48 A. 960 | Conn. | 1901
Lead Opinion
The nature and purpose of the special legislation, under which the appeal to the Superior Court in the present case was brought, were somewhat fully considered in the case of Toof v. New Haven,
The appeal to the Superior Court in the present case, like the one in the Toof Case, was taken solely from the doings of these special legislative agents in making such list; and its sole purpose and object was to have a certain valuation of real estate in that list reduced, or otherwise made to correspond with what was alleged to be the taxable value of such property. Those empowered to make this list were not, in *648 making it, engaged in preparing a tax or assessment list of any kind. They were to make a revaluation of all taxable real estate in New Haven, and were to value it "as of the first day of October, 1894." They were persons well qualified for such a work, and were given ample time and opportunity to do the work. The result of their labors was to be embodied in a readily accessible and permanent form in this list, which was to contain, among other things, a valuation upon every piece of taxable real estate in New Haven, separately described and identified. A list so made would undoubtedly serve, and was intended to serve, a highly useful purpose in the preparation of tax or assessment lists; but it was not itself such a list, and was not intended to be. It was to be used in making the next assessment lists after its completion, as the basis of real estate valuations therein, in much the same way as in common practice assessment lists of a previous year are used as the basis of the next succeeding lists; that is to say, it was to be used as a source of reliable information as to taxable real estate and its valuations, in making the next assessment lists; and it was undoubtedly, expected that it would, in that way, affect the valuations of real estate in subsequent lists for some time. Undoubtedly, too, greater weight would be, and in most cases ought to be, given to a list so made, than would ordinarily be given to the ordinary assessment lists of a preceding year; but still, under the Special Acts, this list was to serve only as an aid and not as a fetter to those charged with the duty of making the assessment lists in New Haven. The valuations in that list might guide, but did not bind them.
After this list was made, it was still the duty of the assessors and board of relief, in making up the assessment lists and the abstract thereof, next after October 1st, 1900, to make and perfect them according to law, and thus to put their own valuations upon real estate as of October first of that year, as the law requires them to do; and in doing this they were not legally bound by the valuations in the list made under this special legislation. Nor was the taxpayer legally bound by the valuations in that list, but only by those *649 made by the assessors and board of relief, and from their valuations, upon certain conditions, he had the right of appeal to the courts under the General Statutes. These results must follow, unless this special legislation can be regarded as suspending, in New Haven, temporarily, the operation of the General Statutes regulating the assessment and collection of taxes; but, looking at the three Acts as a whole, as we think we must, we do not think this legislation can be so regarded. Had the Act of 1895 remained unchanged, it might, perhaps, be plausibly claimed that the provision therein, that the list when completed should "constitute the grand list of the city and town of New Haven for the year 1898," by implication at least, partially suspended for that year, in New Haven, the operation of the General Statutes aforesaid; but the Act of 1899 radically changed this provision. That Act provided, not that the list should be "the grand list," but only that it should "constitute the basis of the grand list," "subject to such additions and alterations as may thereafter be made according to law." Looking at this special legislation as a whole, we think that it does not expressly, nor by necessary implication, suspend, in New Haven, even temporarily, the General Statutes relating to the assessment and collection of taxes, but contemplates that they shall operate and be acted upon just as if these Special Acts had never been passed.
From this view of the nature and purpose of this special legislation, we think the duties to be performed in perfecting the list called for by it, whether performed by the legislative agents or by the court, are administrative and not judicial. The things to be done by the legislative agents, and by the court on appeal, were all parts of one process prescribed in the Special Acts for the perfection of this list, and having for their sole end the completion of that list for the purposes it was designed to subserve. It is contended that the "appeal" allowed by this special legislation is in effect a process for calling into action the judicial power of the court to prevent the collection of an unjust or an illegal tax, similar to the process allowed under § 3860 of the General *650
Statutes, as explained in Ives v. Goshen,
Upon the view here taken of the nature and purpose of the special legislation in question, we are constrained to hold that in so far as it attempts to confer jurisdiction upon the Superior Court, it is, to that extent, unconstitutional, for the reasons given in Norwalk Street Ry. Co.'s Appeal,
The decision in Toof v. New Haven,
The Superior Court is advised to grant the defendant's motion, and to erase the case from the docket.
In this opinion ANDREWS, C. J., HAMERSLEY AND HALL, Js., concurred.
Dissenting Opinion
I concur in the opinion of the court so far as it states the purpose of the Special Acts under which the valuation in question was made by the assessors and board of relief, and treats that valuation as administrative action of a special and peculiar character.
I dissent from the conclusion that the Superior Court had no power to entertain the appeal.
We held in Toof v. New Haven,
What is commenced as an administrative proceeding may often lead up to or become converted into a judicial one, by a grant of power to a court to review action taken in the first instance by administrative officers. This doctrine is fully discussed and affirmed in both of the opinions given in Norwalk Street Ry. Co.'s Appeal,
In the case at bar, the plaintiff asserts that he owns certain pieces of real estate the true market value of which was $45,030; that the assessors gave them a valuation of $71,560; that the board of relief reduced it only to $66,560; and that he is aggrieved by this action, and claims a further reduction to what is the true value. In my opinion he has a substantial grievance for which the General Assembly had the right to give him an opportunity to seek judicial relief.
Unquestionably this would be true if the law were so that the valuation complained of was necessarily to be taken as the true valuation in making up the grand list of New Haven as of October 1st, 1900. Ives v. Goshen,
The rule of the common law, that a man is only liable for the damages proximately resulting from an act for which he is responsible, can be repealed by statute, and a remedy given for those which are remote and consequential. Bertholf v.O'Reilly,
But if the Superior Court could refuse to entertain an appeal, when it appeared upon the face of the record that there was no substantial grievance, this is not such a case. It is, it seems to me, probable that the valuation as left by the board of relief will be taken as the true valuation in the next grand list. If it be thus taken, the plaintiff must pay taxes next year on a valuation of his property which is more than $21,000 greater than it would be if it conformed to the legal standard of "the fair market value."
It is true that the plaintiff had another remedy by an appeal from that valuation, whenever it should be made. But the legislature could give him a choice of remedies. It is not for the courts to say what particular means of relief the General Assembly should provide. The discretion as to a selection of the proper means is vested exclusively in the legislative department.
It is impossible to classify and distribute all the powers of government with mathematical precision into three divisions and to build up an impassable wall between them. Applicationof Cooper, 22 New York, 67, 82, 84. This was recognized by the framers of our Constitution. Journal of the Constitutional Convention of Connecticut, pp. 55, 78. The *654 impossibility stands out more clearly with every new advance in civilization. No absolute trinity of governmental form can be maintained in human society, as the relations of each individual to his fellows, and of the State to all, become, and necessarily become, more numerous and complicated.
There are administrative functions which are not purely legislative nor purely executive, and there are administrative functions which, if ill-performed to the prejudice of any particular person, may legitimately present a case for judicial relief.
The Supreme Court of the United States, after an extensive review of the authorities upon a question quite similar to that here presented, came to the following conclusions: "The principle to be deduced from these cases is, that a proceeding, not in a court of justice, but carried on by executive officers in the exercise of their proper functions, as in the valuation of property for the just distribution of taxes or assessments, is purely administrative in its character, and cannot, in any just sense, be called a suit; and that an appeal in such a case, to a board of assessors or commissioners having no judicial powers, and only authorized to determine questions of quantity, proportion and value, is not a suit; but that such an appeal may become a suit, if made to a court or tribunal having power to determine questions of law and fact, either with or without a jury, and there are parties litigant to contest the case on the one side and the other."Upshur County v. Rich,