Carter v. Greenhow

• Decision Date: 20 April 1885
• Citation: 114 U.S. 317,5 S.Ct. 928,29 L.Ed. 202
• Parties: CARTER v. GREENHOW
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

114 U.S. 317

5 S.Ct. 928

29 L.Ed. 202

CARTER v. GREENHOW.

April 20, 1885.

Wm. L. Royall, D. H. Chamberlain Wm. M. Evarts, and Wager Swayne, for plaintiff in error.

A. H. Ga land, R. T. Merrick, and F. S. Blair, Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.

MATTHEWS, J.

The plaintiff in error brought his action, in the circuit court of the United States, against the defendant, on May 7, 1883. His cause of action is set forth in the declaration as follows: 'Samuel S. Carter, plaintiff, complains of Samuel C. Greenhow, defendant, of a plea of trespass on the case, for that the said plaintiff is a citizen of the state of Virginia and a resident of the city of Richmond, in said state. That the plaintiff owns property in said city, and that he was lawfully assessed on said property by the officers of the state of Virginia, whose duty it was under the laws of Virginia to make such assessment, with taxes to be paid to the state of Virginia for the year 1882, and that said taxes were due and leviable for, on, and after the first day of December, 1882. That the defendant, Samuel C. Greenhow, is the treasurer of the city of Richmond, in the state of Virginia, and that the laws of Virginia make it his duty to collect all taxes due to the state of Virginia by residents of said city on property situated and being in said city. That on the third day of May, 1883, the plaintiff was indebted to the said state of Virginia on account of the taxes so assessed upon his property as aforesaid for the year 1882, and that on said last-named date on tendered to the defendant, in payment of his said taxes, coupons cut from bonds issued by the state of Virginia, under the provisions of the act of the general assembly of the state of Virginia, approved March 28, 1879, entitled 'An act to provide a plan of settlement of the public debt,' which coupons, together with a small amount of lawful money of the United States, tendered at the same time, amounted exactly to the sum so due by the plaintiff for taxes as aforesaid, and which coupons were due and past maturity, in payment of his said taxes so due as aforesaid. That by the terms of the act of the general assembly under which said coupons were issued, the said coupons are receivable in payment of all taxes due to the state of Virginia, and that each of said coupons bore upon its face the contract of the state of Virginia that it should be received in payment of taxes due to said state. That the defendant refused to receive the said coupons and money in payment of the taxes so due by the plaintiff. That after said cender the said defendant unlawfully entered into and upon the plaintiff's premises and place of business and levied upon and seized the plaintiff's property and carried the same away to sell the same in payment of plaintiff's taxes. That plaintiff was always ready and willing to deliver to the defendant in payment of said taxes, up to the moment when the defendant so levied upon his said property, the said coupons and money, and he many times offered to do so, but the defendant always refused to receive the same. That the plaintiff has the right under the constitution of the United States to pay his said taxes to the said defendant in the said coupons and money, and that this right is secured to him by the constitution of the United States. That when the defendant refused to receive the said coupons and money in payment of the taxes so due as aforesaid by the plaintiff, he did so under color of and by the command of an act of the general assembly of the state of Virginia, approved January 26, 1882, entitled 'An act to provide for the more efficient collection of the revenue, to support government, maintain the public schools, and to pay interest on the public debt,' which act forbids collectors of taxes due to said state to receive in payment thereof anything except gold, silver, United States treasury notes, and national bank currency; and that when he so levied upon the plaintiff's property he did so by virtue of and under the command of the eighteenth section of an act of the general assembly of the state of Virginia, approved April 1, 1879, which act is chapter sixty of the laws published by authority f the general assembly of the state of Virginia for the special session of 1879, and by virtue of and under the command of other statutes enacted by the general assembly of the state of Virginia. That the said two last-mentioned acts of the general assembly of the state of Birginia, and the other mentioned statutes of said state, commanding the defendant to levy so as aforesaid upon the property of the plaintiff, are repugnant to the constitution of the United States, and are therefore void. That in refusing to receive the said coupons and money in payment of said taxes, and in levying on and seizing the plaintiff's property for said taxes, after the plaintiff had tendered the same in payment thereof, the defendant deprived the plaintiff of a right secured to him by the constitution of the United States, under color of statutes enacted by the general assembly of the state of Virginia, to the damage of...