26 Wash. 183 | Wash. | 1901
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This action was instituted by the respondent in the superior court of Whatcom county, to enjoin the appellants from enforcing the collection of taxes upon certain personal property situate in said county and belonging to the respondent, which taxes were levied for municipal purposes for the use of the city of Eairhaven under the revenue laws of the state of Washington. The property, at the time of the assessment, was located upon certain tide lands upon the shores of Bellingham bay, and, as appellants claim, within the city of Eairhaven. The city of Eairhaven was organized as a municipal corporation under the general laws of the state of Washington in May, 1890, and the final order of the board of county commissioners establishing the boundaries of said city was entered on the 12th day of May, 1890. There is no question as to the regularity of the proceedings under which the assessment was made and the taxes levied, provided said property assessed was included within the boundaries of said city. Neither is there any controversy as to the correctness of the amount of the taxes, nor of the
The controversy turns upon the question whether said property was embraced within the corporate limits of the city of Fairhaven or was without said corporate limits, at the date of the assessment. The boundaries of said city, as petitioned for prior to the incorporation, were as follows:
“Commencing at the northwest corner of the W. K. Pattle donation claim in Whatcom county in the state of Washington, which is marked hy the letter ‘P’ cut into solid rock on the shores of Bellingham hay and is in section 36, township 38 north, range 2 east, and is 2,007 feet west and 361 feet south of the quarter section corner on Puget Sound guide meridian between sections 31 and 36; running thence east 4,101.09 feet to the southwest corner of the Thomas J ones donation land claim; thence north along the west line of the Thomas Jones donation land claim to the northwest corner thereof; thence east to the southeast corner of the E. C. Fitzhugh land claim; thence north to the southwest corner of the William Utter donation claim; thence to the southeast corner of the said Utter claim; thence north along the east boundary of the said Utter claim to the section line between sections 29 and 32; thence east along said section line to the quarter corner between sections 29 and 32; thence south along the local division line between the east and west halves of section 32, township 38 north, range 3 east, and sections 5 and 8 to the center of section 17 in township 37 north, range 3 east; thence from the center of section 17 west along the division line between the north and south halves of sections 17, 18 and 13 to the shores of Chuclcanut bay; thence following the shores of Chuclcanut bay along the*187 beaclv in a general northerly course to the place of beginning
The boundaries of said city as established by the board of county commissioners are as follows:
“Commencing on the beach of Bellingham bay on the west side of the Pattle donation claim at a point midway between the one-half section line in section 36 and the township line between townships 38 and 37, which point is about 80 rods more or less north of said township line; thence running due east on the quarter section line until said line intersects the half section line in section 32, township 38 north, range 3 E; thence running south on said one-half section line two and three-quarter miles until it intersects the center of section 17 in township 37, range 3 east; thence west on the center line of sections 17 and 18 in township 37, range 3 east, and section 13 in township 37, range 2 east, until it intersects the shores of Ghuclcanut and Bellingham bays; thence following the shores of Ghuclcanut and Bellingham bays in a northerly direction to the point of beginning
The statute under which the city of Eairhaven was incorporated provides (§701, Bal. Code) :
“A petition shall first be presented to the board of county commissioners of such county, . . . which petition shall set forth and particularly describe the proposed boundaries of such corporation. . . . When such petition is presented, the board of county commissioners shall hear the same, . . . and, on the final hearing, shall make such changes in the proposed boundaries as they may find to be proper, and shall establish and define such boundaries; . . . provided, that any changes made by said board of county commissioners shall not include any territory outside the boundaries described in such petition.”
There is no question about the location of any of the boundaries of said city except the west line thereof. This line was described in the petition for incorporation as
It appears from the record in this case that a portion at least of the city of Fairhaven was laid out and platted upon lands known as the W. B. Pattle donation land claim; that this land was patented to the said Pattle
Holding as we do that the property is outside the corporate limits of the city, and therefore not liable for taxes, disposes of the other questions presented, because, if the city had no authority to collect taxes illegally as
The judgment must be affirmed.
Reavis, C. J. and Fullerton, Anders and Dunbar, JJ., concur.
Hadley, J., not sitting.