211 Mass. 121 | Mass. | 1912
The covenant of the defendants was merely to pay any assessment such as was mentioned in their deed for the payment of which any lien then (July 3, 1899) existed on the lot which they conveyed. An assessment was laid upon the lot in June, 1900, and if this had been a valid assessment it is not denied that the defendants would have been bound to pay it. But it was invalid, and no assessment then could be laid because the work had been illegally done. Warren v. Street Commissioners, 181 Mass. 6, and 183 Mass. 119. There was then no power to lay any other or further assessment for the work that had been done. New England Hospital v. Street Commissioners, 188 Mass. 88. Maloy v. Holl, 190 Mass. 277. There was therefore, when the defendants made their covenant, no power to lay any such assessment upon this lot, and the land was not and could not be subject to any existing lien for the payment of such an assessment.
The assessment now in question was laid under the authority given by St. 1902, c. 527, and was valid because it was so authorized and because that statute was not unconstitutional. Warren v. Street Commissioners, 187 Mass. 290. But the lien or incumbrance created by that statute could not arise before the statute was passed. The effect of the statute could not have existence before the existence of the statute which was the cause of that effect.
Judgment on the verdict.