First Nat. Bank v. St. Joseph Tp.
| Decision Date | 05 October 1881 |
| Citation | 46 Mich. 526,9 N.W. 838 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | FIRST NAT. BANK OF ST. JOSEPH v. TOWNSHIP OF ST. JOSEPH. |
An extension of time granted by a township board for the collection of taxes is not invalidated by the fact that in the absence of the township clerk, a justice of the peace summoned to act as a member of the board, was appointed to act as secretary.
Power to appoint a temporary secretary is incidental to corporate meetings, and if he has been entrusted with all the functions of the office his record and doings are valid, and they cannot be invalidated by any presumption that he was not sworn especially if there was nothing requiring it to appear that he was sworn.
It cannot be presumed that a de facto official has neglected to make any necessary qualification.
A warrant for the collection of taxes is not fatally defective for being addressed to the treasurer of the township of ______, where it is properly signed by a supervisor of a specified township, and is annexed to its tax-roll.
An objection to the valuation of property as set down on a township tax-roll, on the ground that the figures indicating the amount are wrongly divided by a red line so that it is uncertain what it is, in dollars and cents, is not well taken where it is plain that no attention had been paid to the line, and that the amounts of taxes were all properly carried out between the right lines.
If a tax-payer does not have the assessment of his property corrected and perfected when it is in his power to do so, he must be assumed to admit its correctness.
A tax assessor cannot be presumed to have personal knowledge of the private affairs of persons assessed unless they choose to furnish it; as, of the amount of debts due by the holder of bank stock subject to taxation.
The power of the state to tax national bank stock is derived entirely from the act of congress permitting it, and the requirement of the act must be obeyed in good faith. The state tax law is to be construed in connection with the act in assessing stock.
The Michigan tax law enumerates as taxable property all credits in excess of the debts of the persons taxed. Comp.Laws, � 969. Held, that it is not necessarily in conflict with the provision of the the act of congress that national bank stock shall not be taxed at a greater rate than other moneyed capital in the hands of individuals (Rev.St.U.S. � 5219) even though the latter are taxed for the full value of their bank stock without deducting their indebtedness.
Error to Berrien.
N.A. Hamilton, for plaintiff in error.
Clapp & Fife, for defendant in error.
The township of St. Joseph sued the plaintiff in error for the tax due on shares of William E. Higman for the year 1880, and recovered judgment therefor, which now comes up on error. The tax is resisted partly for alleged insufficiencies in the proceedings, and partly because it is insisted the tax is invalid entirely. It is claimed the tax collection was illegally extended. It appears that there was no township clerk, and that at a meeting of the board one Junius H Hatch, a justice of the peace, being summoned to be present as a member, was appointed to act as clerk or secretary, and in that capacity made the entries and certified the proceedings of extension. The township clerk is a member of the board, and when present acts as its clerk. Comp.Laws, � 710. But the law contemplates that circumstances may exist when he or any other member may be unable to act, or when one of the offices may be vacant. In such case one of the justices of the peace is to be called in, and the board thus constituted has all the powers of the statutory board. Comp.Laws, � 707.
If the clerk is not present, then some one else must necessarily act in that capacity; because otherwise the clerk might defeat the lawful action of the board by his resignation or absence. The power to appoint a temporary secretary is a necessary incident to corporate meetings, and his record and doings in that capacity must be held valid, if he has been entrusted with the functions, and cannot be invalidated by any presumption of his not being sworn. Hutchinson v. Pratt, 11 Vt. 402. We have no statute which declares the acts of an officer de Facto invalid for any such reasons. And in Sibley v. Smith, 2 Mich. 486, it was held that there could be no presumption that an oath required by law, was not taken by an officer, where there is nothing requiring it to appear. Whether we regard Hatch as a regularly appointed clerk to fill a vacancy under section 693, of the Compiled Laws, or as a merely temporary substitute for particular purposes, makes no difference in this regard. We cannot presume that he has failed to make any necessary qualification. The extension of time granted by the board was therefore valid and properly shown. There was positive proof of the book of records, and its authority cannot now be questioned.
It is also claimed that the warrant is defective, because not addressed to the treasurer of the township. The warrant is addressed to the treasurer of the township of _________. But it is signed by the supervisors of St. Joseph, and annexed to the tax-roll of that town. The roll, taken together, gives all...
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