Morse v. Hitchcock County

• Decision Date: 14 April 1886
• Citation: 27 N.W. 637,19 Neb. 566
• Parties: LEONARD MORSE, PLAINTIFF, v. THE COUNTY OF HITCHCOCK AND WILLIAM H. TRITES, TREASURER, DEFENDANTS
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

27 N.W. 637

19 Neb. 566

LEONARD MORSE, PLAINTIFF, v. THE COUNTY OF HITCHCOCK AND WILLIAM H. TRITES, TREASURER, DEFENDANTS

Supreme Court of Nebraska

April 14, 1886

ORIGINAL application for injunction in proceedings relating to the revenue.

George W. Doane, for plaintiff.

J Byron Jennings, for defendants.

OPINION

MAXWELL CH. J.

This is an action to restrain the treasurer of Hitchcock county from selling certain real estate of the plaintiff in Dundy county for taxes levied by the authorities of Hitchcock county before Dundy county was organized, and to compel the authorities of Hitchcock county to permit the clerk of Dundy county to copy the tax books, etc., of Hitchcock county for the year 1884, so far as they relate to property within the limits of Dundy county, or furnish a transcript thereof to said clerk.

The conceded facts are substantially as follows: The plaintiff is a resident of and elector of Dundy county; the county of Hitchcock, in the year 1884, had been duly organized for a number of years, and Dundy county had been, and on the 11th day of June, 1884, was, attached to Hitchcock county for election, judicial, and revenue purposes. On the day last named the county commissioners of Hitchcock county levied taxes for that year upon all the taxable property in Hitchcock and Dundy counties. A few days after said taxes were levied the county of Dundy was duly organized by the election and qualifying of the proper county officers, and it thereupon became and now is one of the organized counties of the state. The plaintiff at that time was the owner of the north-west quarter of section twenty-five, township one north, of range thirty-eight west, in Dundy county, and on or about the 6th day of August, 1885, paid to the treasurer of Dundy county the taxes due on said land for the year 1884, which taxes the treasurer of Hitchcock county also claims, and unless restrained will sell the land in question to satisfy the same.

The first question presented, viz., the right of the new county when organized to collect taxes levied by the county to which it was attached for election, judicial, and revenue purposes was decided by this court in F., E. & Mo. V. R. Co. v. County of Brown, 26 N.W. 194; and it was held that when the new county was organized by the election and qualifying of its officers, it became to all intents and purposes one of the counties of the state, and all county business must thereafter be transacted with its officers. This, we think, is a correct interpretation of the statute. Why elect county officers and require them to give bonds if the duties of such offices are still to be performed in whole or in part by the officers of the county to which it was attached? The county clerk of the new county is...