It is conceded that the relator's judgment, which he is now seeking to collect, was founded upon municipal obligations of Cape Girardeau county, issued under the authority of an act to facilitate the construction of railroads in the state of Missouri, which took effect March 23, 1868. Laws Mo. 1868, p. 92. The second section of that act is as follows: 'Sec. 2. In r der to meet the payments on account of the subscription to the stock according to its terms, or to pay the interest and principal on any bond which may be issued on account of such subscription, the county court shall from time to time levy and cause to be collected, in the same manner as county taxes, a special tax, which shall be levied on all the real estate lying within the township making the subscription in accordance with the valuation then last made by the county assessor for county purposes.'
It will be observed that the tax authorized by this section of the statute of 1868, under which the bonds were issued, is to be levied on the real estate within the township only, and not upon the personal property, including statements of merchants and manufacturers doing business in the township. But this levy upon personal property and merchants' licenses, in addition to real estate, is authorized by an amendment passed March 10, 1871. 1 Wag. St. 1872, p. 313, § 52. As thus amended, the section reads as follows: 'In order to meet the payments on account of the subscription to the stock according to its terms, or to pay the interest and principal on any bond which may be issued on account of such subscription, the county court shall, from time to time, levy and cause to be collected, in the same manner as county taxes, a special tax, which shall be levied on all the real estate and personal property, including all statements of merchants doing business within said * * * township, * * * lying and being within the township making the subscription, in accordance with the valuation then last made by the county assessor for county purposes,' etc.
That the relator was entitled to a tax levied in pursuance of this amended section, his judgment having been obtained while it was in force, was adjudged in his favor by the circuit court when he obtained his peremptory mandamus against the judges of the county court requiring them to levy the tax, the collection of which he is now seeking to enforce by the present proceeding. The question was also directly adjudged in his favor by this court in the case of Cape Girardeau Co. Court v. Hill, 118 U.S. 68, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 951. In that case it was said: 'The township having legally incurred an obligation to pay the bonds in question, it was competent for the legislature at any time to make provision for its being met by taxation upon any kind of property within the township that was subject to taxation for public purposes.'
Having obtained his judgment while that act remained in force, and having obtained by the judgment of the circuit court an actual levy of a tax according to its provisions, his right thereto became thereby vested so as not to be affected by a subsequent repeal of the statute. But on March 8, 1879, the general assembly of the state of Missouri passed an act, found in sections 6798, 6799, and 6800 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri of 1879, which read as follows:
'Sec. 6798. Taxes, how Assessed, Levied, and Collected. The followingnamed taxes shall hereafter be assessed, levied, and collected in the several counties in this state, and only in the manner and not to exceed the rates prescribed by the constitution and laws of this state, viz., the state tax and the tax necessary to pay the funded or bonded debt of the state, the tax for current county expenditures, and for schools.