Eastham v. Steinhagen

• Decision Date: 24 June 1922
• Docket Number: (No. 3607.)
• Parties: EASTHAM et al. v. STEINHAGEN et al.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

243 S.W. 457

EASTHAM et al. v. STEINHAGEN et al.

(No. 3607.)

Supreme Court of Texas.

June 24, 1922.

Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Ninth Supreme Judicial District.

Suit by C. S. Eastham and others against B. A. Steinhagen and others. Judgment granting plaintiffs a temporary injunction was reversed, and the injunction was dissolved by the Court of Civil Appeals (233 S. W. 660), and plaintiffs bring error. Judgment of Court of Civil Appeals affirmed.

E. B. Pickett, Jr., of Liberty, for plaintiffs in error.

Chas. D. Smith, City Atty., Lamar Hart, A. M. Huffman, Gordon, Lawhon & Pool, and Sonfield, Noll & King, all of Beaumont, for defendants in error.

GREENWOOD, J.

By special act of the Legislature, a charter was granted the city of Beaumont in 1909 (Sp. Laws 1909, c. 92).

Section 2 of the charter defined the boundaries of the city.

Section 3 read:

"Any territory adjoining the present or future boundaries of said city may from time to time, in any size or shape, be admitted and become a part thereof, on application made or written consent given to the city council by the owner or owners of the land or as the case may be by a majority of the legal voters resident on the land sought to be added."

While the city of Beaumont was incorporated under the general laws of the state, after it had assumed control of its public schools, an election was ordered held on June 12, 1897, to determine whether a special tax of 25 cents on each $100 of values should be levied for the maintenance of the public schools. The tax was voted by more than the requisite two-thirds majority, and, under proper ordinances, it was thereafter levied, assessed, and collected each year up to and including the year 1918.

Subdivision 2 of section 45 of the charter of 1909 provided for the levy of —

"an annual tax of not exceeding 25 cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) valuation of all property in said city subject to taxation, for the maintenance of the public free schools and the erection of school buildings in the city."

Section 65 confirmed action previously taken, whereby a board of trustees was given control of the public schools of the city, validated all tax levies theretofore made for the support and maintenance of the schools, and provided that —

"The city council shall continue to levy and collect the rate of special taxation adopted, or which may be adopted, by a vote of the people for said purpose and deliver the same to the said Board of Trustees in accordance with the general laws of the state upon the subject."

The city school tax was increased, through an election in June, 1918, from 25 cents to 40 cents on the $100 of taxable values; and it was likewise increased, through an election in September, 1919, from 40 cents to 50 cents on each $100 of taxable values.

The owners of block No. 1 of the Oaks addition, adjoining the then existing boundaries of the city of Beaumont, applied to the city council to add the block to the limits of the city, and the city council adopted an ordinance on October 21, 1919, granting the application and including the block within the territorial limits of the city.

On December 30, 1919, a charter framed by a commission in the manner provided by the enabling act of April 7, 1913, to put into effect the amendment to section 5 of article 11 of the Constitution, called the "home rule amendment," was adopted by the qualified voters within the boundaries of the city of Beaumont as fixed by its charter of 1909. The new charter, as thus adopted in 1919, enlarged the boundaries of the city by including new territory, called the "South Park district" and the "French district."

Subsequent to December 30, 1919, an election was held, in which all voters within the boundaries fixed by the new charter participated and under which officers were elected and the new municipal government was inaugurated.

On January 26, 1921, plaintiffs in error, who are residents of, and property owners in, the "South Park district" and the "French district," were granted a temporary injunction restraining defendants in error, as officers of the city of Beaumont, from enforcing any city ordinance within the territorial limits of the named districts and from levying any taxes against any property therein.

On appeal the Beaumont Court of Civil Appeals dissolved the injunction (233 S. W. 660), and the case is before us on writ of error to review the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals.

Plaintiffs in error base their right to relief by injunction on the grounds: First, that section 3 of the 1909 charter prevented the extension of the boundaries of...