Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/214/138/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 00:40:00+00:00

Document:
Where no objection was made to a technical defect in the return which could have been rectified by amendment had attention seasonably been called thereto, a party who, as disclosed by the record, was not prejudiced, cannot raise the objection at a later date.
Quaere whether there is any distinction between "a parcel" and "a letter" that renders defective a return showing service of statutory notice by mail.
A property owner cannot urge against a statutory drainage system the nonexistence of the necessity for drainage, or the fact that he had adopted a system of his own which is either sufficient or better than that required by the law. Such a contention would deny to Congress the right to create any drainage system for the District of Columbia.
The mere existence of dwelling houses, whether occupied or not, indicates the necessity for drainage, and the owner is not deprived of his property without due process of law by a compulsory drainage act because the house happens to be unoccupied at the time.
at times one of the most insistent, and always one of the least limitable.
A wide range of discretion is necessary to make legislation practical, and the courts cannot be made a refuge from ill advised, unjust or oppressive laws.
Quaere, and not decided, whether there is any prohibition on Congress from enacting discriminatory legislation and whether, in the absence of any express prohibition to that effect, any prohibition can be implied, especially in regard to the exercise of police power in the District of Columbia. See United States v. Delaware & Hudson Co., 213 U. S. 366, as to power of Congress to enact discriminatory legislation under the commerce clause of the Constitution.
If the power of Congress to enact discriminatory legislation as to the District of Columbia is limited either expressly or by implication, the prohibition cannot be stricter or more extensive than the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment are upon the states.
The Fourteenth Amendment does not deprive the states of the power of classification or require the classification to be logically or scientifically accurate, and sufficient practical reasons exist for a classification of resident and nonresident property owners in the enforcement of police regulations, provided that the act is impartial as between the classes. Field v. Barber Asphalt Co., 194 U. S. 618.
While the enforcement of a statute enacted under the police power by criminal proceedings against resident owners, and by civil proceedings against nonresident owners, is a discrimination, if, as in this case, it is justified by the circumstances, it does not render the statute unconstitutional, nor is it so rendered by the fact that the remedy as to one class may be more efficient than the remedy as to the other.
In determining whether a statute is constitutional, suppositions and questions which might possibly arise, but which have not arisen, will be answered when they do arise and affect the operation of the statute.
The Act of May 19, 1896, c. 206, 29 Stat. 125, providing for the drainage of the District of Columbia, is not unconstitutional as depriving nonresident owners of their property without due process of law or denying them the equal protection of the law on account of the different methods provided for enforcing the law against resident and nonresident owners.
and vacating certain proceedings taken for the assessment of a drainage tax upon the property of defendant in error, under the authority of an Act of Congress of May 19, 1896 -- "An Act to Provide for the Drainage of Lots in the District of Columbia." 29 Stat. 125, c. 206.
roll of the District of Columbia, and shall be collected in the manner provided for the collection of other taxes."
"unconstitutional and void because it discriminates between owners of real estate in said District, the said act not being uniform and capable of universal enforcement."
She also alleges that the assessment or tax is void in its entirety because the provisions of the fourth section of the act were not complied with in certain particulars which were set out. We do not give them, because two only are relied on -- to-wit, that the record does not show that notice was mailed to her, as provided by § 4, and that the record fails to disclose that any nuisance existed on her property, or that the means of drainage already there were unsanitary or unsufficient.
A rule to show cause was issued, to which the District made return. The return was verified by the Commissioners. It denied some of the allegations of the petition, averred the constitutionality of the act, and that due and legal proceedings were taken thereunder in making the connections and assessing the tax, including notice to petitioner. To the return were attached, to use the language of the Court of Appeals, "copies of such pertinent official papers and records as were in the custody of the District."
for naught." The respondent was "forthwith directed to cancel the same on its tax records."
The judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. 29 App.D.C. 563.
"had objection been made to the adoption by the Commissioners of their preliminary return, the court undoubtedly would have permitted an amendment to the record for the purpose of supplying the defects now complained of by petitioner [defendant in error here]. Having, then, made no objection to the form of the return, it is too late to do so now."
of Appeals to the contention based on that distinction, or upon any defect in the return which could have been removed if objection had been seasonably made.
The second contention of defendant in error is that the record fails to disclose that any nuisance existed on her property, or that the means of drainage already there was unsanitary or insufficient, or that any necessity existed for making the connection. This contention seems to be made in this Court for the first time. It certainly received no notice from the Court of Appeals, and the fact that it assumes that there was means of drainage on defendant in error's lot is not alleged in her petition. But, suppose the fact had been alleged; a property owner cannot urge against the drainage system of the District that he had adopted a system of his own, and challenge a comparison with that of the District, and obey or disobey the law according to the result of the comparison. The contention virtually denies any power in Congress to create a system of drainage to which a lot owner must conform.
"upon certain salient vices in the act which are apparent on its face, of which the principal are --"
"(a) The attempt to give controlling evidential effect to the mere existence of an improvement in case of improved property, and to the ex parte certificate of the health officer in the case of unimproved property, thus violating the 'due process' clause of the Constitution."
"(b) Because the act lacks the requisite uniformity, inasmuch as it undertakes to provide one law for property of residents and another for property of nonresident owners in said District."
"(c) Because the act is not capable of universal enforcement, and creates unequal burdens."
"(d) Because the act is incapable of uniform enforcement as against all property in the District of Columbia."
made in the lower courts, and we might therefore decline to entertain it. At best, defendant in error can only be heard against "the evidential effect of the mere existence of an improvement," because her property does not come within the category of unimproved property. Her improvements are dwelling houses, and their mere existence indicated the necessity for drainage. That they may sometimes be vacant is unimportant. What rights owners of lots differently improved or owners of unimproved property may have is no concern of defendant in error. Her contention, therefore, that the act deprives her of due process of law, is unsound.
The other objections expressed the same fundamental idea -- to-wit, that the act discriminates between resident and nonresident owners of property, and, because it does, it is void. The Court of Appeals yielded to this contention, following the authority of McGuire v. District of Columbia, 24 App.D.C. 22.
The defendant in error asserts this discrimination and argues its consequences at some length, but does not refer to any provision of the Constitution of the United States which prohibits Congress from enacting laws which discriminate in their operation between persons or things. If there is no express prohibition of such power, may prohibition be implied from our form of government? Upon that proposition we need not express an opinion. If prohibition exists, it must rest on all the powers conferred by the Constitution. This Court, however, has just held, in the case of United States v. Delaware & Hudson Co., 213 U. S. 366, that Congress may, in the exercise of the powers to regulate commerce among the states, discriminate between commodities and between carriers engaged in such commerce. And it was said that the assertion that "injustice and favoritism" might "be operated thereby" could "have no weight in passing upon the question of power." In the case at bar, we are dealing with an exercise of the police power -- one of the most essential of powers -- at times, the most insistent, and always one of the least limitable of the powers of government.
against a street improvement, given by the statute assailed to resident property owners and denied to nonresident property owners, was sustained, and the statute held not to violate the equality clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See Travelers' Ins. Co. v. Connecticut, 185 U. S. 364.
It is not contended that the act of Congress is not impartial within the classes. The act treats all resident lot owners alike and all nonresidents alike. It is contended that there is a difference in the procedure prescribed in case of default, and nonresident lot owners are thereby discriminated against, though they stand in the same relation to the purpose of the law as resident lot owners. In other words, nonresident lot owners are not treated the same as resident owners in like situation, because, against resident owners, the coercion of the law is by criminal punishment, while against nonresident owners, the remedy is by civil proceedings -- the District does the work that the nonresident owners neglect, and charges the expense thereof on their property. This is a distinction, a discrimination, it may be called, but it has even more justification than that sustained in Field v. Barber Asphalt Paving Co. supra. The statute under consideration in the case at bar enjoins a duty on both resident and nonresident lot owners -- a duty necessary to be followed to preserve the health of the city. There is a difference only in the manner of enforcing it -- a difference arising from the different situation of the lot owners, and therefore competent for Congress to regard in its legislation. In other words, under the circumstances presented by this record, the distinction between residents and nonresidents is a proper basis for classification. It might not be under other circumstances. Blake v. McClung, 172 U. S. 239, s.c., 176 U. S. 59; Sully v. American National Bank, 178 U. S. 289.
of a law is through criminal prosecution. At any rate, it is hard to believe that there will be many resident lot owners whose delinquency under the statute will be so resolute that it will stand against repeated charges of crime and the consequent penalties. But, be that as it may, it was for Congress to decide whether such possibility should be risked, rather than incur the greater possibility of more delinquents in so numerous a class as resident lot owners if the District was to first bear the expense of the drainage, and collect it afterward by civil proceedings.
Other criticisms are made of the law to display what is alleged to be its lack of uniformity. For instance, a supposition is made of tenants in common, some of whom are residents and the others nonresidents, and the possible difficulties that may arise from such ownership under the act, and it is asked if the property belongs to resident minors or insane persons, or persons under legal disabilities, can the act be enforced against them or against their property? To these suppositions and questions we answer that it will be time enough to reply when a case arises in which they are presented, and to determine then the operation of the act upon the persons enumerated.
Judgment reversed with directions to reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court, quashing the tax, and to dismiss the petition.
MR. JUSTICE WHITE did not hear the argument, and took no part in the decision.

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