43 P. 171 | Or. | 1896
Opinion by
The point for which the plaintiffs contend demands an examination of the terms of the county court required to be held in Douglas County and a definition of the word “term” as applied to a session thereof. The terms of said court, appointed by law, are held on the first Monday in January, March, May, July, September, and November, (Hill’s Code, § 2335,) and a term may also be held at such other times as the court
Every citizen owes a duty to the state to bear a just proportion of its burdens, and if the assessor should undervalue his property or omit a part thereof assessable for general taxation, he has no just cause for complaint if a board of equalization or county court adds thereto or increases the value placed upon it by the officer chosen for that purpose. The duty of supporting the state being incumbent upon the cit
The plaintiffs, under the provisions of section 2780, Hill’s Code, were served with a written notice which required them to appear before the county court, to show why their assessment of money, notes, and accounts should not be increased, and, in obedience thereto, they personally appeared for that purpose. This notice is the pleading by which the court obtained jurisdiction of the persons, and may be read in connection with the order founded thereon for the purpose of explaining the latter. An examination of the notice conclusively shows the nature of the inquiry proposed, and the order of the court based thereon is equivalent to a finding that the class of property specified in the notice and order was assessed too low, and for that reason it was the judgment of the court that the assessment thereof be increased. No board of equalization can arbitrarily increase the assessment of-a taxpayer, for to do so would be a confiscation of property; but the pleadings having in effect stated a cause of action, and an order having been made thereon, it must be presumed that sufficient evidence was adduced from which the court concluded that the
Reversed.