Pierre Water-Works Co. v. Hughes County

37 N.W. 733, 5 Dakota 145, 1888 Dakota LEXIS 10
CourtSupreme Court Of The Territory Of Dakota
DecidedFebruary 24, 1888
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 37 N.W. 733 (Pierre Water-Works Co. v. Hughes County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court Of The Territory Of Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pierre Water-Works Co. v. Hughes County, 37 N.W. 733, 5 Dakota 145, 1888 Dakota LEXIS 10 (dakotasup 1888).

Opinion

Tripp, C. J.

This case comes to this court on appeal from the order of the district court in and for Hughes county, dismissing an appeal from the decision of the board of county commissioners of that county, sitting as a board of equalization, in the matter of the assessment of plaintiff’s property for taxes. The board of county commissioners of Hughes county met at-the county-seat on the first Monday of July, 1886, as provided by statute, and convened as a board of equalization, and adjourned to July 14, 1886. Upon the last-named day, said commissioners, as a board of equalization, proceeded to equalize [151]*151the tax assessment of that year, and, among others, they raised and fixed the assessment of this plaintiff at $20,000. To this action of the board the plaintiff demurred, and claimed that the value of said property was not greater than $2,100, and that it should be equalized and assessed at that sum, and no more; and from the decision of the board fixing the assessment at $20,000, and declining to reduce the sum, the plaintiff took an appeal to the district court of Hughes county. The appeal coming on to be heard in the district court, the respondent moved to dismiss, upon the ground that the decision appealed from was a decision of the board of equalization, and not a decision of the board of county commissioners, and that no appeal lay therefrom to the district court. The court sustained this position of respondent, and dismissed the appeal for want of jurisdiction, from which order an appeal has been taken to this court; and the question presented is, does an appeal lie from the decisions of the board of equalization to the district court in matters of assessment ? And this presents two questions for our determination:

1. Is the decision of the board of equalization a decision of the board of county commissioners ?

2. If so, is the decision in this case such a decision, within the meaning of the statute, as may be appealed from ?

As to the first question presented, it is conceded by appellant that there is no statute giving an appeal from the board of equalization as such, and that, an appeal being purely a statutory remedy, unless the appeal is authorized by the statute allowing an appeal from “all decisions of the board of county commissioners upon matters properly before them,” (Pol. Code, c. 21, § 46,) the district court was without jurisdiction, and its judgment must be affirmed.

The court below held that the board of equalization was a board separate and distinct from the board of county commissioners, and that, while it was composed of the same individuals, its powers and duties were separate and distinct, and that its decisions and determinations, if reviewable at all, were [152]*152not reviewable upon appeal. The question, while an important one to the tax-payer as well as to the profession, is purely a statutory one, and its determination depends entirely upon the construction to be given the statute creating and constituting the board of equalization. The position of respondent, that the distinctness and independence of these tribunals does not depend upon the fact whether they are composed of the same or different individuals, and that such fact established would not “unify the functions or powers of the two,” is undoubtedly correct. It is no unusual thing that the same person holds separate and distinct offices, with separate and distinct powers, and that his acts and decisions while exercising the one office are wholly independent of his acts and decisions done and made while exercising the other. A slight change in the phraseology of the statute which permits or authorizes the same person to exercise different functions of the same office, or to fill separate offices at the same time, may make his acts separate and independent of each other, — the acts of different officers, — or may make them all the acts of one officer exercising different powers and jurisdictions. The legislature may confer the duties of several officers upon one, or may subdivide the duties of any office, and confer such duties upon different officers, or create separate and distinct offices for each class of duties, as it may see fit. There are no inherent duties appertaining to any office which may not be changed at the will of the legislative body. It may provide that the probate judge shall perform the duties of county treasurer, and that the register of deeds shall be clerk of the county board, as appears from the early legislation of this territory, and it may do this by providing that such officer may exercise such duties ex officio, or it may require such duties to be performed by him in his one official capacity, where not restrained by some constitutional provision or organic law.

The court must therefore look to the wording and phraseology of the statute in each particular case in determining whether the .legislature intended to create two offices, each to be exercised separately by the same individual, or whether it intended [153]*153to impose upon one officer the additional duties of another office. This court held in County v. Simonsen, 1 Dak. 403, where Simonsen had given bond “to well and faithfully and impartially perform the duties and execute the office of probate judge,” and had never given any bond as treasurer of the county, that he was held on such bond for his default as treasurer; the statute at that time making the judge of probate the treasurer ex officio of'the county. This was upon the principle just enunciated, that, notwithstanding the statute recognized the office of treasurer as a distinct one by using the words “ex officio,” yet the effect of all the statutes, when considered together, was to impose upon the probate judge the duties of treasurer, and that, therefore, a default in those duties was a •default in his duties as probate judge. The question, then, recurs, did the legislature intend to create a separate and distinct tribunal of the board of equalization, or did it intend to •confer the duties of the board of equalization upon the board •of county commissioners? The general powers of the board of county commissioners are enumerated in the statute of this territory as follows:

“Sec. 29. They shall have power to make all orders respecting property of the county, to sell the public grounds of the county, .and to purchase other grounds in lieu thereof. * * *

“2. They shall have power to levy a tax not exceeding the .amount now authorized by law, and to liquidate indebtedness.

“3. To audit the accounts of all officers having the care, management, collection, or disbursement of any money belonging to the county, or appropriated for its benefit.

“4. To construct and repair bridges, and to open, lay out, vacate, and change highways; to establish election precincts in their county, and appoint the judges of election, and to equalize the assessment roll of their county, in the manner provided by daw.

“5. To furnish the necessary blank-books, blanks, and stationery for clerks of the district court, county clerk, register of •deeds, county treasurer, and probate judge of their respective [154]*154counties, to be paid out of the county treasury; also a fire-proof safe, when in their judgment the same shall be deemed advisable, in which to keep all the books, records, vouchers, and papers pertaining to the business of the board.

“6. To do and perform such other duties and acts that boards-, of county commissioners are now, or may be hereafter, required by law to do and perform.” Pol.

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Bluebook (online)
37 N.W. 733, 5 Dakota 145, 1888 Dakota LEXIS 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pierre-water-works-co-v-hughes-county-dakotasup-1888.