brown v. City of Lakeland, 61 Fla. 508, 54 South. Rep. 716), or their payment. Munroe v. Reeves, 71 Fla. 612, 71 South. Rep. 922.
Where a legislative enactment authorizing a municipal-ity to issue bonds has never been adjudged to be constitutional, and it is judicially declared to be in conflict with organic law, the constitution by its dominant force renders the enactment inoperative ab initio, and bonds
Bonds sold to bona fide holders while the statute authorizing the bonds is duly adjudged to be constitutional, are valid, and the purchaser is protected from a subsequent decision of invalidity by the property rights clauses of the organic law, because the bonds being valid when issued are lawful obligations to pay money, therefore property, and the constitution secures to the purchaser the “inalienable right of acquiring, possessing and protecting property,” and requires the courts to afford a remedy by due course of law for any injury done to property rights. But where a statute is unconstitutional and has never been adjudged to be valid, bonds issued thereunder are void and a purchaser acquires no lawful property rights therein as bonds that are secured by the constitution. See 5 L. R. A. (N. S.) 860.
Where actions upon municipal bonds are brought in the Federal courts, and the highest court of the State has held that the statute authorizing the bonds does or does not conflict with the constitution of the State, the Federal court will follow the State decisions, if they do not conflict with controlling Federal law. But where the State decisions are in conflict or in confusion as to the validity of the statute under the State constitution or where the decisions of the State courts as to the validity of the statute are predicated upon Federal law or upon the principles of general jurisprudence, or where the State court has overruled its prior decisions as to the validity of a statute, and great injustice results therefrom, the Federal courts will exercise their own judgment in determining the validity of the statute under which the bonds in controversy were issued. See
The doctrine of estoppel is a part of the common law that is in force in this State and it should be appropriately applied when the facts in a litigated case justify it. But the principle of estoppel does not operate to confer authority, though it may under some circumstances be invoked to preclude a denial that authority conferred was duly exercised. See
While a municipality may be estopped to deny that the authority to issue bonds given by a valid statute was not properly exercised, in issuing bonds to bona fide holders for full value (County of Jefferson v. B. C. Lewis & Sons, 20 Fla. 980), yet a municipality will not be estopped from denying the validity of a statute under which bonds were issued even to bona fide holders. See L. R. A. 1915A 916 Notes.
A municipality can exercise only such powers as are conferred by law, and where a Legislative enactment purports to confer upon a municipality authority to issue bonds, and such authority is in conflict with express or implied provisions of the Constitution, the enactment confers no authority and bonds issued thereunder are void even in the hands of bona fide holders and the municipality is not estopped to deny the validity of the bonds.
It is conceded that if the statutory provision authorizing the bonds to be issued by the city conflicts with an express
The Constitution confers judicial power upon the courts to afford remedies “by due course of law” for injuries done to personal and property rights; and the courts have no authority to administer justice except “by due course of law;” therefore when a statutory provision under which municipal bonds were issued, is duly adjudged by the courts to be in conflict with the Constitution, upon which adjudication the Constitution by its own superior force and authority renders the statutory provision inoperative from its enactment, thereby establishing the invalidity of the bonds, “due course of law” does not authorize or permit the courts to adjudge that the statutory provision authorizing the bonds to be issued is not invalid as to past transactions when the Constitution itself renders the enactment void ab initio.
Rights acquired under a statute that has not been adjudicated to be constitutional are subject to a subsequent adjudication that the statute is unconstitutional, even though the statute had been generally considered valid. This is so because under the Constitution the courts alone have the power to authoritatively determine the validity of a statute.
Rights acquired under a statute while it is duly adjudged to be constitutional are valid legal rights that are protected by the Constitution, not by judicial decision. But rights acquired under a statute that has not been adjudged valid are subject to be lost if the statute is adjudged invalid; though the statute was considered valid by eminent attorneys, public officers and others.
This is not a case where a statute has been judicially held to be valid, and after rights have been acquired under it while it was held to be valid, the former opinion is overruled and the statute is held to be unconstitutional. In such a case the later decision renders the statute invalid from its passage; but not being a “law” the decision does not “impair the obligation of contracts,” and where it does not give effect to a “law impairing the obligation of contracts” (Detroit United Ry. v. City of Detroit, 242 U. S. 238, 37 Sup. Ct. Rep. 87; 193 U. S. 635), it does not violate the contract clause of the Federal Constitution, nor the due process clause of the Federal Constitution. Tidal Oil Co. v. Flanagan, 263 U. S. 444, 44 Sup. Ct. Rep. 197;
Nor is this a case where bonds were issued under a valid statute, and the municipality is, by recitals contained in the bonds (Gunnison County Commr‘s. v. E. H. Rollins & Sons, 173 U. S. 225, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 390; City of Evansville v. Dennett, 161 U. S. 434, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 613), or in the record of the proceedings (County of Jefferson v. B. C. Lewis & Sons, 20 Fla. 980) estopped to deny that its officers complied with the statute in issuing the bonds. See
The decisions in the cases cited by counsel do not sustain his contention.
In Township of Pine Grove v. Talcott, 19 Wall. (U. S.) 666, the United States Supreme Court affirmed not the opinion, but the judgment of the United States Circuit Court in Federal Cases No. 13735, 1 Flip. 120, the Supreme Court holding that notwithstanding a contrary holding by the State Court, (People v. Salem, 20 Mich. 452,) the statute of the State there involved authorizing the issue of the bonds there in controversy, was not in conflict with the Constitution of the State, and that in the Federal forum the statute and the bonds issued thereunder would be held to be valid under “principles of general jurisprudence.” If the statute was ultimately held to be valid, it was valid ab initio. Christopher v. Mungen, 61 Fla. 513, 55 South. Rep. 273;
The holding in the Talcott case is not that the implied provision or principle of organic law, with which the statute conflicted, as held by the State decisions, could not be readily perceived; but that the implication could not fairly be deduced from any express provision of the State Constitution, and that the decision of the State Court was contrary to the principles of general jurisprudence as applied in the Federal Court and in other State Courts. The decision of the Federal Court was not that the statute was
In County Commissioners of Columbia County v. King, 13 Fla. 451, the statute involved had previously been held to be valid (Cotten v. County Commissioners of Leon County, 6 Fla. 610), and such holding was supported “by the almost unanimous concurrence of the courts of last resort in all the States of the Union,” therefore the court declined “to enter into a discussion of the” validity of the statute (County Commissioners of Columbia County v. King, supra 462), and held that the bonds “having.been issued under the sanction of the highest judicial authority of the State,” even if the court were then to declare to be unconstitutional the Act under which the bonds were issued, such decision “would not affect the bonds hereto-
In Gelpcke v. City of Dubuque, 1 Wall. (U. S.) 175, the Supreme Court of the United States held that when municipal bonds are issued under a State statute held to be valid, a subsequent decision of the State court that the statute is invalid, will not be followed by the Federal court in suits involving bonds issued previous to the holding by the State court that the statute is invalid. The rule there approved is: “If a contract, when made, was valid by the laws of the State as then expounded by all departments
The above quoted rule has been modified in so far as it relates to judicial decisions, since the organic provision as to impairing the obligation of contracts is directed at legislative, not judicial, action. See
In this case the statute was never held to be valid. It was never administered as law in the courts of the State, and it was held invalid when first challenged. The facts that the validity of the statute was assumed by the legislature in enacting it and by the municipal officers in issuing the bonds under the statute and that eminent counsel considered the statute valid, do not affect the result that flows from a judicial adjudication that the statute is invalid. When the statute in this case was held to be invalid, it was void ab inito and bonds issued under it are void even though in the hands of bona fide holders for full value. The purchaser took the bonds subject to the contingency that the statute might be duly adjudicated to be invalid, its validity not having been already adjudicated; and if the statute be held invalid the bonds are necessarily void for want of authority to issue them, even though they are in the hands of bona fide purchasers for value, and no principle of estoppel by recitals in the bonds or otherwise can make the municipality liable in a suit brought on the bonds.
In Hoffman v. City of Quincy, 4 Wall. (U. S.) 535, a subsequent statute attempted to impair contract rights se-
In Board of Commissioners of the County of Knox v. Aspinwall, 21 How. (U. S.) 539, the question was not the validity of the statute, but whether the statute had been complied with by the administrative officers in issuing the bonds held by bona fide purchasers. See also Supervisors v. Schenk, 5 Wall. (U. S.) 772; City of San Antonio v. Mehaffy, 96 U. S. 312; County of Mercer v. Hackett, 1 Wall. (U. S.) 83; Town of Venice v. Murdock, 92 U. S. 494; City of Evansville v. Dennett, 161 U. S. 434, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 613.
The legislature in view of organic limitations upon the subject, being without power to authorize the bond issue, the Act,
Motion denied.
WEST AND TERRELL, J. J., concur.
TAYLOR, C. J., AND BROWNE, J., concur in the opinion.
ELLIS, J., not participating.