Mason v. Austin

California Supreme Court
Mason v. Austin, 46 Cal. 385 (Cal. 1873)

Mason v. Austin

Opinion of the Court

By the Court:

The plaintiff sued to recover the money which he had paid to the defendant, under protest, for assessments levied upon outside lands, under Order Number Eight Hundred, of the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, and the Act of the Legislature ratifying such order; and having recovered a verdict for only a small por*387tion of the amount sued for, he moved for a new trial, and the motion was granted, on the ground that the verdict is against law, and that the evidence is insufficient to justify the verdict.” The evidence tended to show that a large portion of the lands mentioned in the complaint were lands the title to which did not pass by virtue of the Act of Congress of March 8, 1866, but did vest in the State under the provisions of the Act of Congress of September 28th, 1850, commonly called the Arkansas Act; and from the order granting a new trial on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict, it will be presumed that the Court was of the opinion that the evidence preponderated against the verdict on that issue. If the evidence thus preponderated, it was the duty of the Court to set aside the verdict. If the lands were of that character, they were not liable to the assessment levied upon them. The question presented here is whether the Court erred in granting the new trial on the grounds specified in the bill of exceptions, but questions as to the sufficiency of the complaint, or of the defenses pleaded by the defendant, do not arise on an appeal from that order.

Order affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
FREDERICK MASON and JOHN BENSLEY v. ALEXANDER AUSTIN, Tax Collector of the City and County of San Francisco
Cited By
6 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Assessment on Swamp Lands.—Lands, the title to which is vested in the State under the Act of Congress donating the swamp- lands to the States, are not liable to the assessment in the City and County of San Francisco, levied under the order of the Board of Supervisors called Order Eight Hundred, which assessment was made to raise a fund to pay the possessors of outside lands dedicated to public use, the value of the lands so dedicated. Appeal from Order Granting New Trial.—Questions as to the sufficiency of the pleadings cannot be raised on an appeal from an order granting a new trial. New Trial.—If the Court below is of the opinion that the evidence preponderates against the verdict, it is its duty to grant a new trial.