The Virginia Code of 1873, § 60, provides that 'no person shall, without a license authorized by law, practice as an attorney;' and section 61, that 'every attorney at law, in addition to being licensed, sworn and admitted to presecute or defend actions or other proceedings in the courts of this common wealth, on the retainer of clients, shall obtain a revenue license, and no person shall act as attorney at law or practice law in the courts of this commonwealth without a separate revenue license.' This revenue license, it will be observed, is different from and in addition to the license to practice law, given only to such as on examination, as to their character and acquirements, are found to be duly qualified therefor. The amount of this revenue license was fixed by an act of March 15, 1884, at $15 for those who had been licensed to practice for less than five years, and at $25 for all others. Section 86 of chapter 34 of the Virginia Code of 1873 provides that 'any person who shall engage in or exercise any business, employment, or profession, without a license, if a license be required by law, or shall in any manner violate the license or revenue laws of the state, if no specific fine is imposed for such violation, shall pay a fine of not less than thirty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.' The act of February 7, 1884, (Acts Va. 1883-84, p. 120,) enacts that no application for a license to do any business, or to follow any profession, trade, or calling, in that state, shall be made, and, if made, shall not be considered, except upon compliance with its provisions, which, among other things, require that the amount of the assessment prescribed by law as a condition precedent shall accompany the application, in gold or silver coin, United States treasury notes, or national bank notes. Section 112 of the act of March 15, 1884, (Acts Va. 1883-84, p. 603,) also provides that 'applications for licenses shall be made, and all taxes assessed by chapter one of this act shall be paid in lawful money of the United States, in the mode and subject to the provisions of an act to regulate the granting of licenses, approved the seventh day of February, 1884,' etc.
By the terms of the act of March 30, 1871, the coupons tendered in this case were made receivable for 'all taxes, debts, dues, and demands due the state,' and this stipulation, as has been repeatedly decided by the court of appeals of Virginia and by this court, constituted a contract between the coupon-holder and the state of Virginia, the obligation of which the state is forbidden to impair by the constitution of the United States; and any law of the state which would have that effect, if enforced, is thereby annulled and made void. To this point are the cases of Antoni v. Wright, 22 Grat. 833; Wise v. Rogers, 24 Grat. 169, and Clarke v. Tyler, 30 Grat. 134, in the court of appeals of Virginia; and in this court the cases of Hartman v. Greenhow, 102 U.S. 672; Antoni v. Greenhow, 107 U.S. 769; S.C.. 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 91; and Poindexter v. Greenhow, 114 U.S. 270; S.C.. 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 903. In Hartman v. Greenhow, ubi supra, it was shown that the consideration for this stipulation was a surrender by its creditors of one-third of their claim against the state. In Antoni v. Greenhow, 107 U.S. 769, S.C.. 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 91, it was said: 'The right of the coupon-holder is to have his coupon received for taxes when offered;' and page 771: 'Any act of the state which forbids the receipt of these coupons for taxes is a violation of the state which and void as against coupon-holders.' In Poindexter v. Greenhow, 114 U.S. 270, 281, S.C.. 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 903, no point in which was reopened in the argument of this cause, it was said: 'It is well settled by many decisions of this court that, for the purpose of affecting proceedings to enforce the payment of taxes, a lawful tender of payment is equivalent to actual payment, either being sufficient to deprive the collecting officer of all authority for further action, and making every subsequent step illegal and void,'-a proposition founded on the authority of Woodruff v. Trapnall, 10 How. 190; U.S. v. Lee, 106 U.S. 196; S.C.. 1 Sup. Ct. Rep. 240; Bennett v. Hunter, 9 Wall. 326; Tacey v. Irwin, 18 Wall. 549; Atwood v. Weems, 99 U.S. 183; and Hills v. Exchange Bank, 105 U.S. 319.