Works v. State.
| Decision Date | 04 February 1908 |
| Citation | 63 W.Va. 480 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Bluefield Water Works, etc. Co. v. State. |
Taxation Assessment Review by Courts.
There is no jurisdiction for a writ of error in this Court from the decision of a circuit court made upon appeal from a county court in a proceeding under Code, chapter 29, section 129, as that section appears in chapter 35, Acts of 1905, p. 247, brought in a county court by a corporation to be released from an alleged erroneous assessment of its property returned for taxation, because of the refusal of the county court and assessor to deduct indebtedness of such corporation from its money, credits and investments, (p. 482.)
Error to Circuit Court, Mercer County.
Application by the Bluefield Water Works & Improvement Company to correct an assessment. An order of the county court refusing relief was reversed by the circuit court, and the State brings error.
Dismissed.
J. Frank Maynard and A. M. Sutton, for the State. A. W. Reynolds, for defendant in error.
The Bluefield Water Works & Improvement Company, a West Virginia corporation, filed with an assessor of Mercer county a report or statement of its property for taxation for the year 1905, as provided by Code, chapter 29, section 77, as found enacted in chapter 35, Acts 1905, p. 317, (Code of 1906, section 761), showing its taxable property and also its indebtedness. The assessor refused to allow such indebtedness as a set-off against the money, credits and investments of the corporation. Then the corporation applied to the county court to correct the assessment by deducting such indebtedness from its money, credits and investments, and the county court, having refused relief, the corporation appealed the matter to the circuit court, which reversed the action of the county court, and allowed such deduction of indebtedness, and corrected the assessment, and ordered a refund of a portion of the taxes. From this action of the circuit court the State of West Virginia has sued out a writ of error from this Court.
The question of jurisdiction of this Court to entertain this writ of error has not been made by counsel; but this Court has often said, and it is an axiom of court procedure, that a court must, before acting on the merits of a suit or writ of error, look to its own jurisdiction, because it is forbidden to act where there is no jurisdiction, and its action is likely void, and besides the court ought not assume jurisdiction when it has none, and thus set a bad precedent.
It is very plain from established law that a writ of error does not lie except where the law gives it. A decision of a court is final, unless the law gives access to another court. A writ of error in this Court must come from statute law. So we said in McLean v. State, 56 S. E. 884, 61 W. Va. 537. See many cases cited in Encyclopedic Digest, vol. 1, p. 476. The proceeding so begun in the county court is purely a statutory proceeding for the correction of assessment of taxes. The remedy is given only by the statute in section 129 found in said chapter 35, Acts of 1905, p. 347. It will there be seen that the taxpayer is allowed to go into the county court for relief against improper...
To continue reading
Request your trial