Gove v. City of Tacoma

Citations

• 34 Wash. 434
• 76 P. 73
• 1904 Wash. LEXIS 370

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Ordinances—Passage—Prima Facie Proof — Certified Copy of Record. Under Bal. Code, § 1299, a certified copy of the record of an ordinance is prima facie proof of its due passage, establishing the existence of tbe ordinance until the presumption is overcome.</p> <p>Same — Record Book — Original Signatures of Officers. Where a city charter requires a record book of ordinances to be signed by certain officers, the same with the original signatures of such officers is valuable and weighty evidence in support of the statutory prima facie proof by a certified copy of the record and is not overcome by evidence of a mere negative character.</p> <p>Same — Journal Entries — Identification of Ordinance by Reference to Subject Matter. The journal entries need not refer to an ordinance by number, and they sufficiently identify the ordinance by reference to its subject matter, when no other ordinances were introduced upon the same subject.</p> <p>Same — Journal Entry as to Passage. A journal entry to the effect that an ordinance “was passed by council” is not insufficient as a ‘legal conclusion, but is in reality a statement of a fact when there is other evidence of its due passage.</p> <p>Same — Oral Evidence of Vote Where Journal Is Silent. When the journal entry states that an ordinance “was passed by council” without stating what the vote was, it is competent to show by the oral testimony of a member of the council who was present that the ordinance was passed by a vote of twelve for and four against it, upon the theory that evidence aliunde the record is admissible where no record was made.</p> <p>Taxation — Sale for City Taxes — Validity—Fee for Certificate — Not Part of Costs. Upon a sale of lands for city taxes the addition of $1.00 for issuing the certificate of sale constitutes such a part of the sum for which the land was sold as to render the certificate void, when the costs allowed by law included only “costs to date of sale,” and “costs as