Cave v. Mayor of Houston

Citations

• 65 Tex. 619
• 1886 Tex. LEXIS 718

Syllabus

<p>1. City taxes—Constitution construed—Art. 11, sec. 5, of the constitution excepts from the operation of art. 8, sec. 3, such municipal corporations as may have their charters granted and amended by special laws. Such cities may be authorized to levy and collect heavier taxes than those incorporated by general law, and one of these cities may be authorized to levy a heavier tax than another of the same kind.</p> <p>2. Same—How collected—The weight of authority seems to be that when a statute does not provide an exclusive remedy for the collection of taxes, they may be enforced by suit.</p> <p>3. Citation—Revised statutes, article 1215—Our statute provides that a defendant shall be cited to appear at the next regular term, but it does not require that these words shall be used in the citation. See opinion for citation held sufficient.</p> <p>4. Citation—Variation—Judgment by default—See statement of facts for variation between citation and petition, held not sufficient grounds for setting aside a judgment by default.</p> <p>6. Same—A defendant is not required to obey a void process ; but, if merely defective, it brings him into court, and if he does not take his exception at the proper time, he cannot urge the defect as error in the court. (Crain v. Griffis, 14 Tex. 358.)</p> <p>6. Judgment—Petition—Averments—A judgment cannot foreclose a lien upon an entire piece of property and direct its sale for taxes averred to have been assessed against a portion only of the property.</p> <p>7. Judgment—Mistake—If the amount of recovery stated in figures in a judgment differs from that stated in writing, but the recitals iu the judgment itself show the former to be the true amount, the error is not sufficient cause for the reversal of the judgment.</p> <p>8 Costs—Charge against property—In forclosing a lien upon several pieces of property, the court may charge the whole amount of costs against all the property, instead of taxing it pro rata against the various pieces.</p> <p>