Walker v. Cook
| Decision Date | 22 October 1880 |
| Citation | 129 Mass. 577 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Parties | Elliot Walker v. Isaac S. Cook & trustee |
Middlesex. Trustee process. The town of Natick, summoned as trustee of the principal defendant, answered that, at the time of the service of process upon it, it had not in its hands or possession any goods, credits or effects of the defendant and was not liable to be summoned or chargeable as trustee unless the court should find otherwise on the following facts: At the annual March meeting of the town of Natick, the defendant was duly elected to the office of assessor of taxes for the current year. He accepted the office, was duly qualified, and entered upon and performed the duties of such office. Before the service of the plaintiff's writ, the assessors had completed their annual assessments, and the warrant for the collection of taxes had been committed to the collector for collection, but no account had been rendered to the town of the number of days the defendant was employed in making the assessments. The defendant, before the service of this process, had been paid on account for his services the sum of $ 75, and no more; and the sum which he is entitled to receive for his services, under the statutes fixing the pay of assessors, exceeds that sum and any sum which may be claimed for exemptions and costs of trustee. There was no vote of the town to pay the defendant for his services, and no contract made in relation thereto, except such as may be inferred from the above facts. The defendant was also elected and served as an assessor of the town the previous year.
The Superior Court, after a verdict for the plaintiff, ordered the trustee to be charged; and the trustee appealed to this court.
Trustee discharged.
L. H Wakefield, for the plaintiff.
P. H Cooney, for the trustee.
The statutes provide that each town shall every year choose three or more assessors; that if a town neglects so to do, it shall forfeit to the use of the Commonwealth a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, nor less than one hundred dollars, as the county commissioners shall order; and that any person chosen assessor, who shall neglect to take the oath of office, shall forfeit the sum of fifty dollars; Gen. Sts. c. 18, §§ 31-34, 53. These forfeitures must be paid into the treasury of the Commonwealth. Gen. Sts. c. 176, §§ 1, 2. Colburn v. Swett, 1 Met. 232.
The assessors, therefore, are public officers, in the performance of whose duties the whole community has an interest. Towns have no authority to direct or control them, but all their powers and duties are prescribed and regulated by the statute; and, in case they do not perform their duties, the town has no remedy against them. They are not, in any sense the agents or servants of the town, and the town, by the election of assessors, enters into no contract with them for the payment of their services. Walcott v. Swampscolt, 1 Allen 101. Hafford...
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Attorney Gen. v. Pelletier
...this commonwealth. The relation thereby established was not contractual but arose out of the statute providing for the election. Walker v. Cook, 129 Mass. 577;Cook v. Springfield, 184 Mass. 247, 68 N. E. 201. Moreover, the statute here under consideration was in force long before the electi......
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Attorney General v. Pelletier.
...this Commonwealth. The relation thereby established was not contractual but arose out of the statute providing for the election. Walker v. Cook, 129 Mass. 577 . v. Springfield, 184 Mass. 247 . Moreover, the statute here under consideration was in force long before the election of the respon......
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Bell v. Treasurer of Cambridge
...and the obligation of the city to pay it rests upon some statute or ordinance and not upon any express or implied contract. Walker v. Cook, 129 Mass. 577;Cook v. Springfield, 184 Mass. 247, 68 N.E. 201;Amerige v. Inhabitants Saugus, 208 Mass. 51, 94 N.E. 297;Riopel v. City of Worcester, 213......
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...of health), have no contractual relation with that municipality for payment of the statutory compensation which it must pay them (Walker v. Cook, 129 Mass. 577; Hooker v. McLennan, 236 Mass. 117 , Cook v. Springfield, 184 Mass. 247 , license commissioner; Campbell v. Boston, 290 Mass. 427, ......