Portland University v. Multnomah County

• Decision Date: 25 October 1897
• Citation: 50 P. 532,31 Or. 498
• Parties: PORTLAND UNIVERSITY v. MULTNOMAH COUNTY. [1]
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

50 P. 532

31 Or. 498

PORTLAND UNIVERSITY v. MULTNOMAH COUNTY. ^[1]

Supreme Court of Oregon

October 25, 1897

Appeal from circuit court, Multnomah county; Henry E. McGinn, Judge.

Petition by Portland University against Multnomah county. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

In the year 1895 the plaintiff was the owner of a tract of land containing 250 1/3 acres, and the college buildings thereof all of which it is alleged was used and occupied for the purposes of the institution. The assessor of Multnomah county assessed all of said tract to the plaintiff, and so returned the same upon the assessment roll to the board of equalization. Application was made to the board by petition praying that said lands be stricken from the roll as exempt from taxation upon the ground that it was the property of a literary institution within the state, and actually occupied for the purposes for which it was incorporated. The board refused the prayer of the petition in toto, whereupon the plaintiff applied to the county court for the same relief and the court struck from the roll 67.92 acres of said tract as exempt from assessment and taxation, and refused to disturb the assessor's return as to the balance. From this action of the court the plaintiff prosecuted a writ of review to the circuit court, and, the writ having been there dismissed, it has appealed to this court.

P.L Willis, for appellant.

John H. Hall, for respondent.

WOLVERTON J. (after stating the facts).

It is contended that the county court has the power to correct the assessment roll by striking therefrom all the lands of plaintiff as exempt from assessment and taxation, and that such power is derived solely from section 2782, Hill's Ann.Laws Or., which is as follows: "The county court of each county shall, at its term in September in each year, examine the assessment roll of its county, and shall have power to correct the same, make alterations in the description of lands or other property upon such roll, when it shall be necessary to render such description conformable to the requirements of this chapter; and may make any other alterations or corrections in such roll as it shall deem necessary to make the same conform to the requirements of this chapter." This section very early received a construction by this court in two cases to the effect that the power thus delegated pertained only to formal matters, such as correcting the description of lands or other property appearing upon the roll, and to such other formal alterations and corrections as should be deemed necessary to make the roll conform to the requirements of the chapter of which it formed a part at the date of its enactment. Oregon Steam Nav. Co. v. Wasco Co., 2 Or. 206; Rhea v. Umatilla Co., Id. 298. The powers pertaining to the board of equalization as now or then constituted were not given or conferred by such chapter, and hence it was held that the county court was not endowed therewith; and, although the powers and duties delegated to the board of equalization and section 2782 are now included in the same chapter by a later revision, the intention of the legislature at the time of the adoption of that section must govern, and the interpretation must be the same now as in those cases. We hold, therefore, that the county court was without the power, under said section, to grant the prayer of plaintiff's petition, and that the circuit court was not in error in dismissing the writ of reviews.

This view necessarily affirms the judgment of the court below, but the respondent insists that the action of the board of equalization touching the exemption claimed is final, and conclusive upon the petitioner. Whether such board had power to act in the premises depends entirely upon the interpretation of sections 2778, 2779, Hill's Ann.Laws Or. By ...