Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/792

 178 FEDERAL REPORIER. �4. PJ.BADING — BUIIDEN OP PrOOF. �The plaintiff, in a suit upon municipal bonds, which contain no recitals as to the law, etc., under which they were issued, must aver and prove that they were issued under legislative authority, and in the mode and for the puiposes provided by law, j 1 �McDonald e Butler, for plaiptiff. Thos. F.Davidson, for defendant. �Gbbsham, D. 3. This is an action on interest coupons, alike except in number, one of which reads as follows: �«$8. CoviNGTON, lNx>., October 1, 1876. �" One year after date the town o£ Covington will pay to the bearer, in the city of New York, eight dollars, being one year's Interest on bond No. 14. �"A. Gest, President. "Attest: Frank M. HicKS, Clerk." �It is alleged in the complaint that the town of Covington executed certain bonds to which the coupons in suit had been attached. Copies of the bonds are not filed with the complaint; there is no allegation as to their tenor and effect, the purpose of their issue, or the authority for it. To this complaint a demurrer is interposed, which presents the question under consideration. �Power is given by a statute of Indiana, (1 Davis, 343,) under speci- fied conditions, to cities and towns, to issue bonds not exceeding $50,- 000, payable in not less than one nor more than twenty years, to provide means for school purposes. And in section 27 of another statute (1 Davis, 881) it is declared that towns shall not have power to borrow money, or incur any debt or liability, except upon the peti- tion of the citizen owners of five-eighths of the taxable property. �It is insisted, in support of the demurrer, that the power to issue negotiable bonds is not inherent in a municipal corporation; that if it exists in a giv6n case it must be exercised in the mode and for the purpose prescribed in the act eonferiring the authority ; and that in an action upon the bonds of a municipal corporation, containing no recitals, the declaration must show authority to issue the bonds sued on, and its exercise in the mode and upon the conditions prescribed by law. �In support of the complaint it is contended that municipal corpo- rations in Indiana have power to issue commercial paper for some purposes; that public officers are presumed to act in accordanee with and pot conirary to the law; and that the plaintiff.had a right to buy the coupons as commercial paper, without inquiry, presuming they were issued for a' proper purpose, and under authority of the statutes just mentioned. ��� �