39 S.C. 5 | S.C. | 1893
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an application for a writ of prohibition to restrain the town council of Beaufort from levying and collecting a tax of twelve and one-half mills on every dollar of the assessed value of the real estate of relators, situate in the town of Beaufort, which the said council had undertaken to impose by an ordinance ratified on the 7th of March, 1892. The ground upon which the writ was asked for is that by the charter of the said town the town council have no power to impose any tax upon real estate in excess of the rate of one-fourth of one per cent, of the value thereof. So that the only question raised by the pleadings, and the only question considered and determined by the Circuit Court, is whether said town council has been invested with the power to levy a tax in excess of the said rate of one-fourth of one per cent.
It appears that by the act of 1816 (8 Stat., 276), the town council of Beaufort was authorized to “make assessments advalorem upon all the lots and houses in the town; provided, that no such assessment shall exceed the amount of one-fourth of one per cent, on the value thereof;” aud that from time to time the town was rechartered, “with all the powers and privileges heretofore granted.” But it is not necessary here to specify these various acts until we come down to the act of 1850 (12 Stat., 10), when by the 20th section of “an act to incorporate
It seems to us, therefore, that the Circuit Judge erred in holding that by the repeal of the act of 1850, the provisions of the act of 1866, as well as those of the act of 1879, fell with it, and consequently that there is now no law authorizing the town council of Beaufort to impose the tax in question.
Under these circumstances it is very doubtful, to say the least of it, whether the respondents are in a condition to make this additional question here. For while it is quite true, as shown by the authorities cited by counsel for respondents, that this court, in reviewing a case upon appeal, may sustain a judgment below for other reasons than those given by the Cir
The judgment of this court is, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be reversed and that the petition be dismissed.