Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, City Collector v. George U. Porter
18 Md 284
CASE SUMMARY
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellants, the mayor and the city council of Baltimore and the city collector, sought review of the decision of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City
(Maryland), which ordered a continuing injunction requested by appellee property owner to restrain the sale of his property for his failure to make payment of a tax assessed thereon for
the grading of an avenue.
OVERVIEW: The taxpayer contended that the city collector had no right to charge him with the tax because the city authorities had wholly disregarded the provisions of the 1856
Md. Laws ch. 164, for the grading of the avenue on which his property fronted. On appeal, the court determined that the affirmance of the judgment of the trial court could properly be
rested on the broad ground that the city road commissioner had no authority to cause the avenue to be graded and that all his proceedings in the premises were coram non judice and
void. This determination was based on the construction of 1856 Md. Laws ch. 164. Under the Act the city authorities possessed no power to grade the avenue. The mayor and city
council fatally failed initially to make a determination that the grading was consistent with the public good. Under these circumstances, it was impossible to say that the action of the city
road commissioner was authorized by any law or ordinance, without which the payment of the tax assessed could not be enforced by a sale of the taxpayer's property.
OUTCOME: The court affirmed the decision of the trial court and made the injunction perpetual.
Appellate Court Records:
COURT OF APPEALS (Docket) Mayor and
City Council of Baltimore, City Collector v. George U. Porter, 1861, December Term no. 237, p. 432 [MSA S412-7, 1/66/14/38].
COURT OF APPEALS (Opinions) Mayor and
City Council of Baltimore, City Collector v. George U. Porter, 1861, December Term no. 237 [MSA S393-17, 1/65/12/59].
COURT OF APPEALS (Briefs) Mayor and
City Council of Baltimore, City Collector v. George U. Porter, 1861, December Term no. 237 [MSA S375-31, 1/64/12/2].
Trial Court Records:
BALTIMORE CITY CIRCUIT COURT
(Equity Docket A) George U. Porter v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 1858, 3A, p. 84 [MSA T55-3, 3/3/14/31].
BALTIMORE CITY CIRCUIT COURT
(Equity Papers A) George U. Porter v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 1858, box no. 588 [MSA T53-630, 3/12/5/56].
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