Harding v. Woodcock

• Decision Date: 03 November 1890
• Citation: 137 U.S. 43,11 S.Ct. 6,34 L.Ed. 580
• Parties: HARDING v. WOODCOCK, Collector of Internal Revenue
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

137 U.S. 43

11 S.Ct. 6

34 L.Ed. 580

HARDING v. WOODCOCK, Collector of Internal Revenue.

November 3, 1890.

[Statement of Case from pages 43-45 intentionally omitted] S. Watson and G. N. Tillman, for plaintiff in error.

Solicitor General Taft, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice FIELD, after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff contended in the court below, and renews the contention here, that, the plea of justification interposed by the defendant for the acts complained of—the seizure and sale of the property—having been stricken out, he is left defenseless in the action. That such would be the effect of the ruling if the declaration was one in form for an ordinary trespass may be conceded. But the rule that a justification to an alleged trespass, to avail, must be pleaded, does not apply here. The striking out of the plea did not remove the fact that the seizure and sale were made under proceedings which protected the officer of the government from personal liability, because in the declaration itself his liability is charged upon a state of facts which shows that he acted in conformity with the law, and could not, therefore, be held responsible for the alleged invasion of the rights of the plaintiff in its enforcement.

When the assessment was certified to the collector, his duty in enforcing it was one which he could not refuse to perform. There was no discretion vested in him to revise or alter it in any respect. His duty was purely ministerial. In Erskine v. Hohnbach, 14 Wall. 613, 616, which, like the present action, was brought against a collector of internal revenue for the seizure and sale of property of the plaintiff upon an assessment for taxes duly made by the assessor of the district, the court held that the assessment certified to him (the collector) was his authority to proceed; and, like an execution to a sheriff, regular on its face, issued by a tribunal having jurisdiction of the subject-matter, constituted his protection. At that time, (1871,) officers, termed 'assessors,' made the assessment for taxes due to the United States on distilled spirits in their several districts, (13 St. c. 173, §§ 8, 20;) but their office was abolished in 1873, and the power to assess for such taxes vested in the commissioner of internal revenue, (17 St. c. 13, §§ 1, 2, pp. 401, 402.) In the case referred to, the liability of a ministerial officer in the enforcement of process was the subject of consideration, and it was there held that, whatever may at one time have been the conflict in the adjudged cases as to the extent of protection afforded to such officers...