United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Seattle v. Kelleher, 195 U.S. 351 (1904)

Seattle v. Kelleher

No. 29

Argued October 28, 1904

Decided November 28, 1904

195 U.S. 351

Syllabus

An assessment on lands for the entire expense of opening a street levied under a front-foot assessment authorized by statute is not necessarily void under the Fourteenth Amendment because levied after the work was completed, or because, at the time the work was ordered, the municipality had power, under statutes repealed after the completion of the work and before the assessment was made, to include a portion of the expense in the general taxes and to levy the assessment on a valuation basis under which a smaller amount would have been assessed against these lands.

Taxation, whether general or special, is not subject to the rules applicable to a vendor's lien and its enforcement against a bona fide purchaser for value, and it is for one purchasing lands after a public improvement has been completed to inquire whether it has been paid for, and the same rules as to the enforcement of the assessment applicable to the former owners are applicable to him.

The facts are stated in the opinion.

Page 195 U. S. 355