Gould v. City of Baltimore

• Decision Date: 09 February 1883
• Parties: B. F. GOULD, Trustee, and in his own right, and CHARLES MARSHALL, Assignee of B. F. GOULD v. THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

59 Md. 378

B. F. GOULD, Trustee, and in his own right, and CHARLES MARSHALL, Assignee of B. F. GOULD v. THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

February 9, 1883

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Baltimore City.

The appeal in this case was taken from an order of the Court below, (DOBBIN, J.,) ratifying an auditor's report and account. In the account the appellee was allowed its claim for an assessment upon the estate of Alexander Gould deceased, to defray the expenses of opening Hanover street. Subsequent to the assessment, the property of the deceased on Hanover street, benefited by the improvement, was sold by the trustees under the will of the deceased, and part of the fund arising from the sale was, after notice to the trustees of the appellee's claim, distributed among the parties entitled under the will of the deceased. The fund distributed in the present account, and out of which the appellee's claim was allowed, was the result of sales of property on other streets. The claim was excepted to by the appellants on the ground that said claim was unfounded and was not collected within the period of four years from its becoming due.

The cause was argued before MILLER, STONE, ALVEY, ROBINSON IRVING, and RITCHIE, J.

Charles Marshall, for the appellants.

John P. Poe, City Counsellor, for the appellee.

ROBINSON J., delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Act of 1861, chap. 94, provides, that "all taxes which may be levied in the city of Baltimore, shall be collected within four years from the levying of the same; and the collection of taxes shall not be enforced by law after the lapse of said four years."

The question on this appeal, is whether an assessment made upon the owner of adjacent property to defray the expenses incident to paving streets, is a tax within the meaning of this Act, the collection of which must be enforced within the time prescribed by the statute.

The right to make such assessments is undoubtedly an exercise of the taxing power, but an assessment thus made differs from a general tax levied for State and city purposes. The latter is a tax imposed on all persons within the territorial limits according to the value of their property, in consideration of the protection, which the government affords alike to all. A local assessment, on the other hand, is a tax levied occasionally as may be required upon a limited class of persons interested in local improvement, and who are presumed to be benefited by the improvement over and above the ordinary benefit, which the community in...