Rio Grande R.R. Co. v. Scanlan

• Decision Date: 01 January 1876
• Citation: 44 Tex. 649
• Parties: THE RIO GRANDE RAILROAD CO. v. WILLIAM SCANLAN, SHERIFF, &C.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

44 Tex. 649

THE RIO GRANDE RAILROAD CO.

v.WILLIAM SCANLAN, SHERIFF, &C.

Supreme Court of Texas.

1876.

APPEAL from Cameron. Tried below before the Hon. W. H. Russell.

The facts appear in the opinion.

E. J. Davis, for appellant.

MOORE, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE.

This suit was brought by appellant against appellee as sheriff of Cameron county, to enjoin him from collecting the amount for which appellant had been assessed for taxes for the year 1873, upon the ground that said tax had not been legally assessed, and was grossly in excess of the amount for which appellant was justly and legally liable to be assessed.

There is no assignment of errors in the record, and only such objections can be considered as go to the foundation of the action, and from which it plainly appears that the judgment is obviously erroneous. We will merely, therefore, briefly consider the objections made to the judgment, which counsel for appellant insists are of this character.

The petition was filed in the District Court on the 13th of July, 1873. But it is not shown at what time the assessment complained of was made. It is not stated whether it was made before or after the passage of the act to regulate the assessment and collection of taxes, approved May 31, 1873, (General Law 13th Leg., 1873, p. 124,) though from the averments of the petition and the action of the assessor, of which complaint is made, it is inferable that the assessment was made prior to the passage of this act. If so, the assessment was in no way affected by it. (See section 35.) And it cannot be said, as urged by appellant's counsel, that it appears from the petition that the tax demanded by appellee was illegal and unauthorized because it had not been assessed by this act.

An examination of this act shows that it was not intended to regulate the assessment of taxes of railroads and telegraph companies for the year 1873. Suitable forms and blanks were to be furnished by the comptroller to said companies, and lists of the property of said companies were to be returned to the proper justice of the peace on or before the first day of March of each and every year. (See section 21, clause 2.)

But if the law was in force, and appellant's property was being assessed under it, from the petition it does not appear that the appellant had taken the proper steps to secure a correction of the assessment if it was erroneous or excessive, or had placed itself in a proper attitude to ask the interposition of a court of equity for relief, if it was in danger of suffering injury therefrom.

Although the tax may have been illegally assessed and the action of the...