92 Ga. 715 | Ga. | 1893
The defendants in error made returns of their property for State and county taxation for the year 1891 to
The authority of the tax-receiver to assess property where a return has been made is derived from section 839 of the code, and is limited to the time prescribed in that section. The language of the section is as follows : “Each return shall be scrutinized carefully by the tax-receiver, and if, in his judgment, he shall find the property embraced in the return, or any portion of it, returned below its value, he shall assess the value at once or within thirty days thereafter.” The courts cannot enlarge or extend the scope of the statute by granting further time if the tax-receiver fails to act within the time prescribed; nor can they, at his instance, require the tax-payer to submit to an assessment by arbitrators, under section 840 of the code. Certainly the fact that the tax-receiver believed or relied upon the belief of others that an invalid local statute was valid and superseded the law above referred to, so far as the particular county was concerned, and that his failure to act was due to this cause, could not give the court any power in the matter. The principles which authorize a court of equity to relieve against mistake have no application to the case. The tax-receiver is bound to know the law regulating his official duty; and for his error of judgment in reference thereto, no responsibility can attach to the tax-payer. (Code, §§3121, 3122, 2636. And see 15 Am. & Eng. Enc. of Law, “Mistake,” p. 634 et seq.) Moreover, mistake implies action, and here there was no action at all. See Culbreath v. Culbreath, 7 Ga. 70; also Adams v. Guerard, 29 Ga. 673, where it is said: “ Those mistakes from which relief has been granted were mistakes which occurred in doing something, not in doing
The court was clearly right in granting the injunction, as well as in the other rulings complained of.
Judgment affirmed.