Upshur County v. Rich

• Decision Date: 14 April 1890
• Citation: 135 U.S. 467,10 S.Ct. 651,34 L.Ed. 196
• Parties: UPSHUR COUNTY v. RICH et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

135 U.S. 467

10 S.Ct. 651

34 L.Ed. 196

UPSHUR COUNTY v. RICH et al.

April 14, 1890.

Alfred Caldwell, for appellant.

BRADLEY, J.

Rich and others, the appellees, owned a tract of wild land in Upshur county, W. Va., the exterior boundaries of which are supposed to contain 100,000 acres, and it was assessed for taxation for the year 1883 as containing 100,000 acres, at four dollars per acre. The owners, considering this assessment too high, applied to the county court of Upshur county for a reduction, and, after giving notice to the prosecuting attorney for the county on the 6th of November, 1883, filed the following petition: 'To the Honorable the County Court of the County of Upshur, in the State of West Virginia: The petition of Benjamin Rich, William F. Reynolds, and George W. Jackson respectfully shows unto your honors that your petitioners are the owners in fee-simple of a certain tract of land lying partly in said county of Upshur, and in the adjoining counties of Randolph and Braxton, but mostly in Upshur county, the exterior boundaries of which tract are said to contain 100,000 acres; that said tract of land has been charged and assessed on the land books of the proper district of the said county of Upshur for taxation for the year 1883 as containing 100,000 acres, whereas there are various parcels of land lying within said exterior boundaries which are properly to be deducted from the area therein, and thereby reduce the quantity to be charged to your petitioners for taxation. And your petitioners further show that the assessment of said tract of land on said land books is at a valuation of $400,000, which they charge is unjust, extravagant, excessive, and illegal, and, as compared with the valuation of lands of like h aracter in said county, wild and unimproved, the said valuation of said tract of 100,000 acres is grossly above and beyond that of adjacent lands. Your petitioners therefore pray that the state of West Virginia and the county of Upshur may be made parties defendant to this their petition, and that the said erroneous and illegal assessment be corrected, and the quantity charged them, as aforesaid, reduced; and they will ever pray,' etc. On the same day they filed a petition for the removal of the case to the circuit court of the United States for the district of West Virginia, alleging themselves to be citizens of Pennsylvania, and that the state of West Virginia and county of Upshur, in the said state, were necessary parties to the said controversy. The petition was grounded upon an affidavit of one of the parties that, from prejudice and local influence, the petitioners would not be able to obtain justice in the state court. The county court refused to order a removal; but on a petition being presented to the circuit court of the United States, with a transcript of the proceedings, that court took cognizance of the case, and denied a motion to remand it to the county court. Thereupon the county court of Upshur county, by two of its members, (being a majority of the court,) filed a plea to the jurisdiction, alleging for cause that the application of the petitioners for relief in the county court was not a suit, and did not involve a controversy between a citizen of West Virginia and a citizen of any other state; and that, as to the taxes belonging to the state, the county court was merely the organ, under the law of West Virginia, to act upon the matter of relief asked for; and the same as to the taxes belonging to the county; and that neither the county nor the state was a party, by process or otherwise, to the said application. This plea was rejected on motion of the petitioner. Afterwards the case was heard, and the circuit court made the following decree: 'Benjamin Rich, W. F. Reynolds, and George W. Jackson vs. County of Upshur. Upon application to correct an erroneous assessment of lands in the county of Upshur, West Virginia, removed into this court December, 1883. This cause having been regularly docketed in this court, this day came the said Benjamin Rich, Wm. F. Reynolds, and George W. Jackson, by their attorneys, and the said county of Upshur, in the state of West Virginia, by Messrs. John Brannon and A. M. Poundstone, who represent the county of Upshur, and the prosecuting attorney for said county, and it appearing to the court that the application for correction of the assessment herein complained of was made within the time prescribed by law, to-wit, on the 16th day of April, 1883, and that the prosecuting attorney had due notice thereof, and the court, having heard the evidence, and seen and inspected the papers and records in the cause, and heard the arguments of counsel thereon, upon mature consideration, doth find ___.' The court then finds the assessment erroneous; that it should have been for only 25,000 acres of land instead of 100,000, and should have been at $2 1/4 per acre instead of $4, and ordered it to be corrected accordingly,—and decreed further as follows: 'That said Benjamin Rich, Wm. F. Reynolds, and George W. Jackson be, and they are hereby, relieved from the payment of so much and such part of the taxes and levies extended for said years 1883 and 1884 as may and do exceed the amount of taxes and levies proper to be assessed upon said lands, as herein and hereby reduced in quantity and value. And it is further ordered that copies of this order be certified by the clerk of this court to the county court of Upshur county, the sheriff of said county, the assessor of the first district thereof, and the auditor of West Virginia; and it is further ordered that no costs be taxed for or against either party.'

This is the decree appealed from, and the principal objection taken to it is that the case was not properly rm ovable from the state court to the circuit court of the United States. This objection is sought to be sustained on two distinct grounds: (1) That the case is not a suit within the meaning of the removal act; (2) that, if it is a suit within the said act, the state of West Virginia is a necessary party to it. The act under which the case was removed was the third clause of section 639 of the Revised Statutes, which declares: 'Third. When a suit is between a citizen of the state in which it is brought and a citizen of another state, it may be so removed on the petition of the latter, whether he be plaintiff or defendant, * * * if * * * he makes and files * * * an affidavit, stating that he has reason to believe, and does believe, that, from prejudice or local influence, he will not be able to obtain justice in such state court.' It must be 'a suit' between citizens of different states. Is this such a suit? We do not see how it can be called such. The original petition made the state of West Virginia and the county of Upshur parties defendant; and the petition of removal alleged that the state and county were necessary parties to the controversy. If, therefore, the proceeding could be called a suit at all, it was a suit against the state as well as the county, and such a suit is not within the category of removable cases. A state is not a citizen, if a county is. But is an appeal from an assessment of property for taxation a suit within the meaning of the law? In ordinary cases it certainly is not. By the laws of all or most of the states taxpayers are allowed to appeal from the assessment of their property by the assessor to some tribunal constituted for that purpose, sometimes called 'a board of commissioners of appeal;' sometimes one thing, and sometimes another. But, whatever called, it is not usually a court, nor is the proceeding a suit between parties. It is a matter of administration, and the duties of the tribunal are administrative, and not judicial in the ordinary sense of that term, though often involving the exercise of quasi judicial functions. Such appeals are not embraced in the removal act.

In this respect the law of West Virginia does not differ from that of most other states. It is true that the tribunal of appeal is called the 'county court,' but it has no judicial powers, except in matters of probate. In all other matters it is an administrative board, charged with the management of county affairs. It formerly had general judicial powers, but by an amendment to the constitution of West Virginia, adopted in 1880, in place of the eighth article of the constitution of 1872, it was provided as follows: 'Sec. 22. There shall be in each county of the state a county court, composed of three commissioners, and two of said commissioners shall be a quorum for the transaction of business. It shall hold four regular sessions in each year, at such times as may be fixed upon and entered of record by the said court. Provisions may be made by law for holding special sessions of said court.' To this 'court,' so-called, was given the custody of the county records, and it was further declared that (section 24) 'they shall have jurisdiction in all matters of probate, the appointment and qualification of personal representatives, guardians, committees, curators, and the settlement of their accounts, and in all matters relating to apprentices. They shall also, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, have the superintendence and administration of the internal police and fiscal affairs of their counties, including the establishment and regulation of roads, ways, bridges, public landings, ferries, and mills, with authority to lay and disburse the county levies. * * * They shall, in all cases of contest judge of the election, qualification, and returns of their own members, and of all county and district officers, subject to such regulations, by appeal or otherwise, as may be prescribed by law. Such courts may exercise such other powers and perform...