Semmes v. Mayor of Columbus

19 Ga. 471
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 15, 1856
DocketNo. 87
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 19 Ga. 471 (Semmes v. Mayor of Columbus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Semmes v. Mayor of Columbus, 19 Ga. 471 (Ga. 1856).

Opinion

[484]*484 By the Court.

McDonald, J.

delivering the opinion.

The first error assigned by complainants’ Counsel is, that the Judge called the defendants out of their county, and required them to argue the motion to dissolve the injunction in Talbot County.

[1.] The parties, complainant and defendant, resided in Muscogee County, and the cause was pending in that county. The Chancellor may order an injunction, instantly, on the ex parte showing of the complainant; and the exigency of the case-.frequently requires that he should do it. But the 'Writ of injunction is a strong process, and the party against whom it is granted should be allowed an early opportunity to move to set it aside. The 4th rule in Equity enables him to •do it.

[2.] Mx parte injunctions, in Georgia, are always granted •on terms, because they are subject to the operation of that rule-; and the terms prescribed by it are as binding as if they were incorporated in the sanction of tbe Judge.

The hearing of a motion to dissolve an injunction, is no more the trial of the case, than the hearing of an application for an injunction; and the argument may be heard at Chambers.

[3.] That several of the defendants had not answered the bill, was no sufficient objection to hearing the argument and •determining the motion to dissolve the injunction. The remedy sought by the bill, was against the Mayor and Council ■of the City of Columbus. If there was equity in the bill warranting the interposition of a Court of Chancery, it was •against the mayor and council; and the city council had answered under its corporate seal, and the mayor, who, it is apparent, from the bill and the amended bill, was more conversant with the facts charged than any one else, had answered under his oath. No decree for a perpetual injunction would .go against the defendants who had not answered, nor could their answers, however made, have the slightest influence un[485]*485Jer the allegations of complainants, against the defendant, the Mayor and Council of the City of Columbus.' The defendants against whom the complainants claimed the equity, if any, had answered; and if the answers were full and denied the equity, the injunction ought to be dissolved. The Court, therefore, committed no error in refusing to postpone the argument, and in dissolving the injunction without the answers ■of the other defendants.

[4.] The amendment of an injunction bill, unless allowed by the Chancellor without prejudice to the injunction, displaces the injunction. In this case, the motion to amend the bill was allowed, but the Court refused to grant it as asked for, to-wit: that the injunction should not be dissolved until the answers of the defendants Avere filed to the bill as amended ; and the Court, after alloAving the amendment, ordered the injunction to be dissolved.

The party might have amended his bill as a matter of right, and to have refused it would possibly have been error in the Court; but the allowance of an amendment by the ■Court which the complainant could have made, as a matter of .right, does not necessarily operate as a continuance of the injunction until ansAYcr. On a motion to dissolve an injunction, on the ground that there is no equity in the bill, the facts alleged in the bill must be taken as true; and AYhen the .motion is predicated on the denial of the equity by the an.swer, the ansAver is to be considered as true.

If the motion be resisted, on the ground that the complainant has amended his bill, alleging uoay facts which have not been answered, the Chancellor, (AYaiving the effect of the ¡amendment as a dissolution of the injunction,) will extend his •consideration to the amendment bill, to the manner and substance of the allegations therein, and determine whether they afford sufficient grounds for retaining the injunction, if it ought otherwise to be dissolved. The Court, therefore, committed no error in deciding on the motion to dissolve, before .¡defendants answered the amended bill.

[486]*486. Rid the Court err .in dissolving the injunction, on the grounds taken in the motion ?

It is insisted' by Counsel for plaintiffs in error, that the Acts of 1845 and 1853, inhibit the mayor and council from making contracts of the description and magnitude of that made for the sale of the rail road stock, and in the mariner in which that was made.

Let us, for a moment, examine the power of the mayor and council to make contracts, and then look to the Acts of 1845 and 1853, and see how far they control it. By the 12th section of the Act of 1853, the mayor and members of council arc vested with special powers to make all contracts, in their •corporate capacity, which they may deem necessary for the welfare of the city.

[5.] The power conferred by that Act to contract, has no limit. It is full; and they are vested with the largest discretionary powers. The Act of 1845 declares, t! that no vote, resolution or order of said mayor and council, for the payment of money, or for the performance of any act or measure involving an amount exceeding the sum of three hundred dollars, except the regular and current expenses of the city, shall ho of force and effect, unless it he by the act of a majority of the whole board, at two successive meetings thereof; which said vote, resolution or order, shall he published in one or more of the public Gazettes of Columbus, between the first and second passage.” (Acts of 1845, p. 67, Sect. 7.) This Act goes to the extent, and no further, to prevent the mayor and council from embarking the money or credit of the city, exceeding the amount of three hundred dollars in new enterprizes, except the current expenses of the city, without giving notice to the people and re-affirming the measure after notice, by a vote of a majority of the whole boai’d. It has no reference to a case where the money or credit of tlio city is already committed. It has no reference to the application of money or assets to the payment of debts; for they create an obligation, that the resolutions of the corporation,. whether adopted voluntarily or by the counsel of [487]*487tbe people, cannot lawfully resist. It only has reference to. Such eases of projected expenditures of money, as it might be supposed an interested constituency would desire to make their wishes known upon.

It seems that the subscription for the stock in the Muscogee Rail Road, was made, and the city bonds were issued in payment, after the passage of the Act we have been considering ; and it is to be presumed that the matter was submitted to the citizens, in conformity to the Act; and if so, the subscription, so far as that objection is concerned, creates an obligation to pay; and the obligation to pay _ is a sufficient authority to pay, without new votes, resolutions or orders.

The Act of 1853, page 242, is more explicit than that of 1845. It is declared by that Act, to be unlawful for the Mayor and Council of the City of Columbus to loan the credit of said city, contracting debts, issuing the bonds of the city, or using, in any way, the funds of said city, beyond the sum of ten thousand dollars, for the purpose of being expended, or otherwise applied, beyond the corporate limits of said city, or in aid of any rail road company, or any other project foreign to the government of said city, without first passing,, by a majority of said mayor and council, a resolution to such effect.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Citizens & Southern National Bank v. Orkin
156 S.E.2d 86 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1967)
Lasater v. Petty
140 S.E.2d 864 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1965)
Vickers v. Motte
137 S.E.2d 77 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1964)
Marsh v. Anderson
107 S.E.2d 188 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1959)
Turner v. Trust Company of Georgia
105 S.E.2d 22 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1958)
Malcom v. Webb
86 S.E.2d 489 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1955)
Cameron v. Earnest
34 S.W.2d 685 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1930)
Holman v. Bridges
140 S.E. 886 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1927)
Brennan v. Sewerage & Water Board & Board of Liquidation
108 La. 569 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1902)
Hudspeth v. Hall
38 S.E. 358 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1901)
City of Atlanta v. Stein
51 L.R.A. 335 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1900)
Mayor of Athens v. Camak
75 Ga. 429 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1885)
City of Atlanta v. Gate City Gas Light Co.
71 Ga. 106 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1883)
Shannon v. O'Boyle
51 Ind. 565 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1875)
Missouri River, Ft. S. & G. R. Co. v. Commissioners of Miami Co.
12 Kan. 483 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1874)
Bibb v. Shackelford
38 Ala. 611 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1863)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 Ga. 471, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/semmes-v-mayor-of-columbus-ga-1856.