Maddrey v. Cox

• Decision Date: 19 April 1889
• Citation: 11 S.W. 541
• Parties: MADDREY <I>et al.</I> <I>v.</I> COX, Collector of Taxes.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

11 S.W. 541

MADDREY et al.v.

COX, Collector of Taxes.

Supreme Court of Texas.

April 19, 1889.

Appeal from district court, Fannin county.

Action to restrain the collection of municipal taxes, brought by P. B. Maddrey et al. against W. B. Cox, collector of taxes for the city of Bonham. There was final judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs appeal.

V. W. Hale and C. D. Grace, for appellants. R. B. Semple, for appellee.

STAYTON, C. J.

In the month of January, 1873, under the act of April 12, 1871, the town of Bonham, after a vote had been taken as that act required, agreed to make a donation of $26,000 in bonds to the Texas & Pacific Railway Company. The act incorporating the town of Bonham was amended by a special law approved April 1, 1873, (Sp. Laws 1873, p. 183.) That act changed the name of the corporation, and declared that it should be thereafter known as "The City of Bonham," and it extended the corporation limits. The last section of the amendatory act provided that "nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter, change, or impair any contract or obligation heretofore begun or made by the corporation of the town of Bonham." After the passage of the act of April 1, 1873, the railway company, having complied with its undertaking on which the bonds were to be executed, applied for the bonds, but the city refused to issue them, and a suit was brought, which resulted in a compromise judgment through which the railway company became entitled to bonds which were subsequently issued. In March, 1883, the proper authorities of the city levied a tax to pay the interest and create a sinking fund to meet the payment of the bonds at maturity, and the tax-collector was proceeding to collect it when appellants sued out an injunction to restrain him.

The grounds on which the injunction is asked are: (1) That the town had no power under its charter to make the donation to the railway company; (2) that the lands of appellants were agricultural lands removed from the benefits to be derived from municipal government, and therefore improperly brought within the limits of the nicipality; (3) that the lands of appellants were not within the corporate limits at the time the contract with the railway company was made, but were brought within by subsequent act amending the charter; that they were not residents of the corporation at the time the vote was taken to determine whether the donation should be made, and had no will in determining that question, and therefore were not liable for the tax. The injunction was dissolved on hearing upon its merits, and from the judgment making final disposition of the case in the court below this appeal is prosecuted.

It may be true that the special act incorporating the town of Bonham did not, in terms, empower the incorporation to make the donation to the railway company; but, under the act of April 12, 1871, such a power was conferred on counties, cities, and towns, generally, and this legislation practically became a part of the charters of cities and towns. Pasch. Dig. 7369-7384. In so far as the validity of the donation in question is concerned, that is conclusively settled by the judgment rendered in favor of the railway company against the city of Bonham. Whether it was necessary or proper to bring within the limits of the municipal corporation the lands of the appellants which they now seek to shield from that taxation imposed on all other property within the city limits was a question addressed to the legislature, whose decision upon it is not...