84 Mo. App. 32 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1900
Lead Opinion
The collector of revenue for the city of Aurora, in Lawrence county, Missouri, in the name of the state of Missouri, sues for certain taxes and penalties aggregating $50.89, which he alleges accrued upon certain land owned by the defendant within the corporate limits of said city by virtue of certain ordinances of said city and the statutes of this state. He asks judgment enforcing a lien against said real estate for the taxes assessed thereon and the costs of this suit.
The answer admits the ownership by defendant of the land described in the petition; avers that it is situated one
The reply took issue. The cause was submitted to the court for decision upon evidence adduced by plaintiff and upon an agreed statement of facts. Erom these sources it appears that the amount of taxes alleged to be delinquent in the petition is evidenced by a tax bill against that property of the defendant which was added to the corporate limits of the city of Aurora by an ordinance passed on the fourteenth of September, 1891, which ordinance was ratified at an election wherein the total vote cast was 361, of which 242 ballots were cast for and 119 against the proposition to extend the city limits; that the city of Aurora is a mining town, where lead and zinc were discovered in 1885. That it was first incorporated in 1886,and has since been extended by-several additions to its corporate limits. The agreed statement of facts concludes,
“That in 1891 the plaintiff had a population of six thousand; that the defendant’s tracts of land are one mile east of the main business portion of the city and that city limits, extended by ordinance number 66, passed September 14, 1891, runs one-fourth mile east of the east line of the defendant’s property. That in the year 1891 the plaintiff by vote, erected a city hall, at a cost of $5,000; that same year an electric light franchise was granted to E. E. Foster
“That defendant’s land is platted and held for mining purposes only and the plat must be put in evidence, but no other evidence shall be introduced by either party.
“In witness whereof the said parties have hereunto set their hands this fifteenth day of September, A. D. 1889.”
The court gave judgment for defendant, from which plaintiff appealed.
The first question presented by this appeal grows out of the defense set up in the answer, which'is that the taxes sued for were not laid upon property legally a part of the corporate territory of the city of Aurora. In support of this defense it is insisted that the ordinance purporting to include defendant’s land and that of other owners within the city limits was void for unreasonableness and oppression. No objection is made to the form or -manner of adoption of this annexation ordinance. The only point relied upon is, that it is invalid as to defendant’s land on account of the remoteness of the same from the inhabited part of the city and its inutility for urban uses and purposes. The right of the city of Aurora as one of the fourth class to extend its corporate powers and territorial limits “over any territory lying adjacent thereto,” is not questioned. It is simply answered by defendant that its property does not fall within that statutory description. R. S. 1899, sec. 1580 (Amended Acts 1891, page 6162). The issue thus presented raises a single question, did the ordinance enacted by the city of Aurora, September 14, 1891, make the land of defendant a part of the limits of that city and extend over it the chartered jurisdiction of said city? As it is not contended that said ordinance discloses any defect or irregularity on its face or in its enactment, it must follow that the question propounded can only be determined by matter in pais, and that the extrinsic question of fact thus presented is whether or not the land of
Rehearing
MOTION NOR REHEARING.
It is insisted by the learned counsel for respondent that the decision in this case is in conflict with