264 F. 705 | 5th Cir. | 1919
The receiver of the Texas & Pacific Railway Company instituted suits against the police juries of the parishes of Avoyelles, Natchitoches, St. Randry, and Rapides, to restrain the collection of taxes in road districts in the parishes named. The allegations of the several bills present the same major issues.
Due Process of Daw — Notice and Hearing.
The cases depend upon construction of provisions of the Constitution and statutes of Rouisiana authorizing creation of road districts and the levy of taxes and issue of bonds by the districts, and upon a determination of whether these laws as written and as practically applied take property of taxpayers without due process of law, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The first proposition made by complainant is that—
“The Constitution and laws of Xjouisiana, relative to the creation of road districts and the imposition of special taxes for the construction and maintenance of roads therein, in and of themselves, as interpreted and applied by police juries, are in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, in that they deprive petitioners of their property without due process of law.”
It is contended that the law as written and administered is unconstitutional, because the law does not require notice, and no opportunity is in fact given the taxpayers to be heard on the questions of the necessity or advisability of the creation of a road district, nor as to boundaries, nor as to whether property to be included would be benefited, nor as to the rate and duration of the tax, or the amount of the bonds.
After the success of the steam railroads was demonstrated, the attention of the federal and state governments was, for a number of years, especially directed towards their development. Aid was extended by the United States, by the stales, by counties, parishes, and municipalities. Though these highways have, ordinarily, been privately owned, the right of the states to levy taxes and appropriate property to help in their construction, and to authorize like action by their governmental subdivisions, has almost uniformly been sustained.
The extraordinary development oí the country has brought about conditions under which the needs for transportation facilities can no longer be met by the railroads, and by the inferior dirt roads along wlrch the pioneers have made their weary and wasteful way. Com-linn lides which have heretofore recognized the necessity of freeing themselves from the burdens of ignorance, and have provided public schools, have come to realize that getting out of the mud is another essential step to that end. They realize that good roads are the complement of the schoolhouse; that isolation is not only an ally of ignorance, but of poverty; that prosperity iu farming, trading, or manufacturing waits on transportation and communication.
A tardy recognition of these fundamental facts has brought shout activity in the issue of bonds and the levy of taxes foj road pur-po.ses. The national government is taxing all {he people that great interstate highways may be constructed. States are. taxing all llieir people that roads within the state may be built. In many states subdivisions have been made, or recognized, and authority given to the taxpayers therein to supplement the efforts of the state and national governments. These subdivisions for roads do not, ordinarily, take the form of improvement districts, iu which specific property receiving peculiar benefits is assessed in proportion to the benefits, but are based upon the idea that the taxpayers are doing a proper part in the building up of systems of roads connecting all the sections of the coiii.try, and from which they, and everybody else, must derive a benefit.
Jit the state of Louisiana, the parish is primarily used as the unit for road purposes; but, lest this division of the state should not bring; the necessary local co-opera don and supervision, provisions have been made for dividing the parishes into road districts, which, under the terms of the Constitution, became govern mental subdivisions of the state. The legislation as to these governmental units recognizes that the needs of the public with reference to roads may be more imperative in some parts of the state than in others, ti. recognizes, also, that in some parishes or parts of parishes the people
The creation of road districts is vested by the Constitution in the police juries of the several parishes. It is a legislative authority doubtless well assigned. It may be assumed that the necessary action can better be performed by a body more familiar with local conditions and needs than by the state Legislature. No taxpayer, and no other person, would ordinarily have a right to interfere with or participate in the exercise of this power. It is conceivable that, even in defining the necessary governmental subdivisions, the people, acting in their primary power in the formation of their Constitution, or acting through their Legislature, or acting through a special legislative body, as in the present case, might lay off the lines in such an arbitrary, unjust way, with such a palpable purpose to destroy or confiscate property, that the protection of the Constitution would not be denied. But such a possible case is not immediately under consideration.
Complainant makes the proposition that the grant of power to the police jury violates the Constitution of the United States, because no provision is made hy which he, as a taxpayer, may'be heard with reference to the advisability of action under tire authority, or in the manner in which the authority is to be exercised. There is no constitutional requirement of special notice to any particular individual of contemplated action of a general nature by a governmental body exercising general legislative or administrative functions. The taxpayer in a proposed road district has no more right to notice of a division of the state by the proper authority into road districts than to notice of the creation of a new parish or of the division of the parish into justice wards.
The governmental functions are carried on in a public way. The forces which exist to compel conformity of public action to public opinion are open to everybody. Except in those cases in which action is contemplated directly affecting the right of an individual, as distinguished from action affecting the public generally, no person has more right to specific notice than all other persons. It is assumed that all people interested in public affairs will acquire a knowledge of what is taking place among those to whom the conduct of public affairs has been trusted. And so long as the officers are acting within their authority, redress for improper conduct is political, instead of judicial.
There are certain classes of improvement districts, not supported by direct taxation, and with reference to which definite rules for determining benefits and assessments have not been prescribed by tire law, where the rule may be different'. Drainage, irrigation, sewerage, and street-paving districts may be of this character. In districts of this kind, the improvement may be general and the expense met by general taxes, or the improvements may bring general public benefits and also direct benefits to particular property, and the expense be met by general taxes and specific assessments, or the direct benefits to particular property may be so great, as compared to the general
In those cases in which improvement districts are formed for the direct benefit of the property within the district, and the method of meeting the expenses of the improvement is to determine the specific benefits and to fix upon each property owner an assessment in proportion, and where the law designates no method of determining the benefit and assessment other than by a reference to some commission or other tribunal, a matter of fact is presented directly involving the property rights of individuals, and each person affected must have an opportunity to produce for consideration the facts pertinent to his individual case. If this opportunity is not given, even the fact that the assessment was fair may not meet the objection that the property owner is deprived of a constitutional right.
Doubtless tire laws could provide for road districts, in which improvements would be made for the benefit of specific property and the improvement met by assessments against such property. The Constitution and statutes of Louisiana, however, make no provision for such improvement districts. The districts under consideration are not of this character. They are special taxing districts for the general good. They enable the construction of good roads from which every person in the state may be expected to receive some direct or indirect benefit. To undertake 1o apply to such governmental activities the rules which are invoked with regard to drainage, irrigation, or other improvement districts of that character would he to entirely destroy the possibility of efficient governmental action.
Arbitrary and Unfair Action in Defining Districts.
Appellant makes the statement that certain of the districts have been arbitrarily laid out, with a view of including the property of the railroad company, and for the purpose of compelling him to pay taxes on this property, and without any benefit to the property, but in order that the property of others might be benefited. The proposition that the laying off of a district, with a view of benefiting some property at the expense of other .property not benefited, would result in the taking of property without due process of law, in violation of the Constitution, is ordinarily" made with reference to improvement districts, in which the payments chargeable against particular property is based upon direct benefits received.
It is conceived, however, that any subdivision of the state might be territorially so defined that protection would have to be given against arbitrary, unreasonable, and confiscatory action. While the relief would usually be against local boards, action by a state Legislature might demand relief from the courts. All of the rules which have been announced with reference to districts of any kind recognize the possiblity of unjust, unreasonable, arbitrary action. Th 2 courts, while going far to sustain action creating districts and levying taxes and making assessment, nevertheless give efficient life to the constitutional provision which prohibits the taking of private property without due process of law.
Recent cases by the Supreme Court of the United States leave little to be said on the subject, and remove all difficulty in giving constitutional protection without unduly interfering with state and local activities, so essential to the maintenance of progressive prosperity. Myles Salt Co. v. Iberia Drainage District, 239 U. S. 478, 36 Sup.
“Thorn is no doubt that the Lcg-V.atu«‘ o2 a state may con.-stitucc drainage (listrk' i ir'd deiiiie their boTnidcrh's, or may delegate such authority to local Hdminisfraijye bodies, as in the present case, to the police juries oí the parishes of the stab*,, and that their aeiioi? cannot be assailed under the Fourteenth Ameudiur-ui uniese Ir is palpably arbitrary and a plain abuse. Houck v. Little River Iir;i‘i>as-;e District, till!) K. H. 2Hi. ■■ The charge is that nla'ntilY’s projMuiy was included in the district, not in the exercise of ‘legal lekislniive discreUoa,’ not that the scheme of drainage would inure to the benefit of the property, even indirectly, but with the predetermined ‘pin poso of deriving' reveimes to the end of granting a special benefit to the other lands subject to be improved by drainage, without any benefit’ to plaint Iff ‘or its pi'operty whatever.’present or prospective. * It is to be remembered that a dra'iiage district has the special purpose of the improvement of particular property, and when it is so formed to include property which is not and cannot be benefited directly or indirectly, Ineiudhig it only that it may pay for the benefit to other property, there is an abuse of power and an act of confiscation. Wagner naltimore, 239 IT. ¡5. 207. We are not dealing' with motives alone but as well with their resultant action; we are not dealing' with disputable grounds of discretion or disputable degrees of benefit, but with an exorcise of power defermlned by considerations not of the improvement of plaintiff’s property but solely of the improvement of the proj>orty of others — power, therefore, arbitrarily exerted, imposing a burden without a compensating advantage of any kind.”
The following cases further elucidate the subject: Houck v. Little River Drainage District, 239 U. S. 254, 36 Sup. Ct. 58, 60 E. Ed. 266 ; E. & N. R. R. Co. v. Barber Asphalt Paving Co., 197 U. S. 430, 25 Sup. Ct. 466, 49 E. Ed. 819; Spencer v. Merchant, 125 U.-S. 345, 8 Sup. Ct. 921, 31 E. Ed. 763 ; Davidson v. New Orleans, 96 U. S. 97, 24. E. Ed. 616. In no one of the cases before us for consideration is the property of appellant included ‘‘solely with the view of deriving income” from it. In each case benefit will accrue to the property indirectly, if not directly. The degree of benefit may he disputable, but the fact oí benefit should not be questioned. There is no proof of improper motives, and no sufficient basis for a suggestion of such motives.
[6] The finding of the master is, as to one or more of the districts, not only that there will he no benefit to the railroad company whose property is involved, but that the construction of the contemplated highway will bring harm in resulting competition. Even if such an incidental effect could follow from the discharge by the state of ns dmv with reference lo roads, that fact would furnish no constitutional ground for an attack upon the law under which ¡he road v'í ; cousin'Clod. Ay lo those matters strictly within the domain of government the aggregate benefits may alone he considered. Perhaps it! few i us fauces does a taxpayer receive direct benefit from every department of government. Many taxpayers are so fortunate that they have no occasion to appeal to the courts. Many taxpayers are so unfortunate that they cannot utilize the schools. There are doubt
It is hardly possible- to conceive a business that is not benefited by good roads. The suggestion that railroads will be injured by making other highways capable of being used would be expected from that class of political economists who demonstrated that laboring men would be injured by the introduction of machinery. No business is so entirely dependent upon the development of the country as the railroads. They reflect the prosperity of the people they serve, and suffer with their reverses. The railroad whose property is taxed in these cases has spent much of its life in the hands of receivers. Its only insurance against tire continuance or recurrence of this condition is the development of the rich country it traverses. And this development is not possible without the construction of roads.
When taxes have been levied to aid in the construction of railroads, they have been paid by all property owners, including the owners of vessels and of wagons and teams, engaged in carrying freight and passengers. That their businesses were destroyed did not make the taxes illegal, nor were they even exempt from the tax that -destroyed them. If it were true — as it cannot be — that the construction of roads would result in disastrous competition from motor vehicles, the legality of the tax would not be affected. Public utilities operated by municipalities have frequently been sustained in part by taxes on competing plants. The general and usual effect of government is beneficent, and all property must help in its maintenance. An individual or corporation may sometimes be legally harmed beyond the possibility of an offsetting benefit. Even the busy and efficient Fourteenth Amendment is sometimes powerless to eliminate the inequalities resulting from government, -and it is seldom- able to prevent the destruction which comes with progress.
There are findings in the report of the master at variance with these conclusions. The report is based upon evidence hefore us. We do not concur in the findings. There is not sufficient evidence, as to any one of the road districts, to support a finding that the police jury has acted from improper motives, or that improper or illegal results have been brought about. Certainly, in no case has the action “been palpably arbitrary and a plain abuse.”
Section 17 of Act 256 of 1910 — Prescription of Action.
Fifth Point. — Appellant’s “fifth point” is to this effect:
“Plaintiff is not estopped or precluded at this time from questioning the validity of the bonds and taxes in question.”
In elucidation of this point he makes the following additional proposition :
“That the limitation of time within which action may be brought under section 17 of -a-et 256 of 1910, giving to this section its most liberal interpretations, is confined to and relates only to suits contesting the regularity, formality, and legality of elections held in pursuance thereof. If, however, the prescription established by said section of said act be construed as a bar to funda*715 mental and constitutional objections, it is void and unconstitutional. It is not. competent t'or the Legislature to provide that the constitutionality of an act passed by it shall not be contested unless such action be begun within a limited time.”
Section 17 of Act 256 of 1910 provides:
“That, for a period of sixty days from the date of the promulgation of the result of any such election, any person in interest shall have a right to contest the legality of such election for any cause: after which time no one shall have any cause of action to contest the regularity, formality, or legality of said election for any cause whatever. If the validity of any election held under the provisions of this act is not raised within the sixty days herein prescribed, then no governing authority of any subdivision herein named, required to levy a tax or issue bonds as authorized at an election or nnder this act, shall be permitted to refuse to perform that duty and urge as an excuse or reason therefor, that some provision of the Constitution or law of Louisiana has not been complied with, but it shall bo conclusively presumed that every legal requirement has been complied with, and no court shall have authority to inquire into such matters after the lapse of sixty days as herein provided.”
Public and private interest require that all these questions be promptly and, definitely settled. The Constitution of Louisiana, as that of most of the states, does not confine itself to promulgating general political principles and providing a framework of government, but enters the domain of legislation, and contains many provisions to which should be applied the same rules of construction and interpretation as to statutes. The application of some of these provisions is dependent upon matters of fact, and the same rules for determining facts, and the same effect of such determination, can properly be invoked. To illustrate:
Paragraph 2 of article 281 of the Constitution, with reference to drainage districts, applies one limitation of taxation and assessment where lands are capable of heing drained without pumping, and another where pumping is required. The application of the constitutional limitation is determined by the determination of a matter of fact. The ordinary rules for determining facts are, or could be made, applicable, and there is nothing to prevent the Legislature from fixing a period within which the courts are open, and after which a presumption as to the facts may govern. The Supreme Court of Louisiana, in Crow v. Supervisors, 141 La. 1017, 76 South. 182, in which the act under consideration was discussed, used this language:
“The lawmaker has provided a method by which certain public works may be construed, through the taxation of property, * * * and in so doing1 has recognized the right of the owners * * * to raise all the legal and constitutional objections that they think proper, but it has * * ® declared that the right so recognized must be exercised in time, and not throughout eternity.”
We do not understand that the court intends, by the use of this language, to suggest that constitutional provisions may be disregarded, and that, after the lapse of the short period prescribed by the act, the result is the same as if the limitations of the Constitution did not exist. The case under consideration called for no such comprehensive statément, and other holdings of the opinion negative such an intention.
The views of the court are doubtless expressed by the opinion in Daigle v. Opelousas, G. & N. E. Ry. Co., 124 La. 1047, 50 South. 846. The case was one in which a justice ward, as distinguished from a police jury ward, held an election under Act 202 of 1898, to carry into effect article 270 of the Constitution of 1898. The court held that
“If this conclusion be correct, the police jury of the parish was absolutely without authority to order the election, and the situation is the same as if no election had been held, and prescription is not applicable. Esteres v. Board, 121 Í ,a. 991, 46 South! 902. In Dimmiek v. Opelousas, G-. & N. E. By. Go., 123 La. 123, 48 South. 767, the court drew a clear distinction between a suit contesting an election and a suit to annul a tax voted at a void election. If a void election cannot be cured by prescription, it cannot be cured by the mere inaction of taxpayers.”
The opinion in Crow v. Supervisors further, however, says:
“And the power of the state to limit the time within which rights, whether derived from Constitutions or elsewhere, are to be assorted, in hor courts, is as well recognized as the rights themselves.”
It is not necessary to do more than hold that,'as construed by the courts of Louisiana, section 17 of Act 256 of 1910 does not limit to 60 days, the period within which an appeal may be made to the courts of that state to prevent the collection of taxes levied in road districts, in violation of. the Constitution of Louisiana or of the Constitution of the United States.
Bond-Issuing Capacity of Road Districts.
A question to be determined prior to a consideration of the construction of article 281 is whether a road district has a power of taxation under this article. In the case of Hayne v. Assessor, 143 La. 697, 79 South. 280, taxation for road purposes is considered, and the history of articles 291, 292, 232, and 281 reviewed. It is recited that article 291 is found in the Constitution of 1898, under the title “Public Roads,” and deals alone with taxes, debts, and bonds for roads and bridges. The article authorized police juries, with the consent of property taxpayers, to levy special taxes, not to exceed 5 mills for 5 years, for road and bridge purposes, but conferred no authority to incur debt or issue bonds, and “the evident purposes of its amendment and readoption pursuant to Act 236 of 1912, was to supply that omission.”
“Finding, apparently,” says the court, “that the restrictions imposed upon the exercise of such authority by articles 232 and 281 were sufficient, * * * the people, * * * in adopting the amendment to article 291, included those restrictions merely by reference to the articles. * * * But the General Assembly did not propose, nor did the people adopt, any change in the rate of special taxation for road and bridge purposes. * * * The conclusion reached was that, while a 10-mill tax, running 40 years, or more, might be needed for other improvements, * * * a 5-mill tax for 5 years was all that was required for road and bridge purposes.”
“We conclude, then, that the 10-mill rate of taxation, established for road and bridge purposes by article 281, as amended pursuant to Act 197 of 1910. was superseded by the 5-mill rate, re-established by article 291, as amended pursuant to Act 236 of 1012. We therefore concur with the judge a quo _ln the opinion that the road tax in question is unconstitutional, and that plaintiffs cannot be compelled to continue its payment.”
“Article 281 of the Constitution of Louisiana limits tlie amount of bonds to be issued, and tbe rate of taxation to be imposed for the liquidation thereof. These limits were exceeded in the road districts herein mentioned, and rendered the action of the governing authorities void.”
Territory in some of the road districts is also in school or other districts, and the total.of bond issues for which some property is taxed exceeds 10 per cent, of the assessed value. Appellant contends that the bond-issuing and taxing powers are exceeded.
Those parts of article 281 of the Constitution of Louisiana having a bearing upon the propositions now under consideration are as follows :
Article 281, § 1:
“Municipal corporations, parishes and school, drainage, subdrainage, road, subroad, navigation, or sewerage districts, city of New Orleans excepted, hereinafter referred to as subdivisions of the state, when authorized by a vote of a majority in number and amount of the property taxpayers, * * * who vote at an election held for that purpose, * * * may, through their respective governing authorities, incur debts and issue negotiable bonds therefor, and each year while any bonds thus issued are outstanding, the governing authorities of such subdivisions shall impose and collect annually, in excess of all other taxes, a tax sufficient to pay the interest, annually or semiannually, and the principal falling due each year, or such amount as may be required for any sinking fund necessary to retire said bonds at maturity: Provided, that such special taxes, for all purposes as above set forth, shall not in any year exceed ten mills on the dollar of assessed valuation of the property in such subdivisions.
“No bonds shall be issued for any other purpose than that stated in the submission of the proposition to the taxpayers, * * * or for a greater amount than therein mentioned; nor shall such bonds be issued for any other purpose than for constructing, improving and maintaining public roads and highways, paving and improving streets, roads and alleys, purchasing and constructing systems of waterworks, sewerage, drainage, navigation, lights, public parks and buildings, together with all necessary equipment and furnishing, bridges and other works of public improvement, the title to which shall rest in the subdivision creating the debt, as the ease may be nor shall such bonds run for a longer period than forty years from their date or bear a greater rate of interest than 5 per cent, per annjim, or be sold for less than par. The total issue of bonds by any subdivision for all purposes dhall never exceed 10 per*721 cent, of the assessed valuation of the property in such subdivisions. Municipal councils are granted the authority to create within their limits one or more sewerage districts.”
It is the contention of appellant that the total bond-issuing capacity of the nine subdivisions of the state authorized by the quoted article combined is 10 per cent, of the assessed value, and that if any property should, by reason of action taken under the article by one or more subdivisions, be subjected to a tax of more than 10 mills on the dollar, the tax would be void. The point involved seems not to have been heretofore passed on by the courts of the state. In the case, however, of Washington State Bank v. Baillio, 47 ha. Ann. 1471, l7 South. 880, article 209 of the former Constitution was under consideration. That article authorized a 10-mill tax for a parish or municipal corporation, and it was held that this tax marked the limita’tion for the town and the limitation for the parish, and not the aggregate of the taxes of both. Language used in the opinion may pertinently be applied in the construction of article 281. It is suggested that—
“If the view prevailed that the parish and town tax together were subject to the 10-mill limitation, then the tax of either might exclude or leave little scope for a tax by tbo other.”
The point has very much more force when applied to nine subdivisions than when used alone with reference to two. If, for instance, the municipal corporation within a parish should issue bonds to the limit of the article, and vote taxes to. that amount, the authority of parishes and schools, roads, navigation and sewerage districts would thereby be nullified. If the voters in the school district should conclude to issue bonds to the amount of 10 per cent, of the assessed value, there could be no road bonds, no municipal bonds, nor bonds of any of the other subdivisions named. If the intention was to confine the authority of each subdivision to one-ninth of the total tax-levying and bond-issuing capacity, language was used poorly adapted to indicate such purpose, and it cannot be assumed that words, which ordinarily have a different meaning, must be so construed as to bring about absurd results.
The first paragraph of section 1 contains provisions to the effect that municipal corporations, parishes, and school, drainage, road, or sewerage districts, are subdivisions of the-state, and that such subdivisions may incur debt and issue bonds, and that the governing authorities of such subdivisions shall, each year, impose a tax sufficient to pay the interest and the principal falling due. This language is used with knowledge that, while some of the districts might be coterminous, they would, ordinarily, have different boundaries. Indeed, it is apparent that subdrainage and subroad districts would necessarily have different boundaries than drainage and road districts. A provision also of the article is that municipal councils may create within their limits more than one sewerage district. Where more than one sewerage district is created each district would have less territory than the municipal corporation. The bond-issuing and taxing power is not
The proviso limiting taxation to ten mills is to the effect that the special taxes “for all purposes as .above set forth shall not exceed,” etc. The section begins with a defining of the subdivisions. The argument of appellant is that these are the purposes to which reference is made. If this be the case, the language was very inaptly chosen, for it cannot accurately be said that a municipal corporation or a parish or a road district is a purpose. If it be said that these different named subdivisions suggest the purposes, it could he answered that municipal corporations and the parish organizations discharge quite a number oí governmental activities, some of which are not included in the specific designation of the purposes thereafter in section 1 named. A more probable construction of the language would be that the words “purposes as above set forth” have reference to the language authorizing the tax, which is for the purposes “of paying the interest and the principal falling due each year, and the amount which may be required for a sinking fund to retire the bonds.”
The second paragraph of section 1 specifically names the purposes for which bonds may be issued. They include the purposes referable only to road or subróad districts, that is, constructing and improving and maintaining public roads and highways. They include the purposes referable to municipal corporations; that is, “paving and improving streets, roads and alleys, purchasing and constructing systems of waterworks, * * * lights, public parks and buildings, together with all necessary equipment and furnishing.” It would seem that a proper construction of the article would be to limit the particular subdivision issuing the bonds to an issue equal to 10 per cent, of its assessed valuation, without reference to the number of purposes for which the particular subdivision could issue bonds. For instance, a municipal corporation, though charged with the duty of paving and improving streets, roads and alleys, and purchasing and constructing waterworks and public parks and buildings, would nevertheless be limited to 10 per cent, of the assessed valuation. This view is strengthened by the clause which gives municipal councils the authority to create sewerage districts within the limits of the municipality. Such a district, being created within the limit, would itself have a taxing power, and the bond-issuing capacity, which might otherwise be inadequate for necessary municipal purposes, would thus be substantially increased.
“The total issue of bonds by any subdivision for all purposes shall never exceed 10 per centum of the assessed valuation of the property in such subdivision.”
If it had been the intention to limit the total bond issues under this article to 10 per centum of the assessed valuation of the property, the language would have been, “the total issue of bonds by all subdivisions for all purposes,” instead of “the total issue of bonds by any subdivision.”
A construction other than that suggested would hardly be consistent with the other parts of section 1. “Paragraph 2” provides for drainage districts, and gives to these districts, “in addition to the powers hereinabove granted, the further power to provide drainage systems by levying acreage taxes.” By section 4 of the article, the police juries are given authority to issue bonds based upon “the avails of the residue of the 10-mill tax authorized by this Constitution.” The last paragraph of the article seems to give a construction to the language of the first paragraph. It provides that where bonds of any subdivision have been issued for any of the purposes specified in section 1, and the issuing has been authorized by the proper vote, etc., the bonds are validated, provided “that such bonds did not, at the time of their issue, exceed 10 per cent, of the assessed valuation of the property of such subdivision:” And the article concludes with this language:
“This entire article is to be considered a full grant of power to the subdivisions of the state as set forth therein.”
It cannot be assumed that the Constitution makers intended to say that it was a grant of power to the subdivisions of the state acting together, but that the article constituted a full grant of power to each of the subdivisions recognized or created.
Taxing Power of Road Districts.
Appellant’s “second point” is:
“The special taxes levied by the said police juries and other governing authorities, in alleged pursuance of articles 292 and 232 of the Constitution of Louisiana, are null and void for the reason that same have never been authorized by property taxpayers.”
Appellant’s “point” involves the proposition that there is no authority conferred by article 232 to submit a proposition to the taxpayers of a road district, but that the authority is limited to the taxpayers of a parish, municipality, ward, or school district.
In another connection consideration has been given the case of Hayne v. Assessor, 143 La. 697, 79 South. 280, wherein the Supreme Court of Louisiana has held that no taxing power for road purposes exists by virtue of article 232, and a construction of its language will not be necessary. Article 291 (as determined by Hayne v. Assessor) provides that—
“Other taxes may be levied by the police juries for road and bridge purposes, not to exceed live mills for five years on the property of the parish, or*724 any ward thereof, where the rate of taxation and the purposes thereof shall have been submitted to the property taxpayers of said ward or parish,” etc.
Unauthorized Action by Police Jury.
Attacks are made upon some of the proceedings resulting in bond issues and tax levies, on the ground that they were had by the police juries- after the taking effect of an act transferring certain of the duties to boards of supervisors. The decision in Crow v. Board of Supervisors, 141 La. 1017, 76 South. 182, by which we are hound, renders a detailed consideration of the contentions based upon these irregularities unnecessary.
Validating Act.
Appellant’s “sixth point” is that—
“The attempt of the Legislature, by Aet Ncr. 18 of the special session of 1917, to ratify all prior proceedings had or taken by police juries and boards of supervisors of road districts with reference to special taxes and bond issues, because it violates articles 47, 48, and other provisions-of the state Constitution.”
limited and applied to matters primarily within the control of the legislature, the validating legislation does not appear to be in conflict with article 47, article 48, or any other provision of the state Constitution, or any provision of the Constitution of the United States.
Parish of Avoyelles.
Road District No. 11, Tenth Ward.
The judgment sustaining the validity of the 6-mill lax levied in accordance with an election, the result of which was promulgated September 8, 1915, is modified to hold that the tax, to the extent of 5 mills, is valid, and as to the additional mill invalid, and as to such 1 mill injunction will issue as prayed by appellant. "This action is [rased upon Ilayne v. Assessor, 143 La. 097, 79 South. 280, decided subsequent to the action of the District judge. The judgment as to the bond issue and tax levy therefor is affirmed.
Road Districts Nos. 12 and 11¡..
The judgment holding taxes in these districts invalid is not appealed from.
Road District No. 13.
The judgment of the District Court is affirmed.
Avoyelles Road District No. 16, Created November 8, 1916.
The judgment of the District Court is affirmed.
Road District No. 16 of Avoyelles, Created February 7, 1917.
No appeal is taken from a judgment declaring the tax invalid.
Avoyelles Road District No. 17.
The judgment of the District Court is affirmed.'
Rapides Parish.
The proceedings in each road district was sustained by the District Court, and the judgment as to each district is affirmed.
Natchitoches Parish.
Road Districts Nos. 1, 2, 3, J¡, 12.
Appeals have not been taken from judgments declaring the tax levies in these districts invalid.
Road District No. 13.
Judgment of the District Court holding the tax valid is affirmed upon grounds heretofore in this opinion indicated.
Road District No. 19.
Judgment of the District Court holding the proceedings valid is affirmed.
St. Landry Parish.
Road District No. 2, Fourth Ward.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Road District No. 1, Sixth Ward.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
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