Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/752

738 .,, PEDBEAii REPORTER. �Base, D.;J. The plcrintiffs sobiairted in tHs.jcourt a judgment againet the county of Muhlenburg for the aura of $5,274.28, with iaterest from February 21, 1876. This,. judgment wasobtained on coupons which were for interest on bonds of the' county of Muhlen- burg, issued to pay a subscription of stock made^ by sadd county to the' Blizabethtown & Paducah Bailroad Company^' This petition is foribe purpose of obtaining a mandamus iQ com-pel the county judge, T. C. Thompson, to levy a tax on the property in said county suf- fioieatfto pay plaintiff-his judgment,; and cause itto be collected. [Che CQunty judge demurs to ithis petition, and the ground of the d^tnlurreris/that "tbft county court/' inthe maaning pf the statute whi(t?h authoriz«s the levy and collection of astax to.pay these bonds andauterest, is the juaticeeof the peace for said coilnty and himself,, and that he, sitting as a couaty Court,. withoutsiich justices, bas no authority to make aueh levy. This. is an important question, and its' solution^ depends solely upon the meaning of tlie. phrase "county aoupt," a» used in the charter which authorized this subscription and the levy ofa taxi to pay the bonds and the interestas it accrued. �The niuth' section of an aot to amend the charter ,of the Elizabeth- town & Paducah Railroad Company, approved February 24, 1868, provides-^ �"3'bat in ca^e any county, city, ;t«>wn, or election; «Ji^trict shall subscribe to tl^e. caipital stock of said Elizabethtown & Paducah Railroad Company, under the provisions of this act, and issue bonds for the payaient of sueh subscrip- tion, it shall be tho duty of. the county court of such county * * * to ca'use'to be leVied and colIected a tax s'u'fflcient to po,y the semi-annual inter- est on the bonds issuedj and all cost ofcolleeting such taxes." �The county court in this state is, and was in 1868, usually held by the county judge. He attended to all the judicial duties of the court, but the fiscal affairs of the county were ordinarily controlled and managed by a county court, which was composed of the presiding judge (county judge), and the justices of the peace in and for the county. This latter court was sometimes called a "court of claims." This was its constitutional designation. �The thii'ty-seventh section, article 4, provides that — "The general assembly may provide, by law, that justices of the peace in each county shall sit at. the court of claims and assist in levying the county levy, and m^kin^ appropriations only." �The capital C in "court of claims" bas been dropped in printing bpth the Revised Statutes and the General Statutes, but it was used in the original officiai publication of the constitution. Debates Ken- tufcky Convention, 1097-1136. ��� �