State v. Oliver

• Decision Date: 31 December 1914
• Docket Number: No. 1332.,1332.
• Citation: 172 S.W. 75
• Parties: STATE ex rel. COUNTY COLLECTOR v. OLIVER.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

172 S.W. 75

STATE ex rel. COUNTY COLLECTOR v. OLIVER.

No. 1332.

Springfield Court of Appeals. Missouri.

December 31, 1914.

COURTS (§ 231) — JURISDICTION — MISSOURI COURT OF APPEALS — REVENUE LAWS OF THE STATE.

An action to collect taxes assessed by a county court for payment of bonds issued and sold to obtain funds for the construction of a drainage ditch, under Rev. St. 1909, §§ 5578, 5635, under which the drainage district is organized under the supervision of the county court, which levies the assessment, the collection and distribution of which, under section 5599, takes the same course as state, county, and school taxes upon real estate, and when delinquent is to be paid over to the county treasurer, called for the construction of "the revenue laws of the state," so as to deprive the Court of Appeals of jurisdiction, by reason of Const. art. 6, § 12, giving the Supreme Court jurisdiction on direct appeal from the circuit court in cases involving the construction of revenue laws.

Appeal from New Madrid County Court; Frank Kelly, Judge.

Proceeding by the State of Missouri, on relation of a county collector, against R. B. Oliver. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Transferred to the Supreme Court.

Oliver & Oliver, of Cape Girardeau, for appellant. James R. Brewer and Henry C. Riley, Jr., both of New Madrid, for respondent.

ROBERTSON, P. J.

This is an action to collect taxes alleged to have been levied and assessed by the county court of New Madrid county, for the purpose of paying bonds issued and sold to obtain funds for the construction of a drainage ditch, under article 4 c. 122, R. S. 1899, now, as amended, article 4, c. 4 (sections 5578-5635) R. S. 1909. The defendant answered and the issues thus made call for a construction of the laws which, if they are revenue laws, deprive us of jurisdiction by reason of section 12, art. 6, of the Constitution of this state. Under this act the drainage district is organized under the supervision of the county court, and that court levies the assessment, and the collection and distribution of the tax thus derived takes the same course, under section 5599, "as state, county and school taxes upon real estate, and when collected the said tax shall be by the collector paid over to the court treasurer monthly." In the case of State ex rel. v. Adkins, 221 Mo. 112, 116, 119 S. W. 1091, 1092, it is said that the "`revenue laws of this state' may well include statutes concerning the disbursement of the revenue, as well as the gathering of it into the...