93 Cal. 414 | Cal. | 1892
The board of supervisors of Fresno
A school district, when organized as provided by the Political Code, is a public corporation of a quasi municipal character, possessing such authority as has been conferred by the legislature, to be exercised in the mode and within the limits prescribed by the statute. The power to change the boundaries of the district, as well as to define them in the first instance, is of legislative origin, and, whether exercised immediately by the legislature or° mediately by a board of supervisors — the local legislature — is, whenever exercised, a legislative act. It is well settled that the legislature has the power to make such changes, and that in the exercise of this power it may make such provision respecting the property and obligations of the corporation as it may deem equitable or proper, and that its action in this respect is conclusive. It is also well settled that when the boundaries of such corporation are changed, either by forming a new corporation out of the territory of the original one or by transferring a portion of the territory to another corporation, in the absence of any provision on
Under these principles and authorities, in order to render the territory which was transferred from Fresno City school district to another district liable -for any of the obligations incurred by that district, or to a contribution for any of its obligations, it is necessary to show that such liability has been declared by the legislature. While the constitution has taken from the legislature the power to impose taxes upon counties or other public corporations, it has not given to such corporations any power whatever to impose taxes, but has authorized the legislature to vest such power in them by general laws. (Const., art. XI., sec. 12.) The power of a county or other public corporation to impose any tax is only that which is granted by the legislature, and its exercise must be within the limits and in the manner so conferred.
Section 1617 of the Political Code provides that the trustees of a school district may build' a school-house “ when directed by a vote of their district,” and by section 1830 the trustees are authorized to call an election and submit to the electors of a district the question whether a tax shall be raised for that purpose, specifying in the notice of the election the amount of money proposed to be raised and the purpose for which it is intended to be used. (Pol. Code, sec. 1832.) If the electors of the district vote therefor, the trustees are to certify this fact to the board of supervisors, and the supervisors, when levying the county taxes, must levy a tax sufficient to raise the amount voted “ upon all the taxable property in the district voting such tax.” (Pol. Code, sec. 1837.)
The vote of Fresno City school district was in the
Irrespective of the construction thus given to the section, it would be difficult, upon principle, to uphold the validity of a tax upon property which is without the district to be benefited by the expenditure of the money so to be raised. The theory upon which the power of taxation is authorized is the benefit to the tax-payer. It would be manifestly unjust to compel a contribution by tax to an object or for the benefit of a class in which the
If, before the change in the boundaries, the tax had been levied so as to become a charge upon the property, or an obligation from the tax-payer, it could have been thereafter collected, as was held in Moss v. Shear, 25 Cal. 38; 85 Am. Dec. 94. In that case it would have become ripened into an obligation which would constitute a part of the assets or property of the corporation, and, as we have seen, would, in the absence of any legislative provision on the subject, belong to the old corporation, the same as any other public property in its custody. So long, however, as it was only an inchoate right which had not become an enforceable obligation, the transfer of the property from the limits of the district took away the power to create such obligation. Until the assessment is made, no individual debt is incurred. (Waldron v. Lee, 5 Pick. 332; Jackman v. School District, 5 Gray, 413.)
The judgment is reversed.
Paterson, J., and Garoutte, J., concurred.