State v. Jacksonville, Pensacola & Mobile Railroad

16 Fla. 708
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1878
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 16 Fla. 708 (State v. Jacksonville, Pensacola & Mobile Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jacksonville, Pensacola & Mobile Railroad, 16 Fla. 708 (Fla. 1878).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Westcott

delivered the opinion of the court. -

This is a case under the laté Code.

Appeals from the judgment rendered herein are prosecuted by the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad-* Company, and by Milton S. Littlefield.

The appeal of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile-Railroad Company is from the judgment rendered against it in behalf of the State, as well as that rendered against it in behalf of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement [719]*719Fund. .The appeal of Milton' S. Littlefield is from the judgment rendered against him in behalf of the trustees.

We make no statement of the case in detail. Our views of the facts and of the case will appear as we treat and dispose of each appeal.

The decree in behalf of the State in this record is not by virtue of its relation of trustee for bona fide purchasers and. holders of the bonds of the State of Florida exchanged with this company for its bonds and sold,’biit it is based upon, the fact that the State of Florida has in possession the bond® of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad 'Company, upon which that company has failed to pay in rerest The right of the State as trustee can exist only upon clear proof oí the existence of bona fide purchasers of the State bonds. The State as the simple holder of the company bond is entitled to no judgment against the company. The fact which makes any equity operative in her behalf must exist in connection with the fact that the State holds the company bond. This court considered the general nature of the bonds which are the foundation of the State’s claim here in the cases of Holland vs. The State of Florida, IS Florida, 534, and the case of the State of Florida against The Florida Central Railroad Company, 15 Fla., 691.

In the case of Holland vs. The State of Florida we said, “A careful and strict examination of this statute will show that the State of Florida was to occupy two distinct and different relations to the holders of the' State bonds and to the company. The first relation was that of primary,debtor to the holder of the State bond under and by virtue of the obligation of this bond, and also of mortgage creditor of the company, under and by virtue of the bond of the company. The right of the State, viewed in this light, was to be simply that of a mortgage creditor of the road, and its liability to the holder of the State bond was that of a simple bond debtor. In this relation the holder of the State [720]*720bond was to have no security for his protection and payment, except the liability of the State in its own right, and its good faith and capacity; the State, at the same time, as the result of this relation, being given for its own protection against this bond debt the right to become the purchaser at the sale of the road, and to pay for it in the bonds of the company. The other relation which it was to occupy was, in the language of the act, a trustee for the holders of the State bonds. In this relation the lien created by the statute was for the benefit of the holder of the State bonds. The lien of the statute and the company bond, viewed in this light, was for his benefit, and the property and franchises of the company were to be his security for payment; and as the company received his money and the State received nothing, the company was to be held to the obligation of common honesty in the matter of payment and satisfaction.” This court in that ease remarked further, “ That the Legislature could not, under the Constitution, create the first relation of primary debtor, and that it would seem to be a consequence that such part of the statute authorizing the bond as provided for the State’s protection against such liability as the Legislature presumed the State incurred, would fail and cease to be operative.” This, we think, was correct. The clear result of the views expressed in that case prohibits the State from occupying the relation of a simple mortgagee entitled to a decree in its favor in that relation. We re-affirm what was there said.

The State of Floi’ida in this case, in addition to its relar tion as trustee for the bona fide purchasers and holders of its bonds, has also a residuax’y interest in the Internal Improvement Fund, as well as an intex'est in its management and disposition through her agents, the Trustees.

The subject-matter of this action, so far as it is common to the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund and the State of Florida, is a line .of railway extending from Quincy [721]*721to Lake City, with a branch to Monticello, and the line of railroad extending from Tallahassee’^ to St. Marks. The Trustees claim a lien for balance of purchase money due upon a .sale of the road from Quincy to Lake City and branch to Monticello, under a statutory mortgage bond of the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad Company. They also claim a lien upon the road from Tallahassee to St. Marks for the balance of purchase money due upon a sale of that road, under a statutory mortgage bond of the Tallahassee Railroad Company. The State as trustee élaims in this suit only a subordinate lien upon these two lines of railroad, and, in addition thereto, the State claims a, primary and first lien upon the railroad from Quincy to Chattahoochee as a part of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad. The question as to the character and extent of the right of the Trusr tees of the Internal Improvement Fund, the right of the 'State as having a residuary interest in such fund, and the rights and remedies of holders of bonds issued under the internal improvement act of 1S55, were considered by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of The State of Florida vs. Anderson, et al., 91 U. S., 667. The views there expressed are entirely applicable to the pleadings and proceedings iu this action. We will not here repeat them at length, but will state simply our entire acquiescence in the views there expressed. Under this decision the right of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund, as vendors, is to a sale of the road from Quincy to Lake City, to satisfy the balance of the purchase money due them upon the sale of that property, and as to the balance due on the sale of the road from Tallahassee to St. Marks, they have a right of the same character against that road. The State’s right as trustee, in the event of proof ot bona fide purchasers and holders of State bonds, is to what remains after satisfaction of these several liens upon these several pieces of property, if that sum is necessary to the payment [722]*722of what is found to be due the State as trustee after due process of judicial examination.

The r&m here in question, the property of the J., P. & M. Co., is not claimed by the plaintiff to embrace the line of. road extending from Jacksonville to Lake City. This being so, no part of the property is in the territorial jurisdiction of the Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. That court, under the Constitution of the State, has no power to decree a sale by its officers of property not within its territorial jurisdiction. . (15 Fla., 285.) The power of the Circuit Court, therefore, in this case did not extend beyond a decree establishing the rights and defining the liens of the State am. of the. Trustees, as we have stated them. That court should have adjudged two liens existing in behalf of the Trustees. One as to the road from Tallahassee to St.

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

Related

Breslof v. Pines of Delray North Ass'n
583 So. 2d 810 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1991)
Wheatland Hills Corp. v. Morton
199 So. 2d 122 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1967)
Tower Credit Corporation v. State
187 So. 2d 923 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1966)
Seaboard Air Line Railway Co. v. Ebert
138 So. 4 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1931)
First National Bank v. Perkins
87 So. 912 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1921)
Brooks v. Collier
58 S.W. 559 (Court Of Appeals Of Indian Territory, 1900)
Chapman v. Reddick
41 Fla. 120 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1899)
Garvin v. Watkins
29 Fla. 151 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1892)
Central Trust Co. v. Florida Ry. & Nav. Co.
43 F. 751 (United States Circuit Court for the Northern District of Florida, 1890)
Marks v. Baker
20 Fla. 920 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1884)
Hart v. Stribling
21 Fla. 136 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1884)
Tompkins v. Little Rock & Ft. S. Ry.
15 F. 6 (E.D. Arkansas, 1882)
Western Division of Western N. C. R. v. Drew
29 F. Cas. 747 (United States Circuit Court for the Northern District of Florida, 1879)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
16 Fla. 708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jacksonville-pensacola-mobile-railroad-fla-1878.