Opinion of the Court.

v. Anderson, 21 How. 386; Walker v. Kynett, 32 Iowa, 524; Rice v. State, 3 Banks (Kansas), 141; Lindsay v. McClelland, 1 Bibb, 262; Bent's Ex'r v. Graves, 3 McCord, 280; Foley v. People, Breese, 57; Falkenburgh v. Cramer, Coxe, 31; Parker v. Munday, Coxe, 70; Ballance v. Forsyth, 21 How. 389; Jackson v. Ashton, 8 Pet. 148; Kansas City, &c., R. R. Co. v. Nelson, 62 Mo. 585; State v. Judge, &c., 21 La. Ann. 258. III. Notwithstanding the accused confessed his guilt, he is not estopped from now controverting the jurisdiction of the court before which he was tried. Duffield v. Smith, 3 Serg. and Rawle, 589.

Mr. Attorney-General for the United States.

MR. JUSTICE BLATCHFORD delivered the opinion of the court. He recited the facts in the language used above, and then said:

So far as regards the time after June 15th, 1877, the fact that Goldman was appointed by the president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, a second lieutenant in the 5th cavalry, in the place of the appellant, from June 15th 1877, and was commissioned as such, and accepted and held the appointment, is a bar to the suit of the appellant. It was held by this court, in Blake v. United States, 103 U. S. 227, that the president has the power to supersede or remove an officer of the army by the appointment of another in his place, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, and that such power was not withdrawn by the provision of § 5 of the act of July 13th, 1866, c. 176, 14 Stat. 92, now embodied in § 1229 of the Revised Statutes, that "no officer in the military or naval service shall, in time of peace, be dismissed from service, except upon and in pursuance of the sentence of a court-martial to that effect, or in commutation thereof." It was held that this provision did not restrict the power of the president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to displace officers of the army or navy, by the appointment of others in their places.

In regard to the rest of the time covered by the suit, it be

Opinion of the Court.

comes necessary to decide the question raised as to the validity of the sentence of the court-martial. It is contended for the appellant that the court-martial had no jurisdiction to try him; that the fact that he made no objection to any member of the court was not a consent upon his part which conferred jurisdiction on the court-martial; and that the fact that Colonel Merritt was prosecutor, witness and judge rendered the proceedings of the court-martial void. The position is taken that, although there is no statute or regulation which forbids what was done in this case, the sentence of a court-martial in which one of the judges is prosecutor and witness is absolutely void, and that neither what the appellant said nor what he omitted to say, at the time, can cure the defect in the organization of the court.

That the court-martial, as a general court-martial, had cognizance of the charges made, and had jurisdiction of the person of the appellant, is not disputed. This being so, whatever irregularities or errors are alleged to have occurred in the proceedings, the sentence of dismissal must be held valid when it is questioned in this collateral way. Thompson v. Tolmie, 2 Peters, 157; Voorhees v. Bank of United States, 10 id. 449; Cornett v. Williams, 20 Wallace, 226, 249. This doctrine has been applied by this court to the judgment and sentence of a naval general court-martial, which was sought to be reviewed on a writ of habeas corpus. Ex parte Reed, 100 U. S. 13.

Where there is no law authorizing the court-martial, or where the statutory conditions as to the constitution or jurisdiction of the court are not observed, there is no tribunal authorized by law to render the judgment. Of that character are the authorities cited and relied on by the appellant; but they do not apply to the present case.

Under the foregoing views, we express no opinion as to the propriety of the proceedings of the court-martial in the respects in which they are assailed.

The judgment of the court of claims is affirmed.

MR. JUSTICE FIELD did not sit in this case or take part in its decision.

Syllabus.

BERNARDS TOWNSHIP v. STEBBINS, Executor.

SAME v. MORRISON and another.

APPEALS FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.

Argued November 7th, 8th, 1883.—Decided November 26th, 1883.

Equity-Jurisdiction-Municipal Bonds-Municipal Corporations-PartiesStatutes.

If commissioners, authorized by statute to subscribe in the corporate name of a town for stock in a railroad company, and, upon obtaining the consent of a certain majority of taxpayers, to issue bonds of the town under the hands and seals of the commissioners, and to sell the bonds and invest the proceeds of the sale in stock of the railroad company, which shall be held by the town with all the rights of other stockholders, issue, without obtaining the requisite consent of taxpayers, to the railroad company, in exchange for stock, such bonds signed by the commissioners, but on which the seals are omitted by oversight and mistake; and the town sets up the want of seals in defence of an action at law afterwards brought against it by one who has purchased such bonds for value, in good faith, and without observing the omission, to recover interest on the bonds; a court of equity, at his suit, will decree that the bonds be held as valid as if actually sealed before being issued, and will restrain the setting up of the want of seals in the action at law.

A bill in equity in the Circuit Court of the United States against a town in one State by a citizen of another, for relief against the accidental omission of seals from bonds of the defendant, payable to bearer, and held by the plaintiff, some of which are owned by him, and others of which are owned in different amounts, part by citizens of the State in which the town is, and part by citizens of other States, and have been transferred to him by the real owners for the mere purpose of being sued, should be dismissed, under the act of March 3d, 1875, c. 137, § 5, so far as regards all bonds held by citizens of the same State as the defendant, and bonds held by a citizen of another State to a less amount than $500.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Mr. Alvah A. Clark and Mr. Thos. N. McCarter for ap pellants Stebbins and Morrison and another.

Mr. H. C. Pitney for Stebbins, appellee.

Mr. Courtlandt Parker for appellees Morrison and another.

Opinion of the Court.

MR. JUSTICE GRAY delivered the opinion of the court.

These are appeals by a township in New Jersey from decrees of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey, upon bills in equity by the appellees for relief against the accidental omission of seals on its bonds. The facts, appearing by the record, are as follows:

By the general laws of New Jersey, the inhabitants of each township in the State are a body politic and corporate, by the name of "The Inhabitants of the township of

county of

in the

-"Rev. Stat. of N. J. of 1877, 1191. On the 9th of April, 1868, the legislature of New Jersey passed a statute entitled "An Act to authorize certain towns in the counties of Somerset, Morris, Essex and Union to issue bonds and take stock in the Passaic Valley & Peapack Railroad Company," the first section of which directed the circuit court of either of those counties, on the application of twelve or more freeholders and residents of any township therein, situated along the route of the railroad, to appoint three "commissioners for such township to carry into effect the purposes and provisions of this act." The next two sections are as follows:

"SEC. 2. It shall be lawful for said commissioners to borrow, on the faith and credit of their respective townships, such sum of money, not exceeding ten per centum of the valuation of the real estate and landed property of such township, to be ascertained by the assessment rolls thereof respectively for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, for a term not exceeding twenty-five years, at a rate of interest not exceeding seven per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, and to execute bonds therefor, under their hands and seals respectively; the bonds so to be executed may be in such sums, and payable at such times and places, as the said commissioners and their successors may deem expedient; but no such debt shall be contracted or bonds issued by said commissioners of or for either of said townships, until the written consent shall have been obtained of the majority of the taxpayers of such township, or their legal representatives, appearing upon the last assessment roll, as shall represent a majority of the landed property of such township (including lands owned by non-residents) appearing upon the last assessment roll of such

Opinion of the Court.

township; such consent shall state the amount of money authorized to be raised in such township, and that the same is to be invested in the stock of the said railroad company, and the signatures shall be proved by one or more of the commissioners; the fact that the persons signing such consent are a majority of the taxpayers of such township, and represent a majority of the real property of such township, shall be proved by the affidavit of the assessor of such township, indorsed upon or annexed to such written consent, and the assessor of such township is hereby required to perform such service; such consent and affidavit shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which such township is situated, and a certified copy thereof in the town clerk's office of such township, and the same or a certified copy thereof shall be evidence of the facts therein contained, and received as evidence in any court in this State, and before any judge or justice thereof.

"SEC. 3. The said commissioners authorized by this act may, in their discretion, dispose of such bonds, or any part thereof, to such persons or corporations and upon such terms as they shall deem most advantageous for their said township, but not for less than par; and the money that shall be raised by any loan or sale of bonds shall be invested in the stock of said railroad company for the purpose of building the aforesaid railroad, and said money shall be applied and used in the construction of said railroad, its buildings, equipment and necessary appurtenances, and for no other purpose; the commissioners respectively, in the corporate name of each of their said townships, shall subscribe for and purchase stock in said railroad company, to the amount they may have severally borrowed as aforesaid; and by virtue of such subscription or purchase of stock, upon receiving certificates for the amount of said stock so subscribed for or purchased by them, the said townships shall acquire all the rights and privileges respectively of other stockholders of said company, and it shall be lawful for the commissioners provided for in this act, or either of them, with the consent of the others, or a majority of the said commissioners, to participate in and to act in all the regular and legally authorized meetings of the stockholders, and either of them may act as director of said company if he shall be duly elected as such."

By § 4, the commissioners were directed to report annually