Case Name: In the Matter of the Application of Matilda A. Popoff for a Writ of Mandamus
Court: Brooklyn City Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1894-11
Citations: 63 N.Y. St. Rep. 438
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the Matter of the Application of Matilda A. Popoff for a Writ of Mandamus.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York State Reporter
Volume: 63
Pages: 438–438

Head Matter:
In the Matter of the Application of Matilda A. Popoff for a Writ of Mandamus.
(Brooklyn City Court, General Term,
Filed November, 1894.)
1. Municipal corporation—Local improvements—Assessments.
Under chap. 995 of 1888, the board of assessors have power to rectify an error in an assessment for a local improvement only in the cases prescribed.
3; Same—Clerical error.
A clerical error in an assessment-roll is an error of form, not an error of the assessors in levying the assessment, nor an error of law.
8. Same—Mandamus.
A mandamus will never issue to compel the performance of an act which the law prohibits.
Application for a writ of mandamus.
Sidney V. Lowell, for petitioner ; Albert 0. McDonald, for resp’t.

Opinion:
Clement, C. J.
By § 10 of title 10 of the revised charter of this city (Laws 1888, p. 995), the board of assessors have power to rectify an error in an assessment for a local improvement only in five cases, and the facts now before us do not come under either of such cases. The error-of the assessors, if there was error, was not clerical, as in the case of People ex rel. Nostrand v. Wilson, 119 N. Y. 515; 30 St. Rep. 79, where a similar clause in the charter of 1873 was construed by the court of appeals. A clerical error in an assessment-roll is an error of form, not an error of the assessors in levying the assessment, nor an error of law. Matter of Hermance, 71 N. Y. 481. A mandamus will issue, in a proper case, to compel a public officer to perform his duty imposed by law, but it is never issued to compel the performance of an act which the law prohibits. It is clear that the assessors can only correct errors where the section of the charter before referred to permits, and not otherwise.
Order affirmed, with $10 costs and disbursements.