Section 107. It is held, that a municipal corporation cannot defend an action for personal injuries caused by the negligence of its municipal officers on the ground, that its indebtedness has already reached the constitutional limit. In the case of City of Bloomington vs. Perdue, 99 III., 329, the court held that the city could not raise the question as to whether it was already indebted to an amount in excess of the constitutional limitation.

This principle of law is clearly and decisively enunciated in the case of McCracken vs. San Francisco, 16 Cala., 591, where the charter of the city of San Francisco provided that ' 'the common council shall not create nor permit to accrue any debts or liabilities which in the aggregate with all former debts or liabilities, shall exceed the sum of $50,000 over and above the annual revenue of the city, unless the same shall be authorized by ordinance for some specific object."

The court held, that the provision referred only to acts or contracts of the city, and not to liabilities which the law might make it liable; and that notwithstanding the provision in the charter limiting its power to create debts or liabilities in excess of a stated amount, the city was liable for damages for personal injuries caused by the neglect of the city to keep its streets in repair.

9 Dillon, Mun. Corp. (3d Ed.), Par. 770; Horn vs. Mayor, etc., of Baltimore, 30 Md., 218.