Osborne, Tremper & Co. v. King County

Citations

• 76 Wash. 277
• 136 P. 138
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1810

Syllabus

<p>Counties — Improvements — Canals —■ Establishment— Government Aid — Authority op Oppioers — Contracts—Validity. A county river and harbor commission can have no authority to make a contract for the preparation of an assessment roll in aid of a government canal, pursuant to Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8148 et seq., unless there was the initial power and authority to form the district and levy the assessment; and where the contract was void ab initio for want of power on the part of the officers to bind the municipality, there can be no estoppel against the municipality to defeat payment by reason of the acceptance of benefits conferred by the contract.</p> <p>Same — Improvements — Canals — Establishment — Conditions Precedent — Government Aid — Intent op Federal Government. Under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8148, authorizing a county to levy local assessments upon the property benefited in aid of the construction of a government canal or harbor improvement in the county, whenever the Federal government “is intending or proposing the construction” thereof, the power of the county to create the district or initiate the proceedings is dependent upon the antecedent intention of the government, which can only be shown by an act of Congress; in the absence of which, the proceedings by the county are void ab initio, and hence a contract by a river and harbor commission appointed without such antecedent authority is unenforceable.</p> <p>Same — Curative Act — Ratification. Where proceedings to levy assessments in aid of the construction of a government canal under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8148, were void ab initio, for want of an act of Congress declaring the intention of the government to construct the canal, a subsequent act of Congress declaring the necessary intention cannot operate as a curative act or validate contracts, theretofore made, which it was beyond the power of the municipality to ratify.</p>