Bloxham v. Consumers' Elec. Light & Street R. Co.

• Citation: 18 So. 444,36 Fla. 519
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida
• Decision Date: 18 October 1895
• Parties: BLOXHAM, Comptroller v. CONSUMERS' ELECTRIC LIGHT & STREET RAILROAD CO.

18 So. 444

36 Fla. 519

BLOXHAM, Comptroller v. CONSUMERS' ELECTRIC LIGHT & STREET RAILROAD CO.

Florida Supreme Court

October 18, 1895

Appeal from circuit court, Hillsborough county; Barron Phillips Judge.

Bill by the Consumers' Electric Light & Street Railroad Company against W. D. Bloxham, comptroller, for an injunction. From a decree overruling a demurrer to the bill, and granting a temporary writ, defendant appears. Reversed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

1. The word 'railroad,' in its broadest signification includes a street railroad. When the word is used in a statute, there is no definite rule of construction as to whether it includes street railroads. It may, or it may not include them. The meaning of the word must depend upon the context and the general intent of the statute in which it is used.

2. Besides judicial construction of statutes there is known to the law another kind of construction. This kind of construction has especial application to statutes for the regulation of the different departments of the government and is the interpretation put upon them by the actual administration of them by such departments. As distinguished from judicial construction, it is called the practical construction of statutes.

3. A practical construction of a statute by a governmental department, while not of such high authority as a judicial interpretation of the act. is, when not in conflict with the constitution or the plain intent of the act, of great persuasive force and efficacy.

4. The contention is made that a street railroad extending along the streets of a single city, and wholly located within a single county, is not a railroad in the contemplation of our statute, requiring railroads to be assessed for taxation by the comptroller of the state, and that the same can be assessed for taxes only by the county tax assessor. For more than 12 years past, the comptroller of the state has, under the act in question, or acts of similar import, assessed all railroads for taxation, including street railroads located in a single city and county. The taxes have always been paid to the state upon such street railroads, upon such assessments, without objection. The legislature, with knowledge of such practice, has several times repealed the statute containing such provision, and passed other acts, containing similar provisions; thousands of dollars having been collected under such assessments, and no objection made, and no attack upon the validity of the same. Held, that such practical construction of the act by an executive department of the government is a matter of which the court can take judicial notice, and that, under the circumstances stated, the greatest deference and respect should be paid to the same, and that the same should not be interfered with.

5. The courts cannot enjoin an officer of the state from the collection of the state's taxes merely because they think he might adopt a mode which would be fairer and more equitable, if the mode he is pursuing is authorized by the statute. It is only when the tax is illegal, or is being illegally collected, that an injunction should be granted.

6. The state's lien for taxes, having attached by the assessment of the property, cannot be divested by a subsequent judicial sale and proceeding in which the state is not a party, even though the decree under which the sale was made direct that the property be sold free from all liens and incumbrances. In such a case the lien continues until the taxes are paid, and a bill of complaint, not alleging a payment or a tender of the taxes, is demurrable.

7. Private parties have no right, in proceedings in which the state is not a party by consent, to have a decree entered which will divest it of its statutory tax lien upon the property involved in the suit, and force it to collect its taxes in some other manner than that prescribed by the statute. No court has jurisdiction or authority to enter a decree to such effect. The state, by its legislature, has ample power to choose its own method of collecting its taxes, and, when the method chosen violates no constitutional provision, no court can require it to adopt any other method.

COUNSEL

William B. Lamar, Atty. Gen., and W. A. Carter, State Atty., for appellant.

P. O. Knight, for appellee.

OPINION

LIDDON, J.

The appellee, who was complainant in the court below, brought its bill of complaint to enjoin the appellant, defendant below from selling a certain line of street railroad for the payment of certain state and county taxes. The property in question is an electric street railroad located upon certain streets of the city of Tampa, and wholly situated within the county of Hillsborough. The taxes sought to be collected are for the year 1893, and have not been paid. The property was levied upon, and a sale thereof advertised. A demurrer to the bill of complaint, for general want of equity, and upon other grounds, was overruled, and a temporary injunction granted, restraining the sale of the property. The appeal is taken from these orders.

Without attempting to give, even in a digested form, the allegations of the bill of complaint, it is sufficient to say that two principal grounds are set forth why the proceedings to sell the property should be enjoined. Inverting the order in which they are stated in the bill of complaint, these reasons, briefly stated, are as follows: (1) That the assessment of the property by the comptroller, under the statute regulating the assessment of railroads, was null and void, and that the same should have been assessed by the county tax assessor under the general statutes for the assessment of real and personal property. (2) That the property, after assessment, passed out of the hands of the parties owning it at the time of such assessment, and was sold at a judicial sale, in proceedings to which the state was not a party; that the order under which such sale was made directed 'that the same be sold free from any mortgages, judgments, mechanics', laborers', material men's, and other liens or incumbrances of any kind whatsoever, and that all parties consented thereto'; that the property sold for a large sum of money, which was paid into the registry of the court, where it still remained; that such sale was confirmed, and a deed made to the purchaser, conveying the property to him in fee simple, free from all liens and incumbrances; that the complainant is now the owner of the property; that the property was sold pendente lite, and that it was the intention of said sale that the money for which said property should be sold should be brought into court, and should represent the property, and that any liens and incumbrances whatever existing against the same should be paid out of said fund, and that said property should be sold free from any and all liens and incumbrances whatever. Wherefore, it is claimed that the property should not be held liable for the taxes, but that the same should be paid out of the founds in the registry of the court.

Under the first objection, that the assessment of the property by the comptroller, under the statute regulating the assessment of railroads, was illegal and void, it is urged that a street railway extending over the streets of a single city, and wholly located within the limits of a single county, is not a 'railroad,' within the meaning of the word as used in the statute. If a street railroad is not a railroad, in contemplation of the statute, the assessment is illegal, but if it is such a railroad, the assessment is legal and proper. The question presented requires an examination of the statute. Sections 48, 49, c. 4115, Laws Fla. (Act 1893). The forty-eighth section of the act provides, among other things, in substance, that certain officers of a railroad company, or the 'receiver of any railroad, whose track or roadbed, or any part thereof, is in this state,' shall annually make a return to the comptroller of the state under oath, showing the total length and value of such road, including branches, side tracks, lots, part of lots, terminal facilities, etc., in this state; the total length and value thereof in each county, city, or incorporated town, and the number and value of all locomotives, engines, cars, etc. If such return is not made, or the same, when made, is not satisfactory to the comptroller, then he, with the assistance and advice of the attorney general and treasurer of the state, has the power to assess the property from the best information obtainable, specifying the values in each county. The value of the rolling stock is apportioned to each county pro rata, the length of the track, branches, and side tracks in the same, and the respective county assessors, and the authorities of cities and towns, notified accordingly; and, upon the valuation thus apportioned, the taxes shall be assessed as upon the property of individuals. The forty-ninth section, among other things, provides that the comptroller, upon certificates showing default of payment in any county, shall have the power to issue a warrant directed to the sheriff of any county where such defaulting railroad, or any part thereof, is located, by which such sheriff is authorized to sell the entire road, or such part thereof as may be necessary, to pay such taxes and the costs and expenses of sale. The proceeds of such sale are to be divided among the counties where such taxes are due. The legislature, expecially in the forty-eighth section, seems to assume that every railroad in this state extends into, and is situated in, more than one county thereof. The forty-ninth section, however, implies that a railroad may be wholly located in one county. It is plain that the purpose and intention of the act is that railroads, and the...