Norton v. Board of Tax Commissioners, 129 U.S. 479 (1889)
U.S. Supreme Court
Norton v. Board of Tax Commissioners, 129 U.S. 479 (1889)
Norton v. Board of Commissioners of Taxing District of Brownsville
No. 1442
Submitted January 4, 1889
Decided March 5, 1889
129 U.S. 479
ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED
STATES FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
Syllabus
A valid power to issue its bonds in aid of railroads, conferred upon a municipal corporation of Tennessee by a statute of that state enacted while the Constitution of 1834-1835, was in force, not having been accepted and acted upon by the corporation at the time when the Constitution of 1810 came into operation, became subject to the conditions and prohibitions of article 2, § 29 of that instrument, and could not be exercised without further legislation in conformity therewith.
The substitution of a new state constitution for an old one abrogates the latter, and if the former contains provisions from the old constitution, with changes and additions, such provisions are not to be treated as ordinary legislation in amendment of prior statutes.