Baker v. City of Cincinnati

11 Ohio St. (N.S.) 534
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1860
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Ohio St. (N.S.) 534 (Baker v. City of Cincinnati) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. City of Cincinnati, 11 Ohio St. (N.S.) 534 (Ohio 1860).

Opinion

G-holson, J.

It is objected to the right of the plaintiff to recover, that the payment made by him was voluntary.

The question when such a payment is to be deemed volun [537]*537tary, was discussed in the case of Mays v. Cincinnati, 1 Ohio St. Rep. 268. It was held in that case, that “ money paid to procure a license, when issued upon the petition of the party, without objection or protest, is, in a legal sense, a voluntary payment, and can not be recovered back.” We have now the case where the payment was made with objection, and under protest. The authorities show that a protest, or notice of ■an intention to resist the claim, is, in such cases, material.

It is said, in the case of Valpy v. Manley, 1 C. B. 592, 602, “ that, where money is voluntarily paid, with full knowledge of all the circumstances, the party intending to give up 'his tight, he can not afterward bring an action for money had and received; but that it is otherwise where, at the time of paying the money, the party gives notice that he intends to resist the claim, and that he yields to it merely for the purpose of relieving himself from the inconvenience of having his goods sold.”

In the case of Taylor v. The Board of Health, 31 Pa. State Rep. 73, the officer of the Board, under its order, had collected a tax, which was afterward held to be illegal. But the court said, that the plaintiff could not say that the order was void, and therefore the officer acted on his own authority, and at his own risk, “ seeing that he paid voluntarily, and without attempting to deny the duty, or to warn the officer that he must proceed at his own risk. Had he given such warning, the validity of the tax would have been tested by the superior officers of the collector. He paid without dispute, and thus assented to the collection of the tax for public purposes, and of course to the application of it; and he ■has no shadow of equity against the collecting functionary.”

It is also stated in the case of Mays v. Cincinnati, as a general rule, that, to make the payment of an illegal demand involuntary, it must be made to appear that it was made to release the person or property of the party from detention, or to prevent a seizure of either by the other party having apparent authority to do so, without resorting to an action at law.” A strict application of this rule would embrace the case of the present plaintiff, for it can not be said that he [538]*538made the payment to release his person or property from detention, or to prevent a seizure of either.

In the case of Fullam v. Down, 6 Esp. 26, Lord Kenyon said, “that where a voluntary payment was made of an illegal demand, the party knowing the demand to be illegal, without an immediate and urgent necessity (or, as expressed by Mr. Bancroft, unless to redeem, or preserve your person or goods), it is not the subject of an action for money had and received.” The judge delivering the opinion in Mays v. Cincinnati, 1 Ohio St. 274, so quotes the language of Lord Kenyon as to make “ an immediate and urgent necessity,” and “unless to redeem or preserve your person or goods,” equivalent expressions, and as showing that a necessity to redeem or preserve one’s person or goods, could alone be deemed a case of urgent and immediate necessity. The grammatical construction of the language of Lord Kenyon, as reported in Espinasse, may properly admit of this construction. But it does not appear to have been so understood by Tindal, C. J., in the case of Valpy v. Manley, 1 C. B. 594, 603, who speaks of it as “ a form of expression which clearly assumes that, if there be an immediate and urgent necessity, or the payment is made for the purpose of redeeming or preserving one’s person or goods, the right to bring this sort of action exists.” The expression “immedia.te and urgent necessity ” was certainly indefinite, and an explanation by reference to something definite and capable of application was desirable. The most usual cases of involuntary payment, entitling a party to an action, are those made to redeem or preserve one’s-person or goods. But are they the only cases ? After an examination of the authorities, we think that there are other cases, and that the statement which has been cited from Mays v. Cincinnati should be qualified.

In the case of Parker v. The Great Western Railway Company, 7 M. and G. 253, the company made extra charges for the carriage of goods, to which they were not entitled, and which, under the act of Parliament, were illegal. An action was brought to recover the amount of such extra charges, and it was argued for the defendants, as stated by the court, “ that the payments-[539]*539were made voluntarily, with full knowledge of the circumstances, and that the plaintiff was not compelled to make' those payments; but, in each case, must be considered as having made a contract with the company to pay them a certain-sum of money as the consideration for the carriage of his goods; and that having made such contracts, he can not now retract, and recover the money paid in pursuance of them.” “ On the other side, it was urged, that these could not be considered as voluntary payments; that the parties were not on an equal footing; that the defendants would not, until such payments were made, perform that service for the plaintiff which he was entitled by law to receive from them without-making such payments; and that, consequently, he was acting under coercion.” And the court said: “We are of opinion that the payments were not voluntary. They were made in order to induce the company to do that which they were bound to do without them; and for the refusal to do which, an action on the case might have been maintained.”

The case of Morgan v. Palmer is very analogous to the present. The money was paid on obtaining a license; and it was held to have been illegally exacted. To the objection that the payment was voluntary, it was said by one of the judges: “ I agree that such a consequence would have followed, had the parties been on equal terms. But if one party has the power of saying to the other, that which you require shall not be done except upon conditions which I choose to impose/ no person can contend that they stand upon anything like an equal footing.” And by another: “ If, according to the usual course, the plaintiff was entitled to a license, the defendant was bound to grant it. The granting it was in the execution of his office, but the claim of a fee for so doing certainly was not. Then comes the objection, that this was a voluntary payment. In Bilbie v. Lumley, Burbane v. Dacres, and Knibb v. Hall, both parties might, to a certain extent, be considered as actors. Here, the plaintiff was merely passive,, and submitted to pay the sum claimed, as he could not otherwise procure his license.” 2 Barn. & Cress. 729, 734, 737. These cases show that money may be properly held to [540]*540have been paid involuntarily, or under coercion, where the position or interests of a party were such as to require from .another the performance of a duty enjoined by law, and he was illegally compelled to pay the money to induce such performance. Undue advantage is not to be taken of the party’s situation. There are other cases to which no express reference need be made, which sustain the same view. Dew v. Parsons, 18 Eng. Com. L. 87; Colwell v. Piden, 3 Watts, 327, 328;

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Bluebook (online)
11 Ohio St. (N.S.) 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-city-of-cincinnati-ohio-1860.