Bailey

The "agreed case” entered into between the plaintiff Bailey, the owner of the assessed -property, and defendant Johnson, the tax collector of the county, whereby it was sought to submit to the court below, under the supposed sanction of section 1138 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the question of the validity of the tax in controversy, gave the court no jurisdiction of the subject matter sought to have adjudicated. Section 1138 provides that: "Parties to a question in difference, which might be the subject of a civil action, may, without action, agree upon a case containing the facts upon which the controversy depends, and present a submission of the same to any court which would have jurisdiction if an action had been brought,” etc., and thereby have a determination of such question. But this provision has reference to interested *563 parties, authorized and capable of litigating the question involved. The taxpayer and the county were the only parties to the “question in difference,” involving the validity of the tax in controversy. Defendant, Johnson, the tax collector, was not such a party, and he was without authority to bind the county in the premises. He was but the agent of…