Mayor v. State Bd. of Taxation

• Decision Date: 27 January 1902
• Citation: 67 N.J.L. 246,51 A. 67
• Parties: MAYOR, ETC., OF CITY OF NEWARK v. STATE BOARD OF TAXATION et al.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

51 A. 67

67 N.J.L. 246

MAYOR, ETC., OF CITY OF NEWARK

v. STATE BOARD OF TAXATION et al.

Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

Jan. 27, 1902.

Error to supreme court.

Certiorari by the mayor and common council of the city of Newark against the state board of taxation and the New Jersey Street Railway Company to review the action of the board in reducing the railroad company's assessment on its right of way. From a judgment of the supreme court (49 Atl. 525) reversing a decision of the board, respondents bring error. Reversed.

John W. Griggs and George T. Werts, for plaintiffs in error.

Henry Young and Herbert Boggs, for defendant in error.

GUMMERE, C. J. The judgment under review should be reversed for the reasons set forth in the dissenting opinion delivered by Garrison, J., in the court below. That there is an inherent value in the property of the North Jersey Street Railway Company over and above the costs of reproducing its rails, stringers, poles, wires, power house, etc., needs no demonstration. That value, however, springs not out of any ownership by the company of an interest in the soil of the highways over which its road passes, but out of its ownership of the franchise to maintain and operate its road over those highways, and to collect tolls from all persons traveling upon it. This franchise is property, and taxable as such. State Board of Assessors v. Central R. Co., 48 N. J. Law, 146, 4 Atl. 578. But under present legislation the right to tax it has been reserved by the state to itself, through its state board of assessors, and not delegated to the several municipalities through which the company's road passes.