Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/680

Hïsv£iia V. h. & K. s. 00. .(i73 ���Stevens and others v. Thb Louisvillb & Nabhville Bail- �BOAD Co,, and ûfteen other suits on behalf of �bond holders, against fifteen other �railroad companies. �(Circuit Court, M. D. Tennessee. Beptember 25, 1880.) �1. State Bonds— Statdtoky Libn— Pukchasbr— Intbrnal Imphovib- MENTS— Tennessee Statutu— Act of Pebbdaky 11, 1852— Con- struction. — ^The purchaser of negotiable state bonds sold in open market, without indorsement or guaranty, and Issued to a railroad nnder the "Internai Improvement Act of the State of Tennessee," for the ironing and equipping of the said railroad, bas no enforceable right, by contract or otUerwise, in the statutory lien vested iu sald State by said internai improvement act, against the road and otiuip- ments of said railroad, for the purpose of enforcing the payment of the principal and interest of said bonds at maturity. �In Equity. �Some of these suits are pending in the eastem, some in the middle, and others in the western district of Tennessee. �These are suits in equity pending in the circuit courts of the United States for the districts of Tennessee, brought by complainants, on behalf of holders of internai improvement bonds of the state of Tennessee, against varions railroad com- panies to wbom the bonds were issued, to aid in the construc- tion of their several Unes of railroada, and against ail other persons interested. They were argued together in April and May last, at Nashville. The object of the suits is to have a lien in favor of the bond holders declared and established upon the railroads of the several defendant companies, and a receiver appointed for the collection of the accrued and accruing interest, the interest having been iu default since July 1, 1875. The principal is not due. �The plaintiffs' contention is, briefly, that the acts passed by the legislature of the state of Tennessee in 1852, to grant aid to the railroad companies by a loan to them of the bonds of the state, imposed a lien upon the railroads, as security to the holder of the bonds and to the state. Payment to the holdet would operate as indemnity to the state. Inasmuch as the �v.3,no.l2— e3 ����