sheriff and collector of the county, the auditor | said State, and the coupons hereto attached, as
of public accounts of the State, and the state they severally become due.
treasurer, and on proof of due publication as
to the defendants named in the bill as holders
of the bonds, and as to the unknown holders
of them, and there having been no appearance
for any defendant, the cause was heard on the
bill taken as confessed, and a decree made ad-
judging the invalidity of the bonds and grant-
ing the relief asked for in the bill.

On the 27th of October, 1881, the German Savings Bank of Davenport, Iowa, as the owner of nine of the bonds of the county, of $1,000 each (and of eighteen others of the bonds, of $1,000 each, not involved in the present appeal), was, on a motion made to the state court permitted to defend the suit and to answer the bill. It filed its answer in that court, setting up that it had purchased the bonds in good faith, for a valuable consideration, and without notice of any defense or objection to the validity of any of them, before they were due, and before any default had been made in the payment of any interest on any of them, and before the suit was brought; and that the bonds were valid. At the same time, it filed a petition and a bond for the removal of the cause into the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Illinois. A copy of the record from the state [529] court was filed in the circuit court on the 21st of December, 1881, and the cause afterwards proceeded therein.

A replication was filed to the answer of the Savings Bank, various holders of the bonds were made defendants and answered, and some of them filed cross bills; proofs were, aken, and it was stipulated between the parties that each defendant was, at the commencement of the suit, a bona fide holder of the bonds specified in the respective answers, and that they purchased the same for value, without any notice of defense.

The nine bonds held by the Savings Bank,
involved in the present appeal, are all alike ex-
cept as to the number; and each one has upon
it a certificate of the auditor of public accounts
of the State of Illinois, the bond and the cer-
tificate being in the form following:

"UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, STATE OF
ILLINOIS:

"Franklin County, eight per cent railroad bond.
"Know all men by these presents, That the
County of Franklin, in the State of Illinois,
acknowledges itself to be indebted to the Belle-
ville and Eldorado Railroad Company, or
bearer, in the sum of one thousand dollars,
which sum the said county, for value received,
promises to pay said company, or bearer, in the
City and State of New York, twenty years after
date (payable at any time after five years, and
before this bond becomes due, at the option of
said County of Franklin), with interest thereon
from and after the fifteenth day of November,
A. D. 1877, at the rate of eight per cent per
annum, payable semi-annually on the first days
of January and July of each year, on the pres-
entation and surrender, at the place in the said
City of New York where the treasurer of the
State of Illinois pays the interest and debt of

This bond is one of a series of fifty of like tenor, for the sum of one thousand dollars each, numbered from one to fifty, inclusive, issued under the provisions of an Act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois entitled 'An Act to Authorize Cities and Counties to Subscribe Stock to Railroads,' approved November 6th, A. D. 1849, and authorized by a majority of the qualified voters of said County of Franklin at an election held in said county on the 11th day of September, A, D. 1869, in accordance with the provisions of said Act.

"In testimony whereof, the said County of
Franklin has executed this bond, by the chair-
man of the board of supervisors, under the
order of the board of supervisors of said county,
signing his name hereto, and by the clerk of
said board, under the order thereof, attesting
the same and affixing hereto the seal of said
county. This done at the office of the clerk of
said board, this thirteenth day of November,
A. D. 1877.

"JOHN J. ST. CLAIR,
"Chairman of the Board of Supervisors
of Franklin Co., Illinois.”
"EVAN FITZGERRELL,
Clerk of Board of Supervisors of
Franklin Co., Illinois."

"[SEAL.]

"AUDITOR'S OFFICE, ILLINOIS,
"SPRINGFIELD, October 24th, 1879.
"I, Thomas B. Needles, auditor of public
accounts of the State of Illinois, do hereby
certify, that the within bond has been regis-
tered in this office this day pursuant to the
provisions of an Act entitled 'An Act to Fund
and Provide for Paying the Railroad Debts of
Counties, Townships, Cities, and Towns,' in
force April 16th, 1869.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto subscribe
my name and affix the seal of my office, at
Springfield, the day and year first above written.
"[SEAL.] Signed) "T. B. NEEDLES,

"Auditor Public Accounts."

The nine bonds involved in this appeal were
purchased by the Savings Bank, at Davenport,
Iowa, four of them for 99 per cent and accrued
interest, on the 13th of April, 1880, and five of
them at the same price, on the 15th of May,
1880. None of them, and none of the coupons
on them at the time of purchase, were overdue;

and the first installment of interest which fell
due on them after they were purchased by the
Savings Bank was duly paid by the county.

A copy taken from the records in the office
of the clerk of the county, and all the proceed-
ings of the county court and of the board of
supervisors of the county, relative to the elec-
tion and to the subscription by the county to
the stock of the railroad company, was put in
evidence.

On final hearing, the Circuit Court made a decree, on July 3, 1883, adjudging that the nine bonds in question were issued without authority of law, and were void, and awarding a pertual injunction in regard to them, as prayed in the bill. From that decree the Savings Bank has appealed.

The record shows the following facts: on the 24th of July, 1869, the County Court of Frank

[530]

[531]

lin County, purporting to do so under the au- | commencing the building of the road had ex-
thority of an Act of the General Assembly pired; and it therefore ordered, that the time
of Illinois, entitled "An Act to Incorporate the for commencing and completing the road be
Belleville and Eldorado Railroad Company," extended, and that the subscription be made
approved February 22, 1861, and an Act of the on the stock books of the railroad company
General Assembly, approved November 6, "upon the following terms and conditions,
1849, authorizing counties to take stock in rail- and not until they are fully complied with,'
road companies, made an order submitting to namely: the $200,000 to be payable in the bonds
the voters of the county, to be voted upon on of the county at par, to be due in twenty years
the 11th of September, 1869, a proposition to from the date thereof, and to draw interest,
subscribe $200,000 to the capital stock of that payable semi-annually, at the rate of 8 per cent
company, payable in county bonds at par, due per annum, and to be of the denomination of
in twenty years from date, with interest paya- not less than $1,000 each; that the railroad
ble semi-annually at the rate of 8 per cent per should be commenced in the County of Frank-
annum, and to be of denominations of not less lin on or before January 1, 1872, and be com-
than $1,000 each, the bonds to be issued upon pleted through the county by the first of Jan-
certain specified conditions and not until they uary, 1874; with other conditions. This order
were complied with; one of the conditions of February 6, 1871, was the first order of the
being, "that said railroad shall be commenced county court which authorized a subscription
in the County of Franklin within nine months to stock to be made on the books of the railroad
from the date of said election, and completed company; but the record contains no evidence
through the county by the first day of June, that the subscription so authorized by that
1872."
order was ever made on the books of the com-
pany, or that the company assented to or ac-
cepted such subscription.

On the 6th of November, 1869, the county court made an order, reciting that the election had been held on the 11th of September, 1869, in pursuance of the order of July 24, 1869; that at such election, the qualified voters of the county did, by a majority of their votes (taking as a standard the number of votes cast for county officers at the last general election previous to such vote had upon the question of subcription), authorize the county court of the county to subscribe the sum of $200,000 to the [532] capital stock of the railroad company; and declaring that, by authority of such vote and the Acts of February 22, 1861, and November 6, 1849, the County of Franklin “does hereby subscribe" to the capital stock of the company $100,000 by virtue of the Act of February 22, 1861, and the further sum of $100,000 by virtue of the Act of November 6, 1849, the stock to be payable in the bonds of the county, to be due in 20 years after the date thereof, and to draw interest, payable semi-annually, at the rate of 8 per cent per annum, and to be of the denomination of not less than $1,000 each. The order proceeded: "It is further ordered and considered by the court, that said bonds are to be issued upon the following conditions, and never until they are complied with-that is to say." One of the conditions specified was, "that said railroad shall be commenced in the County of Franklin within nine months from the date of said election, and completed through the county by the first day of June, A. D. 1872. There was nothing in that order of November 6, 1869, which authorized or directed any person to make any subscription to stock on behalf of the county on the books of the railroad company, nor is there any evidence in the record showing that that company ever assented to or accepted any subscription under that order.

On the 6th of February, 1871, the county court made an order reciting the fact of the subscription directed to be made by the order of November 6, 1869, and that it required that the railroad should be commenced in the County of Franklin within nine months from the date of the election authorizing the subscription to be made, namely, by the 11th of June, 1870, and be completed through the county by the first of June, 1872, and that the time for

On the 9th of March, 1871, the county court made an order reciting the fact of the election of the 11th of September, 1869, and that a majority of the legal voters of the county voted for the subscription of $200,000 to the stock of the company; and it then stated that the county did, by such order of the 9th of March, 1871, subscribe the sum of $200,000 for 2,000 shares of the capital stock of the company, the stock to be subscribed and the bonds to be issued upon the following conditions, and not until they are fully complied with," the stock to be paid for in Franklin County bonds at par, payable in twenty years after date, with interest at 8 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually in New York, and to be of the denomination of $1,000 each, with interest coupons attached. It then specified when the bonds were to be delivered, and one of the conditions prescribed was "the said railroad to be commenced within the county in one year and completed through the county within three years from the date of this subscription."

[533]

On the 13th of December, 1876, the board of supervisors of the county, which had taken the place of the county court in respect to the matter in question, made an order which recited the fact of the election of September 11, 1869, and the result and terms of the vote, and then proceeded to state that the board, by authority of the vote and of the Acts of February 22, 1861, and November 6, 1849, did thereby subscribe to the capital stock of the company $150,000, being $75,000 by virtue of each of the two Acts, payable in bonds of the county at par, the bonds to be due in twenty years and to be payable at the expiration of five years from their date, at the option of the [534] county, and to draw interest at the rate of 8 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually, and to be of the denomination of not less than $1,000 each, the bonds to be issued and placed in the hands of a trustee, to be paid out on certain specified conditions, one of which was that the railroad should be commenced within 30 days from the date of the order and be completed by the 15th of October, 1877.

There is nothing in the record to show that,

down to the 13th of December, 1876, any sub- | certify upon each bond the fact of such regis-
scription to stock had been made on behalf of tration. Section 7 of the same Act was in these
the county on the books of the railroad com-
pany, or that the company had accepted or
assented to any subscription by the county.
Nor is there anything in the record which
shows that any subscription was made on the
books of the company before the 6th of March,
1877, and it appears that the subscription made
on the books of the company was for $150,000
of stock.

On the 13th of September, 1877, the board of supervisors extended the time for the building of the road until the 15th of March, 1878.

words: "And it shall not be lawful to register any bonds under the provisions of this Act, or to receive any of the benefits or advantages to be derived from this Act, until after the railroad, in aid of the construction of which the debt was incurred, shall have been completed near to or in such county, township, city or town, and cars shall have run thereon; and none of the benefits, advantages or provisions of this Act shall apply to any debt unless the subscription or donation creating such debt was first submitted to an election of the legal On the 12th of November, 1877, the board of voters of said county, township, city or town, supervisors made an order amending the order under the provisions of the laws of this State, of December 13, 1876, subscribing $150,000 to and a majority of the legal voters living in said the stock of the company, so as to read that county, township, city or town were in favor the county, under the Act of February 22, of such aid, subscription or donation; and any 1861, and in accordance with the vote of Sep-county, township, city or town shall have the tember 11, 1869, subscribed $100,000 to the right, upon making any subscription or donastock, payable in bonds of the county at par, tion to any railroad company, to prescribe the the bonds to be due twenty years after their conditions upon which such bonds, subscripdate and payable, at the option of the county, tions or donations shall be made, and such after five years, and to bear interest at the rate bonds, subscriptions or donations shall not be of 8 per cent per annum, payable semi-annu- valid and binding until such conditions preceally, and to be of the denomination of $1,000 dent shall have been complied with. And the each, and that the county, under the Act of presiding judge of the county court, or the November 6, 1849, and under such vote, sub- supervisor of the township, or the chief execuscribed $50,000 to the stock of the company, tive officer of the city or town that shall have payable in bonds of the like tenor. The order issued bonds to any railway or railways, imdirected the chairman of the board and its mediately upon the completion of the same clerk to execute 100 bonds of $1,000 each, and near to, into or through such county, townof the above tenor, for the subscription under ship, city or town, as may have been agreed the Act of February 22, 1861, and fifty bonds upon, and the running of the cars thereon, of $1,000 each, of the above tenor, for the sub- shall certify under oath that all the prelimiscription under the Act of November 6, 1849; nary conditions in this Act required to be done the bonds to be placed in the hands of a trus- to authorize the registration of such bonds and tee and to be delivered to the railroad com- to entitle them to the benefits of this Act have

[535] pany "only on the same conditions and under
the same restrictions as specified in the order"
of the board of December 13, 1876.

been complied with, and shall transmit the
same to the state auditor, with a statement of
the date, amount, number, maturity and rate
The bonds were issued, bearing date Novem- of interest of such bonds, and to what com
ber 13, 1877. The board of supervisors subse-pany and under what law issued; and there-
quently extended the time for the completion upon the said bonds shall be subject to regis-
of the road to the 15th of September, 1878, and tration by the state auditor, as is herein before
again to the first of November, 1879. The provided."
evidence shows that no part of the road was
completed within Franklin County prior to
January, 1877, and that it was not completed
through Franklin County until about the first
of November, 1879.

We are of opinion that the decree of the circuit court must be affirmed. At the time the vote of September 11, 1863, was had, the Act of the General Assembly of Illinois, which became a law on the 16th of April, 1869, entitled "An Act to Fund and Provide for Paying the Railroad Debts of Counties, Townships, Cities and Towns" (Laws of Illinois of 1869, p. 316), was in force. Section 2 of that Act provided that bonds to be issued in payment of a debt created by a county, to aid in the construction of a railroad, should, in order to receive the benefits of that Act, be registered by the holder thereof at the office of the auditor of public accounts, who should cause the same to be registered in a book kept for that purpose. The same section provided that the registration should show the date, amount, number, maturity and rate of interest of each bond, and under what Act and by what county issued, and that the auditor should, under his seal of office,

The Constitution of Illinois, which took effect July 2, 1870, provides as follows: "No county, city, town, township or other municipality shall ever become subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or private corporation, or make donation to or loan its credit in aid of such corporation; Provided, however, That the adoption of this article shall not be construed as affecting the right of any such municipality to make such subscriptions where the same have been authorized, under existing laws, by a vote of the people of such municipalities prior to such adoption."

[536]

In the present case, the only vote of the people of the County of Franklin had prior to July 2, 1870, authorizing a subscription to the capital stock of the railroad company, was the vote of September 11, 1869. By section 7 of the Act of April 16, 1869, then in force, the County had the right, in voting for the sub- [537] scription, to prescribe the conditions upon which the subscription should be made; and that section declared that such subscription. should not be valid and binding until such conditions precedent should have been complied with. Under such circumstances any condi

[538]

void, its declaration that they should not be
valid and binding until the conditions precedent
should have been complied with, was an im-
perative and peremptory declaration that the
bonds should not be valid and binding until the
conditions named should have been complied
with, even in the hands of innocent holders
without notice; and it declared the bonds to be
invalid in the hands of the plaintiffs.

tion imposed by the vote, as a condition preced-ute did not declare that the bonds should be
ent to the issuing of the bonds in payment of
the subscription, was a part of the vote, and a
part of the authority for the subscription, within
the meaning of the proviso to the article of the
Constitution above cited. So, also, any condi-
tion prescribed by the vote as a condition pre-
cedent upon which the bonds should be issued,
must have been complied with, in order to
make the bonds valid and binding. In the
present case, the vote of September 11, 1869,
as a vote in favor of the subscription of $200,-
000 to the stock, payable in the bonds described
in the order of the county court of July 24,
1869, was a vote in favor of such subscription,
payable in the bonds, "said bonds to be issued"
(in the language of the order of July 24, 1869,
directing the election to be held) "upon the
following conditions, and not until they are
complied with." One of those conditions was
that the railroad "should be commenced in the
County of Franklin within nine months from
the date of such election, and completed
through the county by the first day of June,
1872." The bonds in question were not issued
until November, 1877, and the road was not
completed through the county until about the
first of November, 1879. No change was made
in the conditions prescribed by the vote, prior
to the second of July, 1870, and there was no
power, after that, to make any material change
in those terms and conditions.

This interpretation of section 7 of the Act of April 16, 1869, accompanied all bonds subsequently issued, into the hands of whoever took them, whether a bona fide holder or not. This court must recognize this decision of the Supreme Court of Illinois as an authoritative construction of the statute, made before the bonds were issued, and to be followed by this court. Douglass v. Pike Co. 101 U. S. 677 [25: 968]; Burgess v. Seligman, 107 U. S. 20 [27:359]; Green Co. v. Conness, 109 U. S. 104 [27: 872]; Anderson v. Santa Anna, 116 U. S. 356 [29: 633]. In the first of these cases it was said: "After a statute has been settled by judicial construction, the construction becomes, so far as contract rights acquired under it are concerned, as much a part of the statute as the text itself."

The ruling in Town of Eagle v. Kohn was
followed by the Supreme Court of Illinois in
Richeson v. People [3 West. Rep. 55], 115 Ill.
450, in January, 1886, and was applied by that
The evident purpose of the provision of sec- court to the bonds issued November 13, 1877, by
tion 7 of the Act of April 16, 1869, was to pre- the County of Franklin to the same railroad
vent the issue of bonds in payment of subscrip- company, under the Act of February 22, 1861,
tions to railroad companies until the conditions purporting to have been issued in pursuance of
imposed by the vote, as conditions precedent, the same vote of September 11, 1869, as in the
had been complied with, and to declare that present case. The court referring to its decis-
the bonds, if issued in violation of such con-ion in Town of Eagle v. Kohn, made at Septem-
ditions precedent, should not be valid and
binding. When the Savings Bank, in April
and May, 1880, purchased the bonds in ques
tion, it was, notwithstanding the recitals on the
face of them, chargeable with notice of the pro-
vision of section 7 of the Act of April 16, 1869, |
which had been in force for nearly five months
before the date named on the face of the bonds
as the date of the election, and for more than
eight years before the date named on the face
of the bonds as the date of their issue. It was
also required to take notice of the construction
given to such statutory provision by the Supreme
Court of Illinois, at its September Term, 1876,
prior to the issue of these bonds, in the case
of Town of Eagle v. Kohn, 84 Ill. 292.

That was a suit against the Town of Eagle,
brought by innocent holders for value, to re-
cover on coupons cut from bonds issued by the
town to a railroad company, December 1, 1870,
in payment of a subscription to stock, in pur-
suance of a vote of the people of the town, had
November 2, 1869. In that vote, certain con-
ditions as to time had been prescribed, upon
which the bonds should be issued. Those
conditions had not been complied with. The
question arose in the case, whether the declara-
tion of the statute that the bonds should not be
valid and binding until such conditions preced-
ent had been complied with, was to be confined
in its operation, to the railroad company to
which the bonds should have been issued, or
whether it extended to innocent holders for
value. The court held that although the stat- |

ber Term, 1876, said (p. 460): "We there held
that bonds in the hands of innocent purchasers
were not valid, where the conditions upon which
the subscription was made have not been com-
plied with. The language of the statute is
plain and explicit, and unless it should be ar-
bitrarily disregarded, we perceive no ground
upon which an innocent holder can evade its
provisions." This view was held, as the court
said, because, when the vote was taken, the 7th
section of the Act of April 16, 1869, was in
force. See, also, Parker v. Smith, 3 Bradw.
356, 366, 367.

In regard to the case of Town of Eagle v.
Kohn, it is urged by the Savings Bank that it
does not appear, by the report of that case, that
the bonds there in question had been registered
by the state auditor, as contemplated by the
Act of April 16, 1869; that the provisions of
sections 2 and 7 of the Act of April 16, 1869,
imply that the state auditor shall ascertain and
determine whether or not the evidence is suffi-
cient to authorize him to register the bonds, and
to indorse thereon his certificate of registration;
that it must be presumed that the presiding
judge of the county court, whose duty it was,
under section 7, to certify to the auditor that
all the preliminary conditions required by the
Act to be done, to authorize the bonds to be
registered and to entitle them to the benefits
of the Act, had been complied with, had per-
formed his duty; that, after such registration
and the certificate of the auditor on the bonds
had been made, and other persons have ac-

[539]

[540]

[541]

The cases of Insurance Company v. Bruce, 105 U.S. 328 [26:1121]; Pana v. Bowler, 107 U. S.529 [27: 424]; and Oregon v. Jennings, 119 U. S. 74 [30: 323], are relied upon by the Savings Bank, in this case, to sustain its view that the decree of the circuit court was erroneous.

quired rights in the bonds so registered and cer- | issuing the bonds was not estopped by the reg-
tified, upon the faith of the registration and istry or the certificate, and that no conclusive
certificate, those rights cannot be affected by effect was given by the Registration Statute to
subsequently showing that some of the facts the registration or to the certificate.
entitling the bonds to registration did not exist;
that, although bonds issued after the passage
of the Act of April 16, 1869, were required
to be registered in order to entitle them to the
benefits of that Act, a tribunal was provided to
determine whether the conditions precedent
upon which the bonds were to be issued had In the case of Insurance Company v. Bruce,
been complied with; that the decision of that the bonds were issued by the Town of Bruce, in
tribunal, as evidenced by the registration of the State of Illinois, on the first of December,
the bonds, is conclusive; and that the legislat 1870, in payment of a subscription to the capi-
ive intention must have been that the registra-tal stock of a railroad company. The bonds re-
tion of the bonds should settle definitely the cited upon their face that they were issued by
question of compliance with the conditions virtue of two statutes of the State, one of which
precedent.
was the before named Act of April 16, 1869;
The answer to these suggestions is that the and the bonds also certified on their face, that,
preliminary conditions required by section 7 of at a special election held in the township, on
the Act of April 16, 1869, to exist, in order to the 7th of September, 1869, a majority of the
authorize the registration of the bonds, are on-legal voters participating at the same had voted
ly that "The railroad in aid of the construction in favor of the subscription and of the issue of
of which the debt was incurred shall have been the bonds. Certain of the conditions as to
completed near to or in such county, township, time, imposed by the vote of the people, had
city or town, and cars shall have run thereon;' not been complied with, and the bonds were in
and that the subscription creating the debt the hands of bona fide holders for value. In the
should have been voted for by a majority of opinion in that case, the terms of section 7 of
the legal voters of the county, township, city the Act of April 16, 1869, and the ruling in the
or town, living therein. Those preliminary case of Town of Eagle v. Kohn were considered;
conditions are the only ones which are required and the decision of this court, in favor of the
to be certified to, by the presiding judge of the bondholder, was placed upon the ground that
county court, in order to authorize the regis- the case was distinguishable from that of Town
tration of the bonds. It is not required by sec- of Eagle v. Kohn, in that it did not appear from
tion 7 that the presiding judge of the county the latter case that the town had, by the recitals
court shall make any certificate as to a com- in its bonds, estopped itself from asserting, as
pliance with the terms and conditions of any against a bona fide holder, the nonperformance
subscription. Section 7 requires, as a prelim- of conditions imposed by the vote of the peo-
inary to registration, that the railroad shall ple; while, in the case then before this court,
have been completed near to or in the county, the Town of Bruce had, by the recitals in its
and that cars shall have run thereon; but it bonds, represented to the public that the bonds
does not require that the road shall have been were issued in all respects in conformity to
completed by any time prescribed as a condition law, and that nothing remained to be done
precedent in the vote. The registration of the which was essential to its liability thereon.
bonds by the state auditor has nothing to do The view taken was that as the Town of
with any of the terms or conditions on which Bruce had power, under the 7th section of the
the stock was voted and subscribed. Neither Act of April 16, 1869, to make an uncondition-
the registration nor the certificate of registry al subscription, and to issue and deliver its bonds
covers or certifies any fact, as to compliance in advance of the construction of the road, and
with the conditions prescribed in the vote, on as the bonds recited that they were issued by
which alone the bonds were to be issued. The virtue of the Act of April 16, 1869, it was too
recital in the bonds does not contain any refer- late for the town, as against bona fide purchas-
ence to the Act of April 16, 1869, or certify any ers of the bonds, to claim that they had been
compliance with the provisions of that Act; issued in violation of the special conditions. In
and the certificate of registry merely certifies the case now before us, as before said, there is
that the bond has been registered in the audi- no reference, in the bonds, to the Act of April
tor's office pursuant to the provisions of the Act 16, 1869, and no statement in the bonds that
of April 16, 1869. The statute does not require they were issued by virtue of that Act. More-
that the auditor shall determine or certify over, in the case of Insurance Company v. Bruce,
that the bonds have been regularly or legally the bonds had been issued on December 1, 1870,
issued. The case of Lewis v. Barbour County, prior to the decision in Town of Eagle v. Kohn,
105 U. S. 739 [26:993], does not aid the Sav- which was made at September Term, 1876.
ings Bank. In that case, under an Act of Kan-
sas in regard to registry, the auditor had certi-
fied that the bonds had been "regularly and le-
gally" issued. In Dixon County v. Field, 111
U. S. 83 [28: 360], and in Crow v. Oxford, 119 U.
S. 215 [30: 388], the first case arising in Nebras-
ka, and the second in Kansas, the certificate of
the auditor in each case was that the bonds
were "regularly and legally" issued; but this
court held, in both cases, that the municipality

In Pana v. Bowler the bonds were issued by the Town of Pana, in Illinois, June 23, 1873, prior to the decision in Town of Eagle v. Kohn. The vote of the people of the township was had on April 30, 1870, while the Act of April 16, 1869, was in force, and the bonds, as in the case of Insurance Company v. Bruce, recited on their face, not only that they were issued in compliance with the vote, but that they were issued in accordance with the provisions of the Act of

[542]