All authority heretofore conferred for any of the said purposes,
by the general assembly or by the charter of any corporation, is
repealed, but this section shall not affect the right of any such
municipality to make a subscription already authorized or to
prevent the issue of renewal bonds, or to make other legal pro-
vision for the payment of such subscription, or of any existing
indebtedness.' (Art. 4, sec. 47; art. 9, sec. 6.)

4. Municipal Indebtedness : — No county, city, town,
township, school district or other political corporation or sub-
division of this state, shall become indebted in any manner or
for any purpose, to an amount exceeding in any year the in-
come and revenue provided for such year, without the assent
of two-thirds of the voters thereof, voting at a regular election
held for that purpose, nor in any case shall the indebtedness
of any such municipality, except for the erection of a court-
house and jail, exceed in the aggregate, five per cent of the

1 Under the constitution of 1865 the general assembly could
authorize a municipality to become a stockholder in, or loan its credit
to any company or corporation, when two-thirds of the qualified
voters of the municipality, at a regular or special election, assent there-
to. Concerning this provision there has been a great amount of discus-
sion and various judicial decisions, as to whether an act providing for
the assent of two-thirds of the voters voting, was in conflict with this
provision. The supreme court at first decided that such an act was un-
constitutional, but subsequently, in other cases, on the ground that the
state court had decided otherwise, reversed that decision and refused to
follow a later decision of the Missouri court, holding such an act uncon-
stitutional, at least as to rights accruing while a former judicial construc-
tion by the state courts existed. This was based on the settled principle
that purchasers of municipal bonds have a right to rely on the existing
decisions of the highest courts of the state. See Cass v. Johnston, 95
U. S., 360 (1877).
