Ohio & Mississippi Railway Co. v. People ex rel. Calvin

Citations

• 123 Ill. 648
• 15 N.E. 276
• 1888 Ill. LEXIS 1057

Syllabus

<p>1. Commissioners op highways—of their powers. Commissioners-of highways have no powers except those conferred by the statute, and they can perform no act imposing burdens, except those plainly authorized by the statute.</p> <p>2. Road tax—levy should he made annually—not for several years at one time. Highway commissioners are required annually to ascertain how much road tax is required to be raised, and to levy the same. If they omit to tax certain property for several years, they will not be warranted by the-law in assessing such property in the current years with all the taxes it should have been charged with in the omitted years.</p> <p>3. Certain commissioners of highways, from 1875 to 1883, inclusive, levied the necessary road taxes annually upon all the taxable property in their town, except the property of a railroad company, which was overlooked. In 1886 the omission was discovered, and the commissioners then-made out lists for the several districts, of property of the company, for each year, from 1875 to 1883, both inclusive, and ordered that the road taxes for those years be levied against the property of the company, which were extended accordingly: Held, that the taxes for such years were illegally levied, and could not be collected by law.</p>