The Chicago v. People Ex Rel. Herman G. Weber

• Decision Date: 21 June 1881
• Parties: THE CHICAGO AND ALTON RAILROAD COMPANYv.THE PEOPLE ex rel. Herman G. Weber, Collector.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

99 Ill. 464

1881 WL 10566 (Ill.)

THE CHICAGO AND ALTON RAILROAD COMPANY

v.THE PEOPLE ex rel. Herman G. Weber, Collector.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed at Mt. Vernon Jun. 21, 1881.

WRIT OF ERROR to the County Court of St. Clair county; the Hon. FREDERICK H. PIEPER, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. G. & G. A. KOERNER, for the plaintiff in error:

We will draw the attention of the court to two points, each of which is fatal to the judgment rendered by the court below:

1. The description of the property is so indefinite that no judgment can be rendered against it. It is the same description which was before this court in a case between the same parties, and there decided as we now claim. ( The People ex rel. v. Chicago and Alton Railroad Co. 96 Ill. 371.) The evidence in the case at bar is the same as the evidence in that case, and the question now made is precisely identical with the one there decided in our favor.

2. The property in question is part of the property returned in the schedule of the company as “railroad track,” and is taxed as such. It contains 13 77/100 acres, and is all covered with tracks and buildings required for the transaction of the company's business. It is taxed as such, and the taxes have been paid thereon for the year 1879. That such property can not again be assessed by the local assessor has been decided by this court. Chicago and Alton Railroad Co. v. The People ex rel. Dennison et al. 98 Ill. 350.

Mr. R. D. W. HOLDER, for the People:

The witness Charles L. Weber, called by the plaintiff in error, testified that he made the survey of and lotted the said tract, and that lot 15 was one of the lots; that he made a plat of the same, which was all done by order of the assessor of St. Clair county. The date of this work is not given by the witness. It is fair to presume then, and we must presume, that the assessor, at the time the work was done, had the authority to have it done. Public officers are presumed to do their duty, and not exceed it. Todemier et al. v. Aspinwall et al. 43 Ill. 401; Honore, Jr. v. Home National Bank, 80 Id. 489.

The assessor had authority to have plats prepared of all lands in St. Clair county, prior to July 1, 1874,--the date of the repeal of an act conferring the authority. (See “An act to facilitate the assessment of real estate in the county of St. Clair,” Laws of 1869, p. 162.)

The assessors had such power generally, prior to July 1, 1872. See Laws 1853, p. 53, sec. 47, and Purple's Statutes 1856, chap. 89, sec. 289.

The property in question is claimed by counsel for plaintiff in error to be embraced in the schedule of the company as railroad track,--that it is all covered with tracks and buildings required for the transaction of the company's business. We do not think the testimony will sustain the assertion, “a tract of land can not be regarded right of way merely because one, or even two or more, side-tracks may be constructed upon or over it, but the land must be appropriated, as is the land in question, to that purpose.” Chicago and Alton Railroad Company v. The People ex rel. Dennison et al. 98 Ill. 350. The valuation, $935.17, placed upon the property intended to be embraced in their “schedule of railroad track,” is, of itself, conclusive evidence that the company either understand it to only include a strip 100 feet wide by 1500 feet long, or that they willfully intend to avoid the payment of taxes honestly due. The valuation is outrageously low, and the company should not be permitted by this court to in this manner avoid payment of taxes upon its property, assessed upon the fair cash value thereof, as individuals are compelled to do.

Mr. JUSTICE WALKER deliv...