United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Mitchell v. Burlington, 71 U.S. 4 Wall. 270 270 (1866)

Mitchell v. Burlington

71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 270

Syllabus

l. A provision in the charter of a city corporation authorizing it to borrow money for any public purpose whenever, in the opinion of the City Council, it shall be expedient to exercise it, is a valid power. Rogers v. Burlington, 3 Wall. 654, affirmed.

2. Money borrowed by such a corporation to construct a plank road, if the

Page 71 U. S. 271

road leads from, extends to, or passes through the limits of the corporation, is borrowed for a public purpose within the meaning of the provision.

3. Havemeyer v. Iowa County, 3 Wall. 234, and Gelpcke v. City of Dubuque, 1 Wall. 175, affirmed and the doctrine reasserted that if municipal bonds, when made, were valid by the constitution and laws of a state as then expounded by the highest judicial authority whose duty it was to interpret them, no subsequent judicial exposition of an opposite kind will make them invalid.