Lent v. Tillson

• Decision Date: 11 May 1891
• Parties: LENT et al. v. TILLSON, Tax Collector
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

140 U.S. 316

11 S.Ct. 825

35 L.Ed. 419

LENT et al. v. TILLSON, Tax Collector

May 11, 1891.

This suit, which was commenced April 5, 1879, arises out of an act of the legislature of California, approved March 23, 1876, entitled 'An act to authorize the widening of Dupont street in the city of San Francisco.' An assessment was made to meet the cost incurred in its execution. Provision was made in the act to issue and sell bonds to meet such cost in the first instance, and for the levy of an annual tax on the lands benefited, in proportion to benefits, to pay the interest on the bonds, and to create a sinking fund for the payment of the principal debt. Bonds, dated January 1, 1876, to the amount of $1,000,000, were issued in the name of the city and county of San Francisco, and made payable to the holder in gold coin of the United States, 20 years after date, with interest, payable half yearly, at the rate of 7 per cent per annum. The bonds recited that they were issued under the above act, were to be paid out of the fund raised by taxation as therein provided, and were taken by the holder subject to the conditions expressed in its twenty-second section, to be hereafter referred to. They were signed by the mayor, auditor, and county surveyor, and attested by the offical seal of the city and county. The plaintiffs in error, who were the plaintiffs beloe, being owners of lots or parcels of land within the district subject to the assessment, and claiming that the statute was unconstitutional and void, brought this suit to obtain a decree perpetually enjoining the defendant in error, tax collector of the city and county of San Francisco, from selling their property under the assessment. Holders of the bonds to a large amount intervened and were made defendants. The court of original jurisdiction—the superior court of the city and county of San Francisco—rendered a decree giving the relief asked. Upon appeal to the supreme court of California that decree was reversed, and the cause remanded, with directions to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the complaint.

The statute in question contains many provisions. The first section provides that, subject to the provisions of the act, Dupont street in San Francisco should be increased to the uniform width of 74 feet (measuring westerly from its then easterly line) from the northerly line of Market street to the southerly line of Filbert street, the grades of the intersecting cross-streets to be adjusted by the board of supervisors so as to make them conform to the grade of the west line of Dupont street to be established by the board of supervisors, which was empowered to pass all necessary orders for that purpose. The second section provides that the value of the land taken for the widening of the street, and the damages to improvements thereon or adjacent thereto, which may be injured thereby, and all expenses whatsoever incident to such widening 'shall be held to be the cost of widening said street, and shall be assessed upon the district hereinafter described as benefited by said widening, in the manner hereinafter provided.' The district declared to be benefited, and upon which the cost of making the improvement was directed to be assessed, is defined in the act, and it was provided that in case Dupont street be not widened further north than Bush street, then the districts to be benefited 'shall be bounded on the north by the southerly line of Bush street, and on the south by the northerly line of Market street.' Section 3. The majority in value of the property owners fronting on Dupont street, between Market and Bush streets, were allowed to defeat the proposed improvements between those streets, and to relieve that portion of the assessment district from any burden on account of it, by filing a written protest at any time within 30 days after the notice provided for in section 6 of the act to be presently referred to. No such protest was filed. The act also provided that unless within that time a majority of property owners fronting on Dupont street, between Bush and Filbert streets, should petition for it, there should be no widening north of Bush street, and that portion of the assessment district should be excluded. No such petition was filed, and the widening was limited to the four blocks between Market and Bush streets. Section 12.

The mayor and auditor of the city and county of San Francisco, together with the city and county surveyor, and their successors in office, were constituted a 'Board of Dupont-Street Commissioners,' the mayor to be ex officio president of the board. Section 4. The board of supervisors of the city and county were authorized, if they deemed it expedient that Dupont street be widened in the mode prescribed, to express such judgment by resolution or order within 60 days after the passage of the act, and if they failed to do so no further proceedings were to be had or taken, under the act, for any purpose, and the street was not to be widened. Section 21. As soon as convenient after the passage of such a resolution or order by the board of supervisors, the Dupont-Street commissioners were directed to 'publish a notice, for not less than ten days, in two of the daily papers printed in the city of San Francisco, informing property owners along the line of said street that the board is organized, and inviting all persons interested in property sought to be taken, or which would be injured by said widening, to present to the board maps and plans of their respective lots, and a written statement of the nature of their claim and interest in such lots.' Section 6. The board of commissioners, having prepared and adopted suitable maps, plans, and diagrams, were required to ascertain and determine and separately state in a written report, to be signed by at least a majority of its members, the description and actual cash alu e of the several lots and subdivisions of land and buildings included in the land taken for the widening of Dupont street, and the damage done to the property along the line of the street, specifying and describing in their report each lot and subdivision or piece of property taken or injured by the widening of the street, as far as an accurate description thereof was furnished by the owners, and setting down against each lot, subdivision, or piece of property the names of the owners, occupants, and claimants thereof, or of the persons interested therein, as lessees, incumbrancers, or otherwise, and the particulars of their interest, as far as they could be ascertained, and the amount of value or damage determined upon for the same, respectively. If, in any case, the board found that conflicting claims of title existed, or were in ignorance or doubt as to the ownership of any lot of land, or of any interest therein, the lot was to be set down as belonging to unknown owners. The board was also directed to embody in a written report a description of the subdivisions or lots of land included in the districts designated in section 3 of the act, and to set against each lot or subdivision the amount in which, according to the judgment of the board, such lot will be benefited by reason of the widening of the street, relatively to the benefits accruing to other lots of land within the designated districts; also setting against each lot of subdivision the names of the owners, lessees, and claimants thereof, so far as the same can be ascertained conveniently, and, if not ascertained, setting them down to unknown owners. Error, however, in the designation of the owner or owners of any lot taken or assessed was not to affect the validity of the assessment. Suitable maps, plans, or diagrams, showing the property taken and assessed for the improvement, in lots and subdivisions, with the names of the owners, lessees, and claimants, as far as known to said board, were to be attached to the report. 'Such report,' the act provided, 'as soon as the same is completed, shall be left at the office of said board daily, during ordinary business hours, for thirty days, for the free inspection of all parties interested, and notice that the same is so open for inspection for such time and such place shall be published by said board daily, for twenty days, in two daily newspapers printed and published in said city and county.' Section 7.

Any person interested in any piece or parcel of land situated within the district defined and described in section 3 of the act, or in any of the lands taken for Dupont street, or in any improvements damaged by the opening of that street, feeling himself aggrieved by the action or determination of the board, as shown in its report, was entitled, at any time within the 30 days mentioned in section 7 of the act, to apply by petition to the county court of the city and county of San Francisco, setting forth his interest in the proceedings had before the board, and his objections thereto, for an order requiring it to file with that court its report, and such other documents or data as may be pertinent thereto, in its custody and used by it in preparing the report. 'Said court is hereby authorized and empowered to hear said petition, and shall set the same down for a hearing within ten days from the date of the filing thereof; and the party filing said petition shall, on the day he files the same, serve a copy thereof on at least one of the members of the board of commissioners; and said board may appear by counsel, or otherwise, before said court, in response to said petition. Said board may file a written answer to said petition with said court. Testimony may be taken by said court upon said hearing, and the process of the court may be used to compel the attendance of witnesses, and the production of books or papers or maps in the custody of said board or otherwise. It shall be in the discretion of said court, after hearing and considering said application, to llo w said order or deny the same; and, if granted, a...