James v. Arkansas Southern Ry. Co.

Citations

• 110 La. 145
• 34 So. 337
• 1903 La. LEXIS 603

Syllabus

<p>RAILROAD AID — SPECIAL ELECTION — OBJECTIONS — POLICE JURIES — PETITION FOR ELECTION-CONDITIONS IN ORDINANCE — TAX—DEFENSES — CONSTRUCTION OF ROAD.</p> <p>1.Parties who have objections to urge against the legality or validity of a special election held, under the provisions of article 270 of the •Constitution of 1898, to authorize the levying of a special tax in aid of the construction of a railroad, must advance the same within the •delay fixed by the law. The statute on that subject is one of repose — a legislative estoppel against objections of that particular character being urged later as grounds of complaint.</p> <p>2. Police juries occupy, in relation to special elections held under article 270 of the Constitution of 1898, a different position from what they do in relation to those held under article 232. In respect to the first, they are the mere instrumentality or agency designated by law to ascertain and enforce the will and consent of the taxpayers. They have nothing to do with the terms and conditions under which the tax is to be imposed.</p> <p>3. Section 2 of Act No. 35, p. 45, of 1886, requires that taxpayers seeking to have ordered a special election under article 270 of the Constitution of 1898 shall designate in their petition praying for the same the railway corporation in whose favor the tax is proposed to be voted, the percentage of the tax to be levied each year, and the number of years, not exceeding 10, during which it shall be levied; also the form of the ballots. The petition in this case did not set out the time at which the work of the construction of the railroad should commence or be completed, nor did the ballots voted upon contain any such stipulation or condition. The law did not require this to .have been done. The petition set out, as did the seventh section of the act, that no tax should be paid until the railroad should be completed and in operation to the point indicated in the petition. The stipulation or, condition in the o