ALLEN v. MORGAN COUNTY, 103 U.S. 515 (1880)
U.S. Supreme Court
ALLEN v. MORGAN COUNTY, 103 U.S. 515 (1880)103 U.S. 515 103 U.S. 515
ALLEN v. MORGAN COUNTY. October Term, 1880
MR. JUSTICE HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court. We do not
perceive that the petition for rehearing in behalf of the county of
Morgan contains any suggestion which was not pressed upon our
attention in oral argument, as well as in the printed briefs
heretofore filed. All that counsel said was carefully considered by
us. But there were one or two matters, not distinctly covered by
our opinion, to which we may properly refer. A rehearing is asked
to the end that a complete record of the suit, in the Circuit Court
of the United States for the Southern District of Illinois, of
Studwell, Hopkins, and Cobb, Trustees, v. Morgan County, &c.,
may be obtained and embodied in the transcript of the present case.
If the record of the case were here, it could be of no use to the
county. The decree therein is not pleaded for any purpose. Further,
it is apparent, as well from the printed arguments filed in this
court, for and against the county, as from the testimony of the
witnesses who refer to the case in the Circuit Court, that the suit
of Studwell, &c. v. Morgan County, &c., was dismissed by
the complainants therein, and that there was no adjudication upon
the merits. The decree of dismissal in that suit, therefore,
concluded none of the parties to it, even were it conceded that the
trustees had authority, in virtue of their position, to represent
the present appellees in any litigation with Morgan County touching
its liability to creditors of the Illinois River Railroad Company.
We did not, as counsel seem to suppose, overlook the argument based
upon the subscription made by the city of Jacksonville. That
subscription, as matter of law, was wholly disconnected from the
subscription made by the county, and we could not regard the former
as payment, in whole or in part, of the latter, without assuming to
make for the parties a contract which they did not choose to make
for themselves. If, as urged, that the result is unfortunate for
the county, we can only say, what cannot be too often repeated,
that hard cases cannot be permitted to make bad law. Petition
denied. Allen v. County of Morgan, appeal from the same decree, was
argued by the counsel who appeared in the preceding case. MR.
JUSTICE HARLAN remarked, in giving the opinion of the court, that
no error was perceived in the record to the substantial prejudice
of the appellants. The decree below was therefore Affirmed. MR.
JUSTICE MILLER, MR. JUSTICE FIELD, and MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY
dissented.