65 Ala. 564 | Ala. | 1880
— It must be regarded as settled, that taxpayers can not resort to a court of equity, to enjoin the collection of a tax claimed to be illegal, unless with the illegality of the tax there is connected some recognized ground of equitable jurisdiction. — Ala. Gold Life Ins. Co. v. Lott, 54 Ala. 499; Mayor v. Baldwin, 57 Ala. 61; Elyton Land Co. v. Ayres, 62 Ala. 413. The principle, is fatal to this bill in any of its aspects.
It is apparent that, if all the objections to the taxes assessed could be sustained, there remains a considerable amount which is justly due, and ought to have been paid.
If bills of this kind could be entertained, municipal corporations would be placed at the mercy of reluctant and litigious tax-payers, embarrassed in all their operations, and incapable of preserving the peace, order, and proper government of the localities to which their powers extend. On the authority of the cases cited, and of Winter v. City Council of Montgomery, at the present term, the decree of the chancellor must be reversed, and a decree here rendered, dissolving the injunction heretofore granted in this cause, and dismissing the original bill. The appellees must pay the costs in the Court of Chancery, to be taxed by the register, and the costs in this court.