It is insisted by the plaintiff in error that the bonds and coupons were void, for want of authority in the board of supervisors to issue them, in consequence of insufficient notice of the election. It must be conceded, however, that if the case is to be governed by the act of March 25, 1869, there was no defect in the proceedings. But it is insisted that the act of March 4, 1869, which prescribed a notice of thirty days, by publication in a newspaper, was still binding, and was not abrogated by the act of March 25, the tenth section of which provided that the question should be submitted in such manner as the county authorities might determine.
This was the very question raised before the State court in Harding v. Rockford, Rock Island, & St. Louis Railroad Co. (65 Ill. 90); and the Supreme Court of Illinois decided that the provisions of the act of March 4 were binding, and that the election was void for want of such published notice of thirty days.
The court considered that the object of the act of March 25 was to remove the limitation as to the amount of the subscription, and to change the time for the maturity of the bonds, as imposed by the act of March 4, but not to change the time or manner of giving notice of the election; and they conclude their opinion in the following words:--
'We are of opinion that the proviso to section six (6) of the act of 4th of March is not abrogated by section ten (10) of the subsequent act. Their reconciliation, in the manner we have attempted, will best subserve the public good; and the validity of both, thus reconciled, will make the legislation more in accordance with reason, shield the legislature from an absurdity, and prevent serious consequences.
'As the election was invalid for want of sufficient notice, there was no power to make the subscription, and none was conferred by the vote to issue the bonds.'
If we accept this as the true construction of these statutes, the question then arises, whether, the bonds having been issued and acquired under the circumstances shown by the special findings of the Circuit Court, the defendant in error is entitled to recover. Is the county bound to pay the coupons in question to one who purchased them for value before maturity, and without any actual knowledge of the facts relied on to invalidate them, or of the pendency of the suit brought to have the proceedings declared void?
This involves two question: 1. Are the bonds so absolutely void, as against the county, as to be invalid under all circumstances, even in the hands of a bona fide holder for value? 2. If not, was the commencement and pendency of the suit for having the proceedings of the supervisors declared void, and preventing the issue of the bonds, such notice to all persons of their invalidity, as to defeat the title of a purchaser for value before maturity, having no actual notice of the suit, or of the objection to the bonds?
The first question is to be viewed in the light of the former decisions of this court. We have substantially held, that if a municipal body has lawful power to issue bonds or other negotiable securities, dependent only upon the adoption of certain preliminary proceedings, such as a popular election of the constituent body, the holder in good faith has a right to assume that such preliminary proceedings have taken place, if the fact be certified on the face of the bonds themselves, by the authorities whose primary duty it is to ascertain it. Commissioners of Johnson County v. January, 94 U.S. 202; Commissioners of Douglass County v. Bolles, id. 104, 108; Town of Coloma v. Eaves, 92 id. 484, 488; Lynde v. The County, 16 Wall. 6. Now, that is the case here. The bonds are executed by the board of supervisors, or, which is the same thing, by their clerk, under their order and direction. They certify on their face that they are issued in conformity with the vote of the electors of said county, cast at an election held on the twenty-third day of September, 1869. This, according to the cases, is a sufficient authentication of the fact that an election was duly held, to protect a bona fide holder for value.