97 Pa. 78 | Pa. | 1881
delivered the opinion of the court, January 21st 1881.
Greenwich Island, described in the preamble of the Act of 1760, as marsh, meadow and cripple land, partly drained and partly open to the overflowing of the tide, is the territory required by said act to be embanked and drained for the common benefit of the owners. That it is divided into a number of farms, with several owners; that the lands would be almost, if not altogether unfit for cultivation without embankment and drainage; that the statute provides a just mode for making the general improvements and keeping up the same, and for levying the costs thereof as between the .owners, are uncontroverted facts. After the lapse of one hundred and twenty years, during which time the landowners have ■enjoyed th,e benefits of the statute, it should not be declared void
When any considerable tract of land, owned by different persons, is in a condition precluding cultivation by reason of moisture and overflow, which embankments and drains would relieve, the public have such an interest in the improvement, and the consequent advancement of the general interest of the locality, as will justify the levy of assessments upon the owners for the purposes of such improvements: Cooley on Taxation 424, and cases cited in note. No doubt general taxation is admissible for this purpose, but the special benefits from enhancements of values must accrue mainly to the owners of the lands, and legislation which imposes the costs upon those who, without the improvements, would bo the principal sufferers, is probably inmost cases wiser and better: Id. 427. When there is no consideration other than the improvement of land as property, the authority to levy such assessments is confined within limited bounds. In Pennsylvania, it can scarcely be measured by the necessities or laws of such states as Louisiana or California; there is but little land liable to overflow or stvampland within her borders. As the facts are presented, we cannot •say that the statute for improvement of Greenwich Island is without those limits of authority. It widely differs from the Act of May 9th 1871, which was declared unconstitutional in Rutherford’s Case, 22 P. F. Smith 82, and has been acquiesced in for several generations. Every statute which authorizes assessments upon the owners for improvement of their lands, ought to be strictly construed. If it admit of two constructions, one consistent with the Bill of Rights, the other repugnant, it should receive the former. It is said that the statute makes the owners of this island a quasi corporation. Be it so. The managers have just the powers, and none other, that are given expressly or by necessary implication. They claim the right to seize the goods of a tenant to satisfy an assessment laid prior to his possession. They must show the grant or their claim is false.
The Act of 1760 directed the managers to make a true list of the names of the owners or possessors, with the quantity of land held or possessed by each, with the sum per acre of the assessment for the current year; and in default of payment by any such person, judgment could be obtained against him, in satisfaction whereof his land should be levied and let for so long a time as the rents would pay the debts and costs. By the supplement of 1804, the managers shall ascertain the names of each owner or possessor of every acre of said island, and having estimated the expenses
It was said in Henry v. Horstick, 9 Watts 412, that the Act of Assembly will admit of a construction, which would authorize a distress of the goods of a party in possession of the land, though the tax was laid prior to his entering into possession; and that the act in this respect being remedial, ought to be construed liberally in order to make the remedy provided by it effectual in all cases. This language was respecting the general laws for collection of taxes, and has no application to the construction of a private statute for local and special assessments.
Judgment affirmed.