53 P. 542 | Idaho | 1898
— The appellant, William Howell, presented his claim against the county of Ada, for a rebate of taxes paid on five thousand head of sheep for two and one-third months, for sixty-eight dollars and ninety-seven cents. The board of commissioners of said county disallowed said claim. Thereupon said Howell appealed to the district court, where
The question that meets us at the threshold of this case is whether the board has the authority to rebate or refund the taxes, as claimed by the appellant. In support of the contention of the appellant, counsel cites several California authorities, and among them the case of Hayes v. Los Angeles Co., 99 Cal. 74, 33 Pac. 766, in which the court holds that taxes erroneously or illegally collected may be refunded by order of the board of commissioners. That decision is based upon section 3804 of the Political Code of California, which is as follows: “Any taxes, per centum, and costs erroneously or illegally collected,
As the board of commissioners had no power to allow said claim under' any state of fact, and the primary question involved being one of jurisdiction, it was unnecessary and improper for the board or the court to pass upon the validity of said act. The rule recognized by all courts is that the validity of a statute will not be passed upon in any ease unless it is necessary to a determination of the case. That being the correct rule, the validity of said statute could not be passed upon in the determination of this case. The board of county commissioners, as shown by the record, held said act to be void. This court, in Hampton v. Dilley, 3 Idaho, 427, 31 Pac. 807, quoting from People v. Saloman, 54 Ill. 46, said: “To allow a ministerial officer to decide upon the validity of a law would be subversive of the objects and purposes of government, for, if one officer may assume infallibility, all other like officers may do the same, and thus an end be put to civil government, one of whose cardinal principles is subjection to the laws.” It is also held in said opinion that it is the duty of all good citizens to obey whatever the law-making power promulgates as law, until the same shall have been passed upon by the courts in a proper and legitimate manner. Our statutes are ample to protect the citizen from illegal taxation, and in case an illegal tax is levied, if the person fails to appear before the board of equalization that