Valentine v. Town of Hagerstown

• Decision Date: 02 December 1897
• Parties: VALENTINE v. MAYOR, ETC., OF HAGERSTOWN et al.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

38 A. 931

86 Md. 486

VALENTINE v. MAYOR, ETC., OF HAGERSTOWN et al.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

December 2, 1897

Appeal from circuit court, Washington county.

Bill by Sylvester Valentine against the mayor and council of Hagerstown, and Harry K. Startzman, tax collector, for an injunction. From an order dismissing the bill, complainant appeals. Reversed.

W. J Witzenbacker, for appellant. A. C. Strite, for appellees.

Argued before McSHERRY, C.J., and BRYAN, FOWLER, BOYD, PAGE ROBERTS, BRISCOE, and RUSSUM, JJ.

RUSSUM J.

This is an appeal from an order of the circuit court for Washington county, in equity, dismissing the bill of complaint of the appellant, praying an injunction against the appellees, to restrain the collection of taxes levied and assessed by the appellees against the appellant. The bill alleges that prior to Act 1884, c. 58 (Code Pub. Loc. Laws, art. 22, §§ 155-221 inclusive), the complainant was the owner of certain land which by that act became included within the corporate limits of Hagerstown; that the said land is not liable to taxation for municipal purposes, but is exempt until the happening of certain contingencies mentioned in said act of assembly; and that there has not arisen any contingency whereby the said lands have been rendered liable to taxation. The material and uncontroverted facts which we gather from the statement of facts and other papers in the record are these: Sylvester Valentine, the appellant, being the owner of a tract of agricultural land adjoining the town of Hagerstown, caused the same to be platted and laid out as "Valentine's Addition to Hagerstown"; and, on the 13th December 1882, had said plat recorded among the land records for Washington county. Afterwards, the legislature, by Act 1884, c. 58, repealed all prior legislation creating a municipal government, provided for an entire new system of government, and enlarged the boundaries of the town so as to include "Valentine's Addition." On the 3d day of October, 1889, the appellant and his wife conveyed a portion of this land to Lewis H. Valentine, who on the same day caused it to be platted, and recorded the plat. On the 12th day of April, 1892, the appellant conveyed another parcel of this land to John W. Valentine; and on the 13th of April, 1892, still another portion was conveyed to William J. Valentine. In the deed to Lewis H. Valentine, the appellant reserved to himselfand his assignees "an uninterrupted right of way" over a portion thereof, and the parcels conveyed to John W. and William J. Valentine were described as on the west side of a "proposed street." No taxes were ever paid to the municipality of Hagerstown by the appellant, nor were any ever demanded until 1895, when this suit was begun. The property proposed to be taxed is not within 240 feet of Mechanic street, the nearest street that has been accepted by the town, nor within that distance of any turnpike or public road, but is within that distance of Carrollton avenue and Carroll street as laid down on the plat.

The contention of the appellee is that the land known as "Valentine's Addition," having been laid out by the appellant into building lots, thereby ceased to be exempt as agricultural land, and became liable to taxation for municipal purposes; in other words, that, the land laid out and platted by the appellant having been brought within the town limits by the new charter, the acceptance of the new charter by the town operated as an acceptance of the so-called "streets," as...