82 Mo. 185 (Mo. 1884), State ex rel. Harvey v. Cook

• Citation: 82 Mo. 185
• Opinion Judge: SHERWOOD, J.
• Party Name: THE STATE ex rel. HARVEY v. COOK, Appellant.
• Attorney: W. B. Martindale for appellant. Bryan & Sanders for respondent.
• Court: Supreme Court of Missouri

Page 185

82 Mo. 185 (Mo. 1884)

THE STATE ex rel. HARVEY

v.

COOK, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

April Term, 1884

Appeal from Andrew Circuit Court. --HON. H. S. KELLEY, Judge.

REVERSED.

W. B. Martindale for appellant.

The assessment for 1873 was not verified as required by law. Wag. Stat., § 61, chap. 118. It is nowhere provided that the assessment may be divided into two books, nor that a certificate attached to one book shall sufficiently authenticate some other book. One book, the land assessment one, must be treated as not certified to. Newell v. Smith, 38 Wis. 39. For 1874 no assessment whatever of lands was made or returned. The assessment of 1873 could not supply the place of a new assessment altogether for 1874. Wag. Stat. 1872, chap. 118, §§ 38, 61, 65. There being no land assessment for 1874, no land tax book could be made, and the tax assumed to be levied for that year was void. Cooley on Taxation, p. 259; Thurston v. Little, 3 Mass. 429; Mason v. Whitney, 1 Pick. 140; People v. Hastings, 29 Cal. 449.

Bryan & Sanders for respondent.

SHERWOOD, J.

Action brought in 1878 for taxes due on certain land for the years 1873 and 1874. Section 61, 2 Wag. Stat. 1170 provides that: " The assessor shall make out and return to the county court, on or before the 20th day of January in every year, a fair copy of the assessor's book, verified by his affidavit annexed thereto in the following words, etc." This section so far as quoted shows in plain and unambiguous language that there is but one book authorized by this section, and further on the section shows that the book to be made out by the assessor is to contain lists of both real and personal property. This section was not obeyed in the present case. The assessor when making out his book for the year 1873 made out two instead of one. That relating to personal property was verified as required by law, except that the words, " foregoing books," were used in the affidavit " annexed thereto," but there was no affidavit annexed to the book which contained the land list and, of course, there was no verification of that list or that book. Sec. 38, chap. 118, Wag. Stat. (Ed. 1878) reads: " The clerk of the county court shall deliver to the assessor, on or before the first day of August, 1871 and 1872, and every two years thereafter, the assessor's book of the last assessment of real estate, * * * and...