State ex rel. American Exp. Co. v. State Board of Assessment & Equalization

Citations

• 3 S.D. 338
• 53 N.W. 192
• 1892 S.D. LEXIS 79

Syllabus

<p>1. Under the provisions of the statutes of this state the office of the writ of certiorari is confined to questions touching the jurisdiction of inferior courts, officers, boards, and tribunals, and to the question whether such inferior courts, officers, boards, and tribunals have regularly pursued the authority conferred upon them.</p> <p>2. By chapter 14, Laws 1891, power is conferred upon the state board of assessment and equalization to value and assess the property of express companies within this state; and the duty is imposed upon such state board to so value and assess such express companies’ property for the purposes of taxation tinder the said act.</p> <p>3. The state board of assessment and equalization being authorized and required, by the statute, to value and assess the property of relator within this state, the valuation and assessment made by such board, when it has jurisdiction of the party and of the subject-matter, and regularly pursues its authority, is, in this proceeding, conclusive upon this court. This court cannot substitute its own judgment for that of such board as to the assessable value of such property.</p> <p>4. It Is only when the valuation and assessment is erroneous in point of law, either because the said state board has adopted some inadmissible basis in making it, or because it has disregarded any of the mandatory provisions of the statute on which the relator has a right to rely, that a court will, set aside or modify the proceedings of such board of assessment and equalization on the writ of certiorari</p> <p>5. The taxing power of the state Is one of its attributes of sovereignty, and this power reaches all property within the state which is not by law exempt from taxation, and may be exercised at the discretion of the state; and although such property is used in the business of interstate commerce, it is nevertheless assessable in this state when located and used therein.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.</p>