Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/176

 164 PEDBBAIi KEPOBTEB. �twenty-eighth day of December, 1878, he recovered in this court a further judgment for $1,000 debt, $1,096.08 dam- ages, and 133.05 costs; total, $2,129.13. Allof which judg- ments he avers were upon bonds issued by the defendant city, pursuant to the powers in its act of incorporation, to enable it to make varions public improvements, and for the interest which had accrued on said bonds; and that said judgments, together with the interest which has accrued thereon, at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, since the ren- dition thereof, remain in full force and wholly unsatisfied. �That the affaira of said city are, by the laws of this state, under the management and control of the city council of said city, which consista of • a mayor and board of aldermen ; that by an act of the general aa- sembly of this state, approved June 2i, 1852, said city council is autliorized to levy and collect a tax, not exeeeding 1 per cent. , upon the assessed value of all the taxable property of the city, in addition to a tax of }4 Pcr cent. authorized by previous acts of the legislature of the state, which taxes shall constitute the general fund for city purposes ; and that by the same act they were empowered to annually assess, levy, and collect a tax of not exeeeding 1 per cent, on the dollar on the assessed value of all the real and Personal estate taxable in said city, in addition to all other taxes levied and collected in said city, which was to be applied aa follows, to-wit : �" The fund so collected shall be kept separate, and shall annually, on the first day of January, be appropriated and paid over, pro rata, on the f unded indebtedness of said city, as it may be presented by the holders of the same, to be entered as credits upon and to that extent in extingtfish- ment of the principal of said city indebtedness." �Which provision of law was to remain in force until the whole of the city's indebtedness, and the interest to accrue thereon, was fully paid ; that by an act of the general assembly of this state, approved January 30, 1857, the said city council was authorized to levy and collect annually taxes not exeeeding 1 per cent, on the dollar on the assessed value of the taxable property within said city, to defray the general and contingent expenses, and to constitute a general fund of the city; and by the same act the city council was authorized to levy and collect taxes not exeeeding 1 per cent, on the dol- lar per annum on all property siibject to taxation, to meet the interest on the debt of the city ; and by an act of the legislature of this state, ap- proved February 16, 1865, the city council was authorized to levy and col- lect a tax of 1 per cent, on the dollar per annum on all property subject to taxation, which tax, when collected, shall be set apart for the sole and exclusive purpose of paying the interest upon the puplic debt of the city while the same is in existence. �The relator claims that by virtue of the laws thus referred to it became and is the duty of the city council of the city to ��� �