American and English Corporation Cases (Volume 24); A Collection of All Corporation Cases, Both Private and Municipal (Excepting Railway Cases), Decided in the Courts of Last Resort in the United States, England, and Canada [1883-1894] (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889. Excerpt: ... But it is further urged that this ordinance is void because it was a crime for the city council to vote for it. This contention, which is not considered in the opinion delivered in the court below, proceeds upon the ground that Atlantic City, by the stipulation in the proviso upon which its consent to the incorporation of the marjsuot water company was conditioned, incurred an obli-bo niade or...-11 i proTided. gation prohibited by an act entitled "A supplement to an act entitled 'An act for the punishment of crimes, ' " approved February 7, 1876, (P. L. 1876, p. 16). The prohibition of this criminal act is against voting for disbursements where the money is not on hand, or the incurring of obligations in excess of the fund at the disposal of council for that purpose. The mischief to be reached is the incurring of municipal debt where payment could be made or provided; and the remedy is, that every such obligation shall be preceded by the power to meet it. Within the scope of the act thus construed fall all obligations which can, i. e., which are, capable of being met either by cash in the treasury or by an appropriation of money, and this without regard to any futurity of payment arising from the terms of the obligation itself. State v. Halsted, 39 N. J. Law, 402. It is clear, to my mind, that, adopting this construction, the prohibition of this criminal act does not extend to the provisions of the ordinance in question, for the reason that the obligation of this ordinance is not of the class contemplated. It could not be discharged by any disbursement of money, no matter how full the treasury, nor could any appropriation of moneys, however large, be provided or applied to the purposes of the obligation by the council which incurred it. The obligation of ...