United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

New Orleans v. Morris, 105 U.S. 600 (1881)

New Orleans v. Morris

105 U.S. 600

Syllabus

1. The waterworks of a city are not subject to sale for its ordinary debts under execution.

2. A city which owned such works conveyed them to a corporation formed for the purpose of maintaining and enlarging them, and received therefor shares of stock, which the statute authorizing the conveyance declared should not be liable to seizure for the debts of the city, but should be reserved for the benefit of the holders of the bonds that had been issued by the city to raise the means wherewith to construct the works. Held that the statute does not, by thus exempting those shares from seizure, impair the obligation of any contract, as they merely represent the city's ownership in the waterworks which was, before the enactment of the statute, exempt from seizure and sale.

3. The city may, by a suit in equity, restrain its execution creditors from selling those shares.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.