22 Wash. 646 | Wash. | 1900
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The statute relating to the assessment and collection of taxes contains the following provision:
“If the county treasurer has reason to believe, or is informed, that any person has given to the assessor a false statement of his personal property, or that the assessor has not returned the full amount of property required to be listed in his county, or has omitted or made erroneous return of any property which is by law subject to taxation, or if it shall come to his knowledge that there is property which has not been listed for taxation for the current year, he shall proceed, at any time before the final settlement with the county auditor, to correct the return of the assessor and to charge the owner of said property on the tax list with the proper amount, of taxes, at the valuation of the year or years omitted as near as the same can be ascertained. To enable him to do this he is hereby authorized and empowered to issue, compulsory process and to require the attendance of any person whom he may suppose to have a knowledge of the articles, or value of the property; and to examine such person on oath in relation to such statement or return; and the treasurer shall in all such cases notify every such person, before making the entry upon the tax list, that such person may have an opportunity of showing that his statement, or the return of the assessor, is correct; the county treasurer shall in all cases file in his office the statement of facts or evidence upon which he‘made such corrections, and when so made the assessment and the levy shall have the same force as if made in the first instance.” Bal. Code, § 1741.
The relator in the court below, the appellant here, is the owner of certain real property situated in the county of
It is the contention of the learned counsel for the appellant — and we think it may be conceded — -that the county treasurer, in exercising the powers conferred upon him by
In the present case it is clear that the county treasurer has jurisdiction of the subject-matter in controversy, for by the express terms of the statute he is given power to inquire into and correct an erroneous return in the assessment rolls made by the county assessor. Having this jurisdiction, he has the power and the exclusive right, in the first instance, to determine whether a given state of facts will authorize him to make the correction, and whether a given notice is sufficient to bring a party before him. If he decides these questions erroneously, it is nothing more than an erroneous exercise of acknowledged jurisdiction, and is not a case where he acts without or in excess of jurisdiction. To correct error, we repeat, is not the function of a writ of prohibition. State ex rel. Light Co. v. Superior Court, 20 Wash. 502 (55 Pac. 933); State ex rel. Vincent v. Benson, 21 Wash. 571 (58 Pac. 1066).
It is urged, however, that the writ should issue because the statute does not provide for an appeal from the judgment of the county treasurer. But the fact that there is no appeal is never, alone, sufficient to authorize the issuance of the writ, except in cases where there is no other adequate remedy; and here, in the writ of review provided for by the Code, we find a remedy ample to correct any error in the judgment the treasurer may render. Lewis v. Bishop, 19 Wash. 312 (53 Pac. 165); Browne v. Gear, 21 Wash. 117 (57 Pac. 359).
The judgment is affirmed.
Dunbar, O. J., and Beavis, J., concur.