46 Md. 500 | Md. | 1877
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This appeal must he dismissed because the record does not show any final judgment of the Court below, in the matter pending before it, which alone will authorize an appeal in such cases. It appears a petition for a mandamus was filed by the appellant, and to this, after the usual order, the appellees filed an answer. The petitioner then moved to quash this answer and for a peremptory mandamus, and this motion on being argued and submitted was overruled by the Court. The petitioner then filed a demurrer to the answer, which the Court overruled with costs, and then as the record states, the petitioner on the same day prayed an appeal, which was granted. Applications for mandamus- and the proceedings thereon are conducted upon the law
It appears from the petition and answer that the appellant, on the 9th of September, 1871, brought an action at law against “The President and Commissioners of the Village of Port Deposit.” The declaration in that suit was filed on the 2nd of December, 1873, and after the usual pleas and a jury trial, the result was a verdict and judgment against the corporation sued, in favor of the plaintiff for $499.99, rendered on the 19th of December, 1874. The present petition, which was filed on the 21st of September, 1876, asks for a mandamus against the appellees, commanding and directing them to make a special levy, on the assessable property of the town of Port Deposit, sufficient to satisfy this judgment and costs. This is resisted by the appellees upon two grounds, in substance as follows :
1st. Because during the pendency of the suit at law, the Act of 1872, ch. 347, was passed and went into effect, by means of which, there was such a change made in the corporation and its corporate name, as to render the judgment inoperative and void, and make it in effect a judgment against a corporation which had ceased to exist.
2nd. Because the appellees have no legal authority to’ levy a tax, to pay the judgment rendered against the corporation.
2nd. Nor do we think the second ground of defence can be sustained. The Act of 1812, after conferring powers upon the corporation, to carry out which would render taxation necessary, provides, that the President and Commissioners “shall have power to levy and collect taxes in said town, not exceeding in any one year, thirty cents in the one hundred dollars, on the assessable property of said town ; and shall also, for the purpose of grading and paving the streets of said town, have power to levy such other taxes upon the property fronting on the street or portion thereof to be paved, as will pay the cost of grading and paving the same.” Now assuming that upon the facts stated in the answer, the appellant would have no right to a mandamus if this were the only law on the subject,
Entertaining these views we should reverse the ruling on the demurrer, and remand the case in order that the mandamus might he issued, if there had been a final judgment authorizing an appeal. But as the second fails to disclose such a judgment the appeal must, as we have said, he dismissed.
Appeal dismissed.