Judges: OPINION OF THE COURT BY MORRIS, COMMISSIONER
Attorneys: LEE HAMILTON for appellant.
BAILEY P. WOOTTON, Attorney General, and S.H. BROWN, Assistant Attorney General, for appellees.
Filed: Jun. 21, 1935
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Affirming. The General Assembly at its regular 1934 Session enacted chapter 141, p. 559, Session Acts 1934, section 2061a-33, Baldwin's 1934 Statutes Service. Reference is made to the Session Acts, supra , for the title, which is in question. It is recited that the property formerly known as Hazelwood Sanatorium and later as the State Tuberculosis Sanatorium had theretofore been conveyed to the commonwealth to be used for the care of persons afflicted with tuberculosis. It was said that the buil
Summary: Affirming. The General Assembly at its regular 1934 Session enacted chapter 141, p. 559, Session Acts 1934, section 2061a-33, Baldwin's 1934 Statutes Service. Reference is made to the Session Acts, supra , for the title, which is in question. It is recited that the property formerly known as Hazelwood Sanatorium and later as the State Tuberculosis Sanatorium had theretofore been conveyed to the commonwealth to be used for the care of persons afflicted with tuberculosis. It was said that the build..
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I am unable to agree with that portion of the opinion of the court relating to the payment of interest on the bonds by the commonwealth. It has been held that the borrowing of money, even for governmental purposes, creates a debt within the meaning of sections 49 and 50 of the Constitution. Stanley, Governor, v. Townsend, 170 Ky. 833, 186 S.W. 941. This is obviously correct. It is immaterial whether it exceeds $500,000 or not. The debt is not contracted to meet a casual deficit or failure in the revenue, and under section 50 of the Constitution it cannot take effect until it has been submitted to the people at a general election. The metaphysics of various opinions has not changed the fundamental law as written. No one disputes the desirability — indeed necessity — of the purpose to be accomplished by the act herein involved, but in applying these constitutional provisions our motto should be "obsta principiis." Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 635,6 S. Ct. 524, 535, 29 L. Ed. 746.
