Cresswell Ranch & Cattle Co. v. Roberts County

• Decision Date: 06 June 1894
• Citation: 27 S.W. 737
• Parties: CRESSWELL RANCH & CATTLE CO., Limited, v. ROBERTS COUNTY.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

27 S.W. 737

CRESSWELL RANCH & CATTLE CO., Limited, v. ROBERTS COUNTY.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

June 6, 1894.

Appeal from district court, Hemphill county.

Action by the Cresswell Ranch & Cattle Company, Limited, against Roberts county. There was a judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Browning & Madden, for appellant. Frank Willis and Frank Lester, for appellee.

Case Stated.

STEPHENS, J.

This case went off on demurrer. Appellant, a taxpayer of Roberts county, sued to recover $1,050, paid under compulsion to the tax collector of that county as a part of the courthouse and jail tax. The order of the commissioners' court levying this tax, the invalidity of which is relied on by appellant as the foundation of its right to recover, reads: "No. 816. Ordered by the court that an ad valorem tax of 25 cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of property in the county be levied, and 25 cents for courthouse and jail, 15 cents for road and bridge, 20 cents school in school districts Nos. 1 and 3, and 10 cents in school district No. 5." The grounds of invalidity are thus stated in its petition: "(1) Because said alleged order of said court is insufficient in form, and too vague, indefinite, and uncertain to constitute a good and valid levy, in that it does not clearly purport to be an order of said court making a levy, and ordering assessed and collected for said year an annual ad valorem tax of twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of the taxable property in said county, for the purpose of erecting or repairing a courthouse and jail, or either, in said county, nor to pay interest on, and create a sinking fund for the redemption of, valid outstanding courthouse and jail bonds, or either, then or at any time prior thereto issued. (2) Because, at the time of making said order and levy said court did not pass an order to issue, nor issue, any of the bonds of defendant county, in any amount necessary to erect a suitable building for a courthouse or jail, or both, as by law it might have done; nor was said county indebted for a courthouse or jail, or either; nor did it have any valid outstanding and unpaid bonds or other indebtedness issued or created for the purpose of building, completing, or to complete the payment for a courthouse and jail, or either. (3) Because, at the time said court made said order and levy, and at the time of said assessment and of the collection of said tax money from plaintiff, there was no necessity for the erection or repair of a courthouse or jail in said county; nor had it been, nor has it since become, necessary to construct or to complete any courthouse or jail in said county, nor to complete payment for construction of the same; nor had said court then taken, nor has it since taken, any steps or action whatever towards the erection or repair, or to complete payment for the erection, for any courthouse or jail in said county. (4) Because, at the time said court made said order and levy, and at the time of the assessment of and the collection of said tax money from plaintiff, the defendant county was not in any manner indebted for either a courthouse or a jail, nor has it since become so indebted; nor was said special tax so levied, assessed, and collected to raise a fund to erect and complete, or to complete the payment for the construction of, either a courthouse or a jail in Roberts county; nor was said tax so levied, assessed, and collected to pay the interest and create a sinking fund for the redemption of any valid courthouse and jail bonds, or either, then or before that time by said court issued; but said special tax was, in truth and in fact, so levied by said c...