Case Name: THE PEOPLE ex rel. HENRY L. HERMANCE and WILLIAM W. HERMANCE, Appellants, v. THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ULSTER COUNTY, Respondents
Court: New York Supreme Court, General Term
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1877-05
Citations: 17 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 545
Docket Number: 
Parties: THE PEOPLE ex rel. HENRY L. HERMANCE and WILLIAM W. HERMANCE, Appellants, v. THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ULSTER COUNTY, Respondents.
Judges: Present — Learned, P. J., Bockes and Boardman, JJ.
Reporter: Supreme Court Reports (Hun)
Volume: 17
Pages: 545–548

Head Matter:
THE PEOPLE ex rel. HENRY L. HERMANCE and WILLIAM W. HERMANCE, Appellants, v. THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ULSTER COUNTY, Respondents.
Chap. 695 of 1871 — in what cases County Court has power to act under.
The provision of chapter 695 of 1871, authorizing the County Court, upon application of the party aggrieved, to make an order requiring the hoard of supervisors to refund to such person the amount collected from him, of any tax illegally or improperly assessed or levied, only applies to cases in which the assessors had no power to make the assessment, and not to cases in which they had power to act hut erred in its exercise. (Bookes, J., dissenting.)
Matter of Mew York Protectory (8 Hun, 91) and Hudson City 8amnys Bcmk (5 Hun, 612) followed; Pells’ Case (MS., Commission of Appeals) distinguished
Appeal from an order of the County Court of Ulster county, denying an application, under chapter 695 of 1871, for an order requiring the board of supervisors of Ulster county to refund a tax alleged to have been illegally assessed and collected.
A petition was presented to the court, upon due notice to the board of supervisors, alleging that the petitioners had been improperly and illegally assessed for $10,000 personal property, which they did not own or possess, and had been compelled to pay thereon a tax of $600.40.
The facts were not contradicted, bnt the application was opposed by the attorney of the board, and the application was denied On the sole ground that the court had no jurisdiction, under the construction given to the statute by the Supreme Court.
Schoowmaker c& Pinson, for the appellants.
F. L. Westbrook, for the respondent.

Opinion:
Learned, P. J. :
A distinction has been laid down in the Court of Appeals between an erroneous and an illegal assessment. (Bank of Chemung v. City of Elmira, 53 N. Y., 53.) The former, where the assessors have the power to act, but err in its exercise ; the latter, where they have no power.
In the Matter of New York Catholic Protectory (15, S. C. N. Y. [8 Hun], 91), holds that, in the latter case, the statute under which the present application is made applies.
In the Matter of Hudson City Savings Institution (12 S. C. N. Y. [5 Hun], 612), holds that, in the former case, the statute does not apply.
The Pells Case, in the Commission of Appeals, was the case of assessment of United States bonds. It was, therefore, an illegal, not an erroneous assessment. And the decision in that case determines nothing as to the power of the county judge to review on the ground of error, an assessment made by the proper officers.
The affidavit of the applicants in this present case shows only that they were assessed for a greater amount than was just, or, rather, .that they were assessed for personal property when they had none for which they were liable. This is substantially an over-valuation ; an error in judgment. It is not, as it was in the case of the Bank of Chemung v. Elmira, an assessment illegal, and for which the assessors had no jurisdiction.
To give the other construction to the statute (Laws 1871, chapter 695), which is urged by the applicants, would be to make the county judge a court of x'eview of evexy alleged ovex'-valuation of assessors. This cannot be the reasonable construction of the statute, especially as it speaks only of "illegal and improper" taxes.
As the decision of this court, in the case above cited, is not reversed by the decision in the Pells Case, it should be followed.
The order should be affirmed, with ten dollars costs, etc.