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of this article, and substitute others in their place, except sections * * * * * * 99 9

Carrying out the power thus bestowed upon it, the general assembly, in 1878, passed the county government act by which the township officers were abolished, and it was provided "that no township have or exercise any corporate powers whatever, unless allowed by act of the general assembly to be exercised under the supervision of the board of county commissioners." (Wallace v. Trustees, 84 N. C. 164, 165; Pell's Revision 1908, ch. 23, sec. 1318, par. 30.) The result of this constitutional provision and legislation was to leave the townships nonexistent as political bodies, without officers and without corporate power, and to make them entirely dependent on legislative action, which could grant what corporate powers it chose to townships and could designate what officers it chose to exercise such powers, there being no regular township officers ready to hand. Moreover, the townships, when given corporate power for any purpose, were but divisions of the county whose commissioners fixed their boundaries (Pell's Revision, ch. 23, sec. 1318, pars. 7 and 30), and supervised the exercise of their powers (par. 30, supra). In Brown v. The Commissioners, 100 N. C. 92, 97, the supreme court of North Carolina, in construing section 14 of Article VII of the constitution, supra, said:

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"The more reasonable interpretation is, it seems to us, that the purpose was to confer upon the general assembly full power to legislate in respect to the municipal corporations, provided in the article mentioned, * that is, power to create and abolish them; to amend, modify, or repeal the laws affecting them, from time to time, as the changing circumstances, the convenience and common good of the people generally, or in particular sections or localities, may require.

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"Townships are, therefore, within the power and control of the general assembly, just as are counties, cities, towns and other municipal corporations. It may confer

upon them, or any single one of them, corporate powers, with the view to accomplish any lawful purpose, to promote the prosperity, safety, convenience, health, and common good of the people residing within them, and resorting thither, from time to time. And we can see no good reason why it may not confer such power for a single. purpose, as well as many.

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In Wittkowsky v. The Commissioners (supra), where an act authorized certain townships to issue bonds in aid of a certain company and expressly made the commissioners of the county their agents for that purpose, the supreme court, in holding that townships are embraced in the term "county" in the constitution, said (p. 95):

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* While townships and other taxing districts are sometimes referred to as quasi municipal corporations, they are but territorial sections of counties, upon which, for appropriate purposes, power is conferred to perform functions of government of local application and interest."

By an act passed by the General Assembly of North Carolina in 1885, chapter 342, it was provided, by section 8, that the board of commissioners of Person County might hold an election of the qualified voters of certain townships therein to decide whether said townships should subscribe to the capital stock of a certain railroad, and, if the decision was in favor of subscription, then (by sec. 9), in payment of said subscription, the board of commissioners of Person County should have power to issue bonds to an amount not exceeding the sum so authorized to be subscribed and said bonds should indicate on account of what township subscription they were issued and (by sec. 10) said board was authorized to levy a tax for interest and sinking fund on all the property in the township. In Jones v. The Commissioners, 107 N. C. 248, 265, in holding these bonds the valid obligations of the township, the supreme court, after stating the law in the same form in which it was laid down in Brown v. The Commissioners, added:

(6 * * And there is no reason why the statute may not require the county commissioners to order the election,

ascertain the result thereof, issue bonds and levy taxes in the township, as was done in this case. Indeed, such provision was convenient and expedient. The townships are constituent parts of the county organization, and county officers may well be charged with duties and authority in respect to debts they may be allowed by statute to contract.

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By chapter 482 of the Private Laws of North Carolina of 1907, section 61, a school district was created within the town of Carthage, an election provided for within such district, and if said election was favorable, the board of commissioners of the town were authorized to issue bonds for the territory to be signed by the mayor of the town, countersigned by the clerk of the board of commissioners, and sealed with the seal of the town.

In McLeod v. The Commissioners, 148 N. C. 77, 85, in holding these bonds the obligation of the school district and not of the town, the supreme court said:

66* * * It is clear to us that the legislature intended to establish a school district within the corporate limits of the town of Carthage and from a part of the territory of the said town for the purposes specified in the act, and that bonds should be issued, not by the town, but by the corporate authorities of the town, the board of commissioners, for and in behalf of the school district so created by the statute. It was perhaps considered more convenient and less expensive to have the board of commissioners, the treasurer and the tax collector of the town perform the several duties and functions assigned to them than to provide for the appointment or election of officers within the school district for that purpose. We can see no objection to this method of administering the affairs of the district and to the procedure adopted in order to execute the purpose the legislature had in view.

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* 99

In the light of these provisions of the constitution and laws of North Carolina and of these decisions of its supreme court by which it is established, (1) that townships have no corporate authority or officers proprio vigore; (2) that in each case an act of the general assembly must

be sought to show what corporate powers are granted and what officers are intrusted with their execution; (3) that townships, even when granted corporate powers, are but constituent parts of the county and are, therefore, normally under the jurisdiction of the county commissioners; (4) that it is an ordinary and judicious expedient to intrust the conduct of an election involving an issue of township bonds, the issuance of said bonds, and the levying of a tax to pay them to the county commissioners; we may turn to an examination of the act (ch. 922 of the Public Laws of 1907) under which the bonds about which you inquire were issued.

Section 1 provides in part

"SEC. 1. That the board of commissioners of Wilson County be and they are hereby authorized, empowered and directed to submit to a vote of the qualified voters of Wilson Township in said county, within sixty days after the ratification of this act, the question as to whether or not Wilson Township, in Wilson County and State of North Carolina, shall issue bonds in a sum not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars, with interest coupons attached, for the purpose of grading, macadamizing or otherwise permanently improving the public roads of said township; *

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Section 2 provides the method and procedure of the election. Section 4 provides for a road commission of Wilson Township. Section 6 in full is as follows:

"SEC. 6. That in the event a majority of the qualified voters of said township shall vote for good roads at said election and the result of said election shall be declared and recorded as aforesaid, the board of commissioners of Wilson County shall, at the request of the said road commissioners, have prepared bonds in denominations not exceeding one thousand dollars and not less than one hundred dollars, the total amount not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars, which bonds shall bear interest at the rate of five per centum per annum, with interest coupons attached, payable semiannually on the first day of January and on the first day of July of each year during which said bonds

shall run; that the principal of said bonds shall be payable or redeemable thirty years from the date of their issue; said bonds and coupons shall be payable at some bank to be designated by the board of commissioners of Wilson County and named on the face of the said bonds and coupons; that the said bonds shall be in such form as may be prescribed by the board of commissioners of Wilson County and shall be known and styled 'Wilson Township good road bonds'; that the said bonds shall be signed by the chairman of the board of commissioners of Wilson County and countersigned by the clerk of said board; that none of said bonds shall be valid unless and until the seal of Wilson County has been affixed thereto; that the cost and expenses of having said bonds printed and prepared shall be paid by the board of commissioners of Wilson County out of the general road fund of Wilson County and shall be charged to the account of Wilson Township; that when said bonds have been prepared and signed as aforesaid they shall be delivered to the said road commission of Wilson Township by the chairman of the board of commissioners of Wilson County, who shall take and file a receipt for the same; that that political division of Wilson County now known and designated as Wilson Township shall be liable for the payment of the said bonds and coupons, and that no change in the township lines or in the name of said township, by whatever authority made, shall release the territory now comprised within the boundaries of Wilson Township from liability for the payment of the said bonds and coupons according to their tenor; that the holder or holders of said bonds may bring suit on account of the same against the board of commissioners of Wilson County, but if any holder or holders of the said bonds or coupons shall recover judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction against the said board of commissioners of Wilson County on account of said bonds, or on account of any coupon or interest due on the same, that then that political division of Wilson County now known and designated as Wilson Township and embraced in the boundaries of said township, as now established, by what

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