12 , · • rnnmmn amponrmn.
I act No. 164, § 67, they provide that "any bond, mortgage, note,
contract, account, or other demand belonging to any person not being
a resident of the city of New Orleans, which shall be sent to said city
for collection, or shall be deposited in said city for said purpose, shall
be exempt from taxation."
The city charter of 1870 (article No. 7, § 15, subd. 6) specially ex-
empted from taxation the consolidated bonds, without reference to the
residence of the owner. But, independently of these legislative acts,
the law must be that in the absence of any provisions of the statute
which had entered into and formed part of the contract, giving the
right to impose a tax, bonds, or other obligations of a city, which be-
long to non-residents, could not be taxed without impairing the force
of the obligation itself; for, as a rule of law, where there is no pre-
existing legislation they have no sims except that which is imparted
by the residence of the owner, and to attemptto tax outside of that
residence is to add to the qualities of personal property that of having
an artincial and forced location, contrary to the settled rules which
govern that class of property. V
It is not necessary in these cases to consider the question of the
power of, the city to tax the debts which it owes; to those who reside
within it, whether they are represented by bonds or exist in judgments.
As to the jurisdiction of this court: In one of the cases the judg-
ment was obtained in this court; in the other, in the state court. In
the case pending here this court has jurisdiction to protect the judg-
ment, which is the right of the plaintiff to recover a certain amount
of money from all illegalprocedures on the part of the debtor which
assert da lien, and, if not arrested, might end in a complete divestiture
of title. In the case pending in the court of the state the amount,
with the interest claimed, will, before the proceedings to enforce the
tax culminate, make more than the sum of $500, which is required ’
to give this court jurisdiction in an original suit.
The demurrer in each case is therefore overruled, and the defend-
ants may have until next rule—day to answer. _