Chase

[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 352 [EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 353 The defendant appeals from a judgment taken upon his default, and from an order refusing to vacate the default and judgment. The complaint sets forth a cause of action to quiet title. The defendant's claim is alleged to consist of certain bonds *Page 356 for an assessment for street-work, issued in pursuance of the laws commonly known as the Vrooman Act (Stats. 1885, p. 147), and amendments thereto and the Street Bond Act (Stats. 1893, p. 33.) The proceedings leading up to the issuance of the bonds are set forth at length in the complaint, and it is claimed that there are numerous irregularities and defects therein which make the bonds absolutely void. 1. Section 4 of the Street Bond Act of 1893 declares that "Said bonds, by their issuance, shall be conclusive evidence of the regularity of all proceedings thereto under said Street Work Act, and this act, previous to the making of the certified list…

This action was brought to quiet plaintiff's title against a lien upon her lands claimed by defendant by virtue of his ownership of certain street bonds. The plaintiff sought to have the bonds, the assessment, the warrant, the diagram, and the proceedings for the street-work and the contract for it so far as they affected her lands declared to be null and void, and sought further to have the bond delivered to the clerk of the court and by him canceled. The complaint is therefore in its nature a bill of peace against the outstanding street bonds. Defendant made default, and the judgment granted plaintiff the relief sought. Defendant appeals from that judgment and from the order of the court refusing to vacate his default. The questions here presented have to do with the provisions of the general street laws of the state, the Vrooman Act, and *Page 374 the Street Bond Act (Stats. 1893, p. 33). The latter portion of section 4 of said last-named act, after setting forth the conditions whereunder and the terms whereby such bonds may be issued, provides as follows: "Said bonds, by their issuance, shall be conclusive evidence of the regularity of all proceedings thereto under said Street…

I dissent, and adhere to the subjoined opinion heretofore rendered in department. I think the correct rule for the interpretation of the statute in *Page 373 question was laid down in Ramish v. Hartwell, 126 Cal. 443 , which case, and others which have followed its construction of the law, are reversed by the prevailing opinion. Moreover, they are reversed upon a line of authority dealing with the general taxing power, which is not only a high prerogative power of a government itself, but one whose daily exercise is necessary to the very existence of the government. It is natural, therefore, that in dealing with questions of the collection of taxes — the very life-blood of a nation's existence — to find courts construing somewhat liberally curative acts, and looking in their interpretation to discover but one thing — namely, whether the subject who is taxed has had his day in court. But I do not believe it was the intention of our legislature — nor yet necessary to a construction of this law — to clothe street contractors with this high governmental prerogative, and by putting a bond for street-work in their hands to declare, as is declared in the…