Farrelly

A tax must be based upon an assessment made by an Assessor elected by the electors of the district taxed, and collected by a Collector elected by the electors of the district taxed. (Constitution of California, art. 11, sec. 13; Williams v. Corcoran, 46 Cal. 555 ; People v. White, 47 Ibid. 617 ; People v. S. & C. R. Co. 49 Ibid. 414; People v. Sargent, 44 Ibid. 432.) The payment was made under duress. (Joyner v. Third School District, 3 Cush. (Mass.) 567; Hubbard v. Brainard, 35 Conn. 563 .) The protest was sufficient. The defendant knew the extent of his powers, the source of his authority, and is bound and presumed to have known the law. To hold that he must be informed of what he already knows, of conclusions he is presumed to have reached, and told of facts peculiarly within his own knowledge, is to go to a limit which strains common sense.

John R. Glascock, for the Respondent.

The tax at bar is not a tax within the meaning of art. 11, sec. 13, of the Constitution, but a tax levied for local improvement ; and, as such, does not fall within the clauses in relation to equal and uniform taxation, or the mode and manner of assessment, or the person by whom assessment shall be…