Hampton v. Hamsher
Hampton v. Hamsher
Opinion of the Court
Section 4 of title 2 of chapter 13 of part 1 of the Revised Statutes was amended by chapter 287 of the Laws of 1871 so that it read as follows: “ Sec 4. When the
In 1884 and 1885 the plaintiff was a resident of the town of Ossian, and owned and occupied a farm, one-half of which was in that town and the other half in the town of Nunda.
In 1884 the assessors of the town of Ossian, not knowing of the repeal of § 4 by chapter 355 of the Laws of 1872, assessed the whole of the plaintiff’s farm in that town for town, county and state taxes.
Section 19 of title 1, chapter 16 of part 1 of the Revised Statutes provides: “Sec. 19. Every person owning or occupying land in the town in which he or she resides, and every male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years residing in the town when the assessment is made, shall be assessed to work on the public highways of the town, and the lands of non-residents situated in such town shall be assessed for highway labor as hereinafter directed.”
Section 24 of the-same chapter provides : “ Sec. 24. In making such estimate and assessment the commissioner shall proceed as follows: 1. The whole number of days’ work to be assessed in each year shall be ascertained, and shall be at least three times the number of taxable inhabitants in such town. 2. Every male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years (with certain exceptions), shall be assessed
In 1885 the defendant was the sole commissioner of highways of Ossian, and he assessed the plaintiff for highway labor on his whole farm three and one-half days, being the proportion of that part situated in Nunda, and delivered -the list to the overseer of the proper road district. This tax the plaintiff worked out at the demand of the overseer, but protested against its legality. It is agreed that the commissioner made the assessment believing that he was bound to follow the town assessment roll of the previous year, and also that he had jurisdiction to assess the plaintiff for highway labor, but it is asserted that the commissioner erred in apportioning any day’s labor on account of that part of the farm situated in Nunda. The defendant, having jurisdiction to assess the plaintiff and having apportioned the number of ■days’ labor to be rendered according to the valuation of his estate as it appeared on the last preceding assessment roll, .as commanded by the 24th section of the statute, he is not liable to the plaintiff for the value of the labor rendered by .him in satisfaction of the assessment. People v. Pierce, 31 Barb. 138; Trustees of the Village of Angelica v. Morse, •56 Id. 380. The cause of the alleged erroneous assessment was the mistake of the assessors of the town, but the commissioner, having obeyed the command of a valid statute, is not liable to this plaintiff in damages for the error of the .assessors.
The judgment should be affirmed with costs.
All concur, Brown, J., in the result, except Bradley and Haight, JJ., not sitting.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.