The Town of Lebanon v. the Ohio

• Decision Date: 30 June 1875
• Citation: 1875 WL 8358,77 Ill. 539
• Parties: THE TOWN OF LEBANON et al.v.THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RAILWAY COMPANY.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

77 Ill. 539

1875 WL 8358 (Ill.)

THE TOWN OF LEBANON et al.

v.THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RAILWAY COMPANY.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June Term, 1875.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of St. Clair county; the Hon. WILLIAM H. SNYDER, Judge, presiding.

This was a bill in chancery, by the Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company against the town of Lebanon, J. W. Hughes, sheriff and collector, and school districts Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 7, in township 2 north, range 6 west, to restrain the collection of certain back taxes levied by said town and school districts upon the property of the complainant.

The opinion of the court contains a sufficient statement of the facts of the case to an understanding of the points decided. The court below granted the relief sought, and the defendants appealed. Mr. JEHU BAKER, and Mr. H. H. HORNER, for the appellants.

Messrs. G. & G. A. KŒRNER, for the appellee.

Mr. CHIEF JUSTICE SCOTT delivered the opinion of the Court:

In the latter part of the year 1870, the county clerk of St. Clair county extended on the tax books of that county for that year, below the name of the Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company, and against its property denominated and described as “right of way,” a tax, amounting in the aggregate to $3136.50, purporting to be arrearage or back tax on the property of the railroad company for the years 1864 to 1869, both years inclusive, in favor of certain school districts and the town of Lebanon. Although the property is described as the ““right of way,” it is understood the property in fact consists of all the property the company had in the county, including the rolling stock, and perhaps all personal property.

The collector of taxes for the county had levied upon a locomotive engine, and was about to expose it to sale to make the amount of taxes so levied, when it was replevied by the railroad company. That suit seems to have been dismissed because it was understood the question of the validity of the taxes could not be litigated in an action of replevin. This bill was then filed to enjoin the collection of the taxes. The circuit court decreed relief, and that decision is now assigned for error.

Many questions, presenting great difficulty, have been elaborately argued, but, in the view we have taken, it will not be necessary to consider all of them. The decision may be rested on a single point.

It is contested whether the proof offered shows any levy of taxes was in fact directed to be made by the proper authorities of the school districts and the town of Lebanon, in the several years for which the present tax was extended; but, assuming that fact to have been proven by competent evidence, a graver question arises, viz.: had the county clerk any authority, under the law, to extend a tax directed to be levied by local corporate authorities in the previous years 1864 to 1869, inclusive, upon the assessment of valuation made for the year 1870?

The general law in force during the years the several taxes were directed to be levied, required that all property should be assessed annually. Specific directions were given as to the manner of assessing property belonging to railroad corporations. Provisions were made for annual assessments. The basis of a levy for all taxes was, of course, the annual assessments or valuations.

The valuations were annually made as required by law, but no tax was extended on the several assessments from 1864 to 1869, inclusive, but the extension was made upon the valuation of a subsequent year. Confessedly this was irregular, for there is no law that expressly authorizes the county clerk to extend a tax...