8 _ FEDERAL nnronrnn.
seize and take possession of the income and revenues of said company until
· i the amount of said defaults shall be fully paid up and satisfied, with costs of
sequestration, after which said treasurer shall release the further revenues of
said company to its proper oHicers."
“Sec. 12. At the next general election to be holden under the provisions of
section 3 of article 15 of the constitution of this state, the proper oiiicers having
charge of such election shall upona poll, as in other cases, take and receive
the ballots of the electors qualified to vote for oflicers at such election for and
against this act, in compliance with section 6 of article 10 of the constitution,-
such ballot to contain the words, *}.<`or Railroadsf or 'Against. Railroads? and
if it appear that a majorityso voting have voted ‘For Railroads} this act
shall immediately become operative and have full force, and all laws hereto-
fore passed for loaning the credit of this state in aid of railroads shall cease
and be void; but if a majority shall be found to have voted Against Rail-
roads,’ this act shall be void and of no eii'ect."
The election mentioned in section 12 was held on the third of No-
vember, 1868, and a large majorityof the votes cast were "for rail-
roads." The general assembly whichpassed this act adjourned on
the twenty-third of July, 1868, to meet on the seventeenth of Novem-
,ber, 1868, and it did meet at that time, and did not adjourn sine die
until the tenth day of April, 1869.
Another act on the same subject was passed, and went into effect
on the tenth day of April, 1869, the material portions of which are
set out in the opinion. State aid was awarded to the defendant, the V
Little Rock & Ft. Smith Railroad Company, to the amount of $1, 500,-
000, and bonds to the amount of $1,000,000 issued. After the bonds
had been issued to and negotiated by the railroad company, the su-
preme court of the state, in 1877, decided they were unconstitutional
and void, upon the ground that the act of July 21, 1868, was not in
force when the election was held, in pursuance of the twelfth section of
the act, to take the sense of the people at the ballot-box on the ques-
tion of loaning the credit of the state, as required by section 6 of
article 10 of the constitution. The reasoning by which this result
was reached was as follows: The constitution provided that "no pub-
lic act shall take effect or be in force until 90 days from the expira-
tion of the sessionat which the same is passed, unless it is otherwise
provided in the act;" and the court held that the adjournment of the
general assembly on the twenty-third of July, to meet the seventeenth
of November next, was not an "expira.tion of the session" within the ,
meaning of this clause of the constitution, and that the provison in
the act itseltfor holding an election under it did not sufficiently evince
the legislative intent that it should be in force and effect for that pur-
pose, and that an act could only be made to take effect before the