People ex rel. Attorney Gen. v. Bd. of Supervisors
| Decision Date | 22 June 1888 |
| Citation | 71 Mich. 16,38 N.W. 639 |
| Parties | PEOPLE EX REL. ATTORNEY GENERAL v. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
PEOPLE EX REL. ATTORNEY GENERAL
v.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
Supreme Court of Michigan.
June 22, 1888.
Original proceedings in mandamus.
These proceedings involve the validity of the act of June 29, 1887, (act No. 262,) entitled: “An act to provide for reporting all mortgages, by the several registers of deeds of this state, to the supervisors and assessing officers of their respective counties, and to the registers of deeds of other counties wherein the mortgagee resides, for assessment purposes, and providing blank form-books therefor; also prescribing the duties of registers of deeds relative to the recording of mortgages.” The material portions of the act are as follows:
“Section 1. The people of the state of Michigan enact that the board of supervisors, at their first meeting after the taking effect of this act, shall proceed to ascertain the number of assessment districts in their county, treating one township as one district, and one city as one district, and, as hereinafter provided, the board of supervisors shall procure a separate book or books for the reporting of mortgages for each separate district as aforesaid, by the register of deeds of their respective counties, to be known and designated as the ‘County Resident Book of Unpaid Mortgages,’‘District Assessor Book of Unpaid Mortgages,’ and ‘County Non-Resident Book of Unpaid Mortgages,’ respectively. The County Resident Book of Unpaid Mortgages shall contain six hundred and forty pages, eighteen inches in length, and of suitable width, and have printed on each page the following form, to-wit:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦Mortgagor.¦Mortgagee.¦Residence of ¦Date.¦Liber & ¦Amount.¦Remarks.¦
¦ ¦ ¦Mortgagee. ¦ ¦Page. ¦ ¦ ¦
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-for the register of deeds of each county, in which he shall transcribe a list of all undischarged mortgages in each assessment district in his county for reporting purposes only. The District Assessor Book of Unpaid Mortgages shall contain three hundred and twenty pages, and shall be printed on each page as aforesaid. Each book shall be of convenient size and width, the binding and work of style, quality, and strength to insure the necessary durability and convenience in use. There shall also be provided one blank book for each register of deeds in this state, to be designated and known as a ‘County Non-Resident Book of Unpaid Mortgages,’ of same size and form as the County Resident Book of Unpaid Mortgages, aforesaid, but arranged alphabetically, in which the said register of deeds shall transcribe a list of all undischarged mortgages held by any person residing within the state, outside of the county in which such book is kept. Sec. 2. As soon as any board of supervisors for any county of this state shall have determined the number of books necessary for their own county, in accordance with this act, they shall report in detail as a part of their proceedings, and shall instruct their register of deeds to make an order for said books upon the secretary of state, and accompanying said order shall be a certified copy of the report adopted by said board. And it shall be the duty of any board of supervisors, at any subsequent regular meeting, to determine if any books may be wanted for any district, as aforesaid, before the next regular meeting of said board; and, if so, they shall order said books of the secretary of state in manner as aforesaid. Sec. 3. The secretary of state shall furnish each county with books upon the order of boards of supervisors, as aforesaid, the said books to be transmitted to the several county registers of deeds; and the several counties shall each be liable to the state for the cost and transportation of any books so furnished, and the board of supervisors shall make provision for, and at any regular meeting shall audit and pay, any unpaid balances for said books which may be found due the state out of the contingent fund of the county. *** Sec. 5. Any register of deeds, upon the receipt of any book or books, as provided in this act, shall receipt for the same to the secretary of state. Having these books, he shall use them exclusively as follows: In the first book described in section one of this act, the said register of deeds shall make a list of all undischarged mortgages in his county held by residents of said county from and including the year 1880, and the same shall be completed by the 10th day of April, A. D. 1888; and every year thereafter said register of deeds shall add to said list or statement all mortgages that may come into his office for record, in accordance with the form prescribed in said book. Also the said register of deeds shall, on or before the 10th day of April, 1888, and every year thereafter, deliver to each assessing officer in his county one copy of the District Assessor Book of Unpaid Mortgages, in which shall be transcribed a list of all mortgages against the real property of said assessing officer's township for assessment purposes, which book shall be returned to said register of deeds immediately after the meeting of the board of review in said township or assessing district. Upon the return of said District Assessor's Book of Unpaid Mortgages to the register of deeds, said register shall add to said book a list of all mortgages that may have or may come into his hands for record affecting real property in said township. The register of deeds shall make a list or statement, in the book known as the ‘County Non-Resident Book of Unpaid Mortgages,’ mentioned in section one of this act, of all mortgages recorded in his office by residents of the state who are non-residents of the county where said mortgage is recorded, and he shall furnish a complete list of all such non-resident mortgagees to the register of deeds, of the county where such mortgagee resides. Such register of deeds upon receiving such report, shall notify the assessing officer in whose district said mortgagee may reside; whereupon the assessing officer of the district where said mortgagee resides shall assess the same as required by law. The register of deeds shall receive ten cents for every such notice, to be audited and paid, in the general manner out of the contingent fund of the county where the mortgagee resides; and the said register of deeds shall also receive for each notice to the assessing officers in his county, as provided in this act, the sum of ten cents, to be audited and paid out of the contingent fund of said county. Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of any register of deeds of any county upon the receipt of any assignment or discharge, or partial assignment or discharge, of any mortgage, or notice of any payment thereon, the original whereof is recorded in his office, to note the act of the discharge or assignment, or partial discharge or partial assignment, or of any payment thereon, in the marginal space at the right hand where the report of said mortgage appears. There shall also be reference notes showing the liber and page where each full or partial discharge or assignment or payment is recorded. Sec. 7. Any violations of the provisions of this act shall be a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, the register of deeds shall be subject to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars. Sec. 8. It shall be the duty of every assessing officer, annually, in April of each year, to inspect the Assessor's Book of Unpaid Mortgages for his own district, and to assess the unpaid mortgages therein contained according to law. Sec. 9. Each and every assessing officer, immediately upon his election or appointment, shall forward his name, title of office, and post-office address to the secretary of state. Sec. 10. Any violations of the provisions of this act on the part of any assessing officer shall be a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, he shall be subject to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars. Sec. 11. The secretary of state shall supply annually, as early in April as possible, each register of deeds in the state with a printed list of names and post-office address of all assessing officers throughout the state. Sec. 12. No mortgage shall be recorded which does not give the name and residence of the mortgagee.”
CAMPBELL, J., dissenting.
[38 N.W. 642]
Moses Taggart, Atty Gen., ( M. C. Burch, of counsel,) for the People.
Marston, Cowles & Jerome, for respondents.
CHAMPLIN, J.
The object of the legislature, in the enactment under consideration, was to provide a method whereby values represented by mortgage securities could be brought to the attention of the assessing officer for the purpose of taxation. It does not segregate mortgages from other personal property, and require the taxing officer to list and assess them as mortgages at the amount they purport to secure. The personal property of an individual, consisting of the various kinds mentioned in the general laws for taxation, is assessed as “personal,” in one item. In this respect, the act in question has in no wise altered the existing law. When the mortgages are brought to the attention of the assessing officer by the method proposed by this law, he is required to assess them in the same manner as other personal property, so that no change was designed in the mode of assessment. Before this law was enacted, there was nothing that prevented the assessing officer from going to the office of the register of deeds for his county, and ascertaining who, in his taxing district, held mortgages; and this information, thus obtained, he could use in assessing those liable to be assessed in his district as the owners of personal property. The law then and now authorized the supervisors to require a sworn statement from any person, containing a list of real and personal property liable to taxation; and this list included all notes, bonds, and mortgages. This requirement being of an...
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