Opinion of the Court. The defences set up in the answer were: That the bonds had not been authorized by a vote of the qualified voters of the county, and no bonds had been authorized to be exchanged for the warrants of the county, and the board, therefore, never had any jurisdiction to issue them; that the bonds, and each of them, were issued in violation of § 6, art. 11, of the constitution of the State, and the debt which they assumed to fund was contracted in violation of said provision of the constitution; and that the bonds were issued by the board of county commissioners without any consideration valid in law, as plaintiff well knew when he received the coupons sued on. A demurrer to the answer on the ground that it was not a sufficient defence to the action, was sustained by the Circuit Court, and, the defendants electing to stand by their pleading, judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff for the full amount of his claim, with interest. 33 Fed. Rep. 614. This writ of error is prosecuted to review that judgment. The ground upon which the Circuit Court based its decision and judgment was that the county should be estopped, by the recitals in the bonds, from pleading the defences set up in the answer. The act of the legislature, under the authority of which the bonds were issued, is set out in the margin. It is the same 1 SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the county commissioners of any county having a floating indebtedness exceeding ten thousand dollars, upon the petition of fifty of the electors of said counties [county,] who shall have paid taxes upon property assessed to them in said county in the preceding year, to publish, for the period of thirty days, in a newspaper published within said county, a notice requesting the holders of the warrants of such county to submit, in writing, to the board of county commissioners, within thirty days from date of the first publication of such notice, a statement of the amount of the warrants of such county, which they will exchange at par, and accrued interest for the bonds of such county, to be issued under the provisions of this act, taking such bonds at par. It shall be the duty of such board of county commissioners, at the next general election occurring after the expiration of thirty days from the date of the first publication of the notice aforementioned, upon the petition of fifty of the electors of such county who shall have paid taxes upon property assessed to them in said county in the preceding year, to submit to the vote of the qualified electors of such county who shall have paid taxes on prop Opinion of the Court. act under which certain bonds were issued by Lake County, Colorado, which bonds were under consideration in Lake erty assessed to them in said county in the preceding year, the question whether the board of county commissioners shall issue bonds of such county, under the provisions of this act, in exchange, at par, for the warrants of such county issued prior to the date of the first publication of the aforesaid notice; or they may submit such question at a special election, which they are hereby empowered to call for that purpose, at any time after the expiration of thirty days from the date of the first publication of the notice aforementioned, on the petition of fifty qualified electors as aforesaid; and they shall publish, for the period of at least thirty days immediately preceding such general or special election, in some newspaper published within such county, a notice that such question will be submitted to the duly qualified electors as aforesaid, at such election. The county treasurer of such county shall make out and cause to be delivered to the judges of election, in each election precinct in the county, prior to the said election, a certified list of the taxpayers in such county who shall have paid taxes upon property assessed to them in such county in the preceding year: and no person shall vote upon the question of the funding of the county indebtedness unless his name shall appear upon such list, nor unless he shall have paid all county taxes assessed against him in such county in the preceding year. If a majority of the votes lawfully cast upon the question of such funding of the floating county indebtedness shall be for the funding of such indebtedness, the board of county commissioners may issue to any person or corporation holding any county warrant or warrants issued prior to the date of the first publication of the aforementioned notice coupon bonds of such county in exchange therefor, at par. No bonds shall be issued of less denomination than one hundred dollars, and if issued for a greater amount, then for some multiple of that sum, and the rate of interest shall not exceed eight per cent per annum. The interest to be paid semi-annually, at the office of the county treasurer, or in the city of New York, at the option of the holders thereof. Such bonds to be payable at the pleasure of the county, after ten years from the date of their issuance, but absolutely due and payable twenty years after date of issue. The whole amount of bonds issued under this act shall not exceed the sum of the county indebtedness at the date of the first publication of the aforementioned notice, and the amount shall be determined by the county commissioners, and a certificate made of the same, and made a part of the records of the county; and any bond issued in excess of said sum shall be null and void; and all bonds issued under the provisions of this act shall be registered in the office of the state auditor, to whom a fee of ten cents shall be paid for recording each bond. SEC. 2. All bonds which may be issued under the provisions of this act shall be signed by the chairman of the board of county commissioners, countersigned by the county treasurer of the county, and attested by the clerk of said county, and bear the seal of the county upon each bond, and Opinion of the Court. County v. Graham, 130 U. S. 674. The bonds in that case were quite similar to those now under consideration, differing shall be numbered and registered in a book kept for that purpose by the county treasurer, in the order in which they are issued; each bond shall state upon its face the amount for which the same is issued, to whom issued and the date of its issuance. SEC. 3. The county commissioners shall be authorized to prescribe the form of such bonds and the coupons thereto, and to provide for the halfyearly interest accruing on such bonds actually issued and delivered; they shall levy annually a sufficient tax to fully discharge such interest, and for the ultimate redemption of such bonds they shall levy annually, after nine years from the date of such issuance, such tax upon all the taxable property in their county as shall create a yearly fund equal to ten (10) per cent of the whole amount of such bonds issued, which fund shall be called the redemption fund. And all taxes for interest on and for the redemption of such bonds shall be paid in cash only, and shall be kept by the county treasurer as a special fund, to be used in payment of interest on and for the redemption of such bonds only; and such taxes shall be levied and collected as other taxes. SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the county treasurer, when there are sufficient funds in his hands to the credit of the redemption fund, to pay in full the principal and interest of any such bonds, immediately to call in and pay as many of such bonds, and accrued interest thereon, as the funds on hand will liquidate, as hereinbefore provided. Such bond or bonds shall be paid in the order of their number; and when any bonds or coupons issued under this act are taken up, it shall be the duty of such treasurer to certify his action to the board of county commissioners, who shall cancel the same, so that they can be plainly identified, and cause a record to be made of the same; and when it is desired to redeem any of such bonds, the county treasurer shall cause to be published for thirty days, in some newspaper at or nearest the county seat of the county, and in a newspaper published in the city of Denver, a notice that certain county bonds by numbers and amounts will be paid upon presentation, and at the expiration of thirty days such bonds shall cease to bear interest. SEC. 5. All persons voting on the question as herein before provided shall vote by separate ballot, which shall be deposited in a box to be used for that purpose only, and on which ballot shall be printed the words, "For funding county debt," or "Against funding county debt;" and if, upon canvassing to [the] vote (which shall be canvassed in the same manner as the vote for county officers), it shall appear that a majority of all votes cast upon the question so submitted are for funding the county debt, then the county commissioners shall be authorized to carry out the provisions of this act, and the canvassing board shall certify the vote, and it shall be made part of the county records. The judges of election shall make and certify to the clerk of the county a separate list of the names of the electors voting upon the Opinion of the Court. only, as regards their recitals, in this, that the bonds here contain the additional recital that "the total amount of this issue does not exceed the limit prescribed by the constitution of the State of Colorado," and do not show upon their face, as did those in that case, how many bonds were issued, or how large each series was. The provision of the constitution of 1876, referred to, both in this case and in that, (art. 11, sec. 6,) is as follows: "No county shall contract any debt by loan in any form, except for the purpose of erecting necessary public buildings, making or repairing public roads and bridges; and such indebtedness contracted in any one year shall not exceed the rates upon the taxable property in such county following, to wit: counties in which the assessed valuation of taxable property shall exceed five millions of dollars, one dollar and fifty cents on each thousand dollars thereof; counties in which such valuation shall be less than five millions of dollars, three dollars on each thousand dollars thereof; and the aggregate amount of indebtedness of any county, for all purposes, exclusive of debts contracted before the adoption of this constitution, shall not at any time exceed twice the amount above herein limited, unless when, in manner provided by law, the question of incurring such debt shall, at a general election, be submitted to such of the qualified electors of such county as in the year last preceding such election shall have paid a tax upon property assessed to them in such county, and a majority of those voting thereon shall vote in favor of incurring the debt; but the bonds, if any be issued therefor, shall not run less than ten years; and the aggregate amount of debt so contracted shall not at any time exceed twice the rate upon the valuation last herein mentioned; Provided, That this section shall not apply to counties having a valuation of less than one million of dollars." We held in that case that the county was not estopped from question of the funding of the county indebtedness in the order in which the ballot of the elector so voting is received, and each ballot shall be numbered in the order in which it is received, and the number recorded and [on] the said list of voters opposite the name of the voter who presents the ballot. Laws 1881, p. 85, §§ 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. -- Opinion of the Court. pleading the constitutional limitation, because there was no recital in the bonds in regard to it, and because, also, the bonds showing upon their face that they were issued to the amount of $500,000, the purchaser, having that data before him, was bound to ascertain from the records the total assessed valuation of the taxable property of the county, and determine for himself, by a simple arithmetical calculation, whether the issue was in harmony with the constitution; and that the bonds, having been issued in violation of that provision of the constitution, were not valid obligations of the county. Our decision was based largely upon the ruling of this court in Dixon County v. Field, 111 U. S. 83. To the views expressed in that case we still adhere; and the only question for us now to consider, therefore, is: Do the additional recital in these bonds, above set out, and the absence from their face of anything showing the total number issued of each series, and the total amount in all, estop the county from pleading the constitutional limitation? In our opinion these two features are of vital importance in distinguishing this case from Lake County v. Graham and Dixon County v. Field, and are sufficient to operate as an estoppel against the county. Of course, the purchaser of bonds in open market was bound to take notice of the constitutional limitation on the county with respect to indebtedness which it might incur. But when, upon the face of the bonds, there was an express recital that that limitation had not been passed, and the bonds themselves did not show that it had, he was bound to look no further. An examination of any particular bond would not disclose, as it would in the Lake County Case, and in Dixon County v. Field, that, as a matter of fact, the constitutional limitation had been exceeded, in the issue of the series of bonds. The purchaser might even know, indeed it may be admitted that he would be required to know, the assessed valuation of the taxable property of the county, and yet he could not ascertain by reference to one of the bonds and the assessment roll whether the county had exceeded its power, under the constitution, in the premises. True, if a purchaser had seen the whole issue of each series of bonds and |