The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-03-14

4
I Iron Company, at the last December Term
{ against the County Commissioners anc
/ certain collectors of taxes in the southern
portion OF the county. AS our reader:
/ fully understand from what has heretofore
been said i'll our paper this Bill in Equity
prayed the Court to compel the County
I commissioners to enforce q certain Act oi
Assembly, approved April Sth, 1872, chang.
( ing the mode of collecting taxes III this
county. From the peculiar phraseology
of the first section of the Act, the Com,
miSsioners declined to carry out its pro-
visions for the year 1872. 1t will be seen
from the opinion of Judge Dean, which we
publish below, that he fully sustans the
! Commissioners i'll their refusal to execute
the law last year, and that the first OF
April, 1873, was the earliest period of time
at which the Commissioners could be le-
gally required TO put it in force. This they
will do, and they always intended doing SO.
We are well satisfied that the views of
Judge Dean are sound and correct on this
miserably bun led and self-stultifying A ct
of the Legislature, and that it will meet the
approval Of all candid and unpreiudiced
minds.
JUDGE DEANS OPINION.
Cambria Iron Company
vs.. No. /, March Tn,
Commissioners of Cam 1878
bria county et al
1hls is 4 bill in equity filed by the Cam
Drla Iron Company, complairants, praying,
Tor the reasons therein set forth, that an in
junction may issue to restrain the rexDnnd-
ents the Comfy Commissioners of this Coun-
~, and the tax collectors appointed by them
and acting under their warrant from collect
ing by levy, distraint, suit, or otherwise the
taxes assessed upon the property of COM
plalnants i'll JOhnstown, ,Conemaugh, and the
boroughs and townships contiguous thereto.
Hitherto the taxes of Cambria county have
been assessed and collected under and in the
manner provided by the Act OF 1884 and the
several supplements and amendments there
to. But, on the Sth day Of April. 1872 an
Act was passed 10y the Legislature. providing
an entirely different method of collecting
these taxes, SO far as this county is con
cerncd, than that indicated in the old law
That Act enacts:
- SECTION !. That from and sitter the passage
or ti:iS Act IL shall be TIE duty OF the COiuIuis-
'sioncrs OF Cambria county. iii each and every
. year immediately alter Ih- assessment OF tax
. es ior state ana county purposes snail re com
'pi-ted, nor laTeT than the first Monday in
. = pi'i' ~ the manner prescrlted hy law, TO
. cause their clerk to make ouI fslr duplicate
- OF All seated real estate and personal property
" nicnt form and deliver n" same TO the Treas
- urer OF said county, together with a certin-
. cate under thslr hands, atIcsted 10y tie clerk.
:. duly certifying the sane to have been regu-
From the wording of this section the ques-
tiOns to be here decided mainly arise. The
IL
of the Treasurer to give public notice Ia each
township and borough, and attend in person
or hy deputy At least one day. before the ! ST
day Of September in each year, for the par
pose of receiving taxes; with a pruVisO, that
if any person shall, on or before rhe list day
OF September, pay the taxes assessed against
him to the county treasurer, he snail be al
lowed deduction Of five per cent. on the
amount OF his tax. From the third To the
eighth sections, inclusive, provision is made
lnquent taxpayers aud detaulting officials
Section nine fixes the compensation of the
county treasurer. Section ten declares that
all laws for the collection OF taxes. in so far
rs they relate To said county, and are incon-
siStenl with said Act are repealed.
1t will he observed that this Act is ap-
proved 10y the Governor April Sth, lS"2.-
The county commissioners, sUppOSing that
from it's terms IL did not go into effect until
the year 1873 went on under the old law and
plaC ed the duplicates containing the assess
Ineit of taxes TOR the year 1872 in the hands
OF the respective collectors In these dup,i-
Gates the COmpiainantS are charged with tax
es To Ihe aggregate amount OF ) ;1t4.;Ju. The
collectors holding the duplicates containing
tile items going TO make mp this amount are
joined with the county commissioners as re-
SpondentS ia this suit.
The complainants aver IN their bill that
the appointment of borough and township
collectors, and the delivery of duplicates to
them, with warrants for the collection of
taxes, were acts without the authority of
law that the Act OF April Sth, 1872, took
effect from its passage that it repealed all
Acts Inconsistent herewith and necessarily
therefore the Act of 1884, under which tlGt
commissioners profess to have acted; thar
II was the duty OF the county commissioners
TO deliver, and IL now thelr duty TO deliver,
to the county treasurer a fair duplicate"
OF the taxes III and for said county for the
year 1872, including the taxes assessed against
The cUmpialnautS; that 1t Is the right and
duty OF satG treasurer to receive and of com
pialnanfs 10 pay to said treasurer the taxes SO
aNSrSScd; that in the assertion OF Il right, and
to secure benefit conferred upon them, as
we'll as upon all others who choose to avail
themselves thereof, by said Act of April \,
1872, they rendered to the county treasurer
the gross amount of taxes assessed against
them, prior To The LIST day of September, ~,
10y law And they furtief az S es,t - aio"eu
olatiOn of said Act, and without authority OF
law, the collectors appointed hy the commits
sioncrs are threatening 10 levy upon the pro
pcrty of complainants, and they therefore
pray the Court to enjuin said collectors, etc.
Tie respondents, while they accuse COM
plaHauts OF idChes, in waiting until the 2,l
day o. Eeccmber before filing their bill, and
hinderlug n this late day respondents in the
collection OF the taxes by raising \ question
which could have been raised and decided
months ago, file general demurrer, admit
ting rhe facts set forth in the bill, but deny
ing the right of the complainants, on the
facts TO the relief prayed Tor
The respondents clam that the Act of Sth
of April. 1872, 10y its terms only authorizes
the adoption by them oi the mode therein
pointed ont for the collection OF taxes III the
future, TO wit, in the year 1873 and each and
every year thereafter; that by no reasonable
construction of il can it he applied to the
year 1872 that they intend ami are ready to
follow its provisions for the year 1873; that
under The old law, which was considered by
them i'll force for the year 1872, they made
ont and delivered to the collectors the dupl-
Gates
Thus, we have TWO different interpreta-
tiuuS OF the same statute. One, ClaImins Z
that the omission to fix the year 1873 in the
Act rs the time at which il should go into
effect, and declaring that ''on and after the
passage OF this Act it shall he the duty OF
The county commissioners. etc, Indicates
AN intention that it should apply TO the col
lection of taxes for the year 1872. The other,
that as 1872 is not named i'll the Act as the
year, aud as it is made the duty OF the coun-
" commissioners, mot later than the first