84 Tenn. 401 | Tenn. | 1886
delivered the opinion of the court.
On September 2, 1884, the trustee of Shelby county
After this decision, the parties appeared before the chairman of the county court, and the property was revalued by him, upon the proof offered, and the assessment made for the years mentioned. The company again brought the proceedings into the circuit court by the writs of certiorari and supersedeas. Upon
If the_ circuit court was right in holding that the. claim of the county was barred, the ease is, of course, at an end. The assessments in controversy were made by the county trustee in September, 1884, uuder the act of 1883, which expressly authorized them. “All collectors of taxes,” says this act (brought into the new Code, section 663), “ are hereby made assessors to assess all property which, by mistake of law or fact, has not been .assessed, whether the omission be for the particular year for which the collector is acting, or for any previous year or years, and it is hereby made the duty of such collectors, in all cases where property has not been assessed, but on which taxes ought to be paid by law, to immediately assess the same, and proceed to collect the taxes.” The Legislature of 1885 undertook to limit the right of action for taxes. By the act of 1885, chapter 24, it is provided that all taxes “that hereafter fall due” shall be barred, and any lien for such taxes be cancelled and extinguished, unless the same are collected, or suits instituted for the collection within six years from the first of Jan
But the same Legislature also undertook, by the act of 1885, chapter 23, to amend the acts of 1879 and 1883 as brought into the new Code, sections 663, 664. The first section of the act so amends section 663 as to limit the powers of tax collectors to assess omitted property to the period of the preceding three years. The second section of the act adds to section 664 the following proviso: “Provided that no taxes on property for more than three years back shall be assessed and collected, where they have not been assessed and not paid in consequence of the errors and omissions of former collectors or assessors.” A statute of limitations prescribes the time within which a per
The proviso of the statute forbids the assessment for more than three years' back, when the taxes “have not been assessed and not paid,” in consequence of the errors or omissions of former collectors or assessors. The learned counsel of the company lays stress upon the words “ and not paid.” His point is that unless the taxes in controversy were paid before the passage ■ of the statute in question, the assessment is subject to the three years limitation. But the statute, as we have seen, is not a limitation
Even if the act in question had expressly repealed the act of 1883, the Code, section 49, has changed the common law rule as to the effect of such repeal, which rule was followed in the cases cited by the learned counsel. That section is: “ The repeal of a statute does not affect any right which accrued, any duty imposed, any penalty incurred, nor any proceeding commenced under and by virtue of the statute repealed”: Richardson v. State, 3 Cold., 122; Hill v. State, 5 Lea, 730.
The trial court was clearly in error in holding that the statute was a bar to the right of the county to collect the taxes in controversy.
The final judgment of the circuit court contains this clause: “And the court being satisfied as to the insufficiency of all the allegations (of the company’s petition for certiorari), rules against the introduction of evidence offered by defendant to sustain the same.” If the court had dismissed the petition on motion, or mero motu, the question before us would be on the sufficiency of the petition. But his Honor did not dismiss the petition. On the contrary, he granted re
A large part of the company’s petition is taken up with attacking the assessment of the trustee of Shelby county, upon the idea apparently that his assessment was still open to contest, because this court should have remanded the cause under the first cer-tiorari to the circuit court, and that the remand to the chairman of the county court, or to the county court, as written in the judge’s memorandum, was void. But, as we have seen, the first certiorari case was finally disposed of by this court, by holding that the assessment of the trustee was valid, and merely quashing the distress warrants because the company had, in effect, disputed the trustee’s valuation, and was entitled to a revaluation before the chairman of the county court. The order of this court was only a procedendo to the proper official to proceed accordingly. There was nothing in the memorandum of opinion to authorize a change of the judgment in any respect. So much of the petition, therefore, as sought to impeach the trustee’s assessment and the judgment of this court contained no merit, and was insufficient to warrant the issuance of the certiorari, or the introduction of proof.
The petition then sets out the revaluation of the
The petition does not seek a revaluation of the property by the circuit court, nor claim that the valuation of the chairman is beyond the actual value at the time. It does not undertake to give a value to the property, or any data to sustain the assumption of any particular value. It sums up its gravamen or substance thus: “Your petitioner, as advised, charges that said alleged assessment as made by said chairman is absolutely null and voidj that he has no jurisdiction of the same under the* laws of the State; that for the reason heretofore set forth in this petition the same is not in conformity with law as to the mode of arriving at the valuation of petitioner’s property, and that the same was overvalued and overestimated in quantity and value.” The prayer of thá petition is that the record, upon which the chairman proceeded, be brought up in order that it may be determined
There can be no doubt of the jurisdiction of the circuit court to bring before it, by means of the writs of certiorari and supersedeas, the proceedings touching the collection of taxes, and thereby to test the validity of a distress warrant, or the right to issue it in the particular case: Saunders v. Russell, 10 Lea, 293, and cases cited. But there is grave doubt whether the writs can be resorted to merely to correct a supposed error in the valuation of property by the assessor or assessors appointed by law to perform that duty: Knight, ex parte, 3 Lea, 401; Cooley on Tax., 157, 533. The provision of the Constitution, Article 6, section 10, in relation to the writ of certiorari, does not apply to tax cases: Railroad Company v. State, 8 Heis., 664, 804. “As a general rule,” says Mr. Cooley, at the
Without passing upon these points, we are of opinion that the petition in this case is not so framed as to require us to look outside of the proceedings before the chairman, and that his valuation is sustained by the proof.
The judgment below will be reversed, and the petition dismissed with costs.