assessment

little more than the calculation or recording of a tax liability.

Determining the value of a man's property or occupation for the purpose of levying a tax. Determining the share of a tax to be paid by each individual. Laying a tax. Adjusting the shares of a contribution by several towards a common beneficial object, according to the benefit received. The term is used in this latter sense in New York, distinguishing some kinds of local taxation, whereby a peculiar benefit arises to the parties, from general taxation. 11 Johns. (N. Y.) 77; 3 Wend. (N. Y.) 263; 4 Hill (N. Y.) 76; 4 N. Y. 419. Of Damages. Fixing the amount of damages to which the prevailing party in a suit is entitled. It may be done by the court through its proper officer, the clerk or prothonotary, where the assessment is a mere matter of calculation, but must be by a jury in other cases. See "Damages." -^

Determining the value of a person's property or occupation for the purpose of levying a tax. Determining the share of a tax to be paid by each individual. Laying a tax. Adjusting the shares of a contribution by several towards a common beneficial object according to the benefit received. An assessment is an official estimate of the sums which are to constitute the basis of an apportionment of a tax between the individual subjects of taxation within the district. It does not of itself lay the charge upon either person or property, but is a step preliminary thereto, and which is essential to the apportionment; Evansville & I. R. Co. v. Hays, 118 Ind. 214, 20 N. E. 736. As the' word is more commonly employed, an assessment consists in the two processes of listing the persons, property, etc., to be taxed,' and of estimating the sums which are to be the guide in an apportionment of the tax between them; City of Chicago v. Fishburn, 189 111. 367, 59 N. E. 791; Pomeroy Coal Co. v. Emlen, 44 Kan. 123, 24 Pac'340; State v. R. Co., 54 S. C. 564, 32 S. E. 691. To assess a tax is to determine what a taxpayer shall contribute to the public; and to levy a tax is to make a record of this determination and to extend the same against his property; Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Klein, 52 Neb. 258, 71 N. W. 1069. A local assessment can only be levied upon land. It cannot, as a tax can, be made a personal liability of the taxpayer. A tax is levied over a whole state, or a political subdivision. A local assessment is levied on property situated in a district created for the express purpose of the levy, and possessing no other existence than to be the exceptional both as to time and locality; It is brought into being to accomplish a particular purpose. A tax is levied, collected, and administered by a public agency; a local assessment is made by an authority ab extra. Yet it is like a tax in that it is imposed under an authority derived from the legislature. It is like a tax in that it must be levied for a public purpose, and must be apportioned by some reasonable rule. It is unlike a tax in that the proceeds must be expended in an improvement from which a benefit, clearly exceptive and plainly perceived, must enure to the property upon which it is imposed; Town of Macon v. Patty, 57 Miss. 378, 34 Am. Rep. 451 (a leading case). Though local assessments are laid under the taxing power, and are, in a certain sense, taxes, yet they are a peculiar class of taxes, and not within the meaning of that term as it is usually employed; Mayor, etc., of Birmingham v. Klein, 89 Ala. 461, 7 South. 3S6, 8 L. R. A. 369; Holley v. County of Orange, 106 Cal. 420, 39 Pac. 790; Nichols v. City of Bridgeport, 23 Conn. 189, 60 Am. Dec. 636; City Council of Augusta v. Murphey, 79 Ga. 101, 3 S. E. 326; Dempster v. Chicago, 175 111. 278, 51 N. E. 710; Board of Com'rs of Monroe County v. Harrell, 147 Ind. 500, 46 N. E. 124; Gosnell v. City of Louisville, 104 Ky. 201, 46 S. W. 722; Jones v. City of Boston, 104 Mass. 461; Kansas City v. Bacon, 147 Mo. 259, 48 S. W. 860; Mann v. Jersey City, 24 N. J. L. 662; City of Raleigh v. Peace, 110 N. C. 32, 14 S. E. 521, 17 L. R. A. 330; Raymond v. City of Cleveland, 42 Ohio St. 522; Beaumont v. Wilkes-Barre City, 142 Pa. 198, 21 Atl. 888; Heller v. City of Milwaukee, 96 Wis. 134, 70 N. W. 1111; as where a mining lease required a lessee to pay taxes, duties and imposts on coal mined, the mining improvements, and the surface and coal land itself, it was held not to require him to pay municipal assessments for paving a street or constructing a sewer; Pettibone v. Smith, 150 Pa. 118, 24 Atl. 693, 17 L. R. A. 423; and a devise requiring the life tenant to pay all necessary taxes on the property was held not to include assessments for sewers and curbing; Chambers v. Chambers, 20 R. I. 370, 39 Atl. 243; Chamberlin v. Gleason, 163 N. Y. 214, 57 N. E. 487. But "taxes" was held to include a sewer assessment in an agreement to convey a good title to land free from all mortgage encumbrances, taxes and mechanic's liens; Williams v. Monk, 179 Mass. 22, 60 N. E. 394. The power to make special assessments for public improvements is within the taxing power of the state; People v. Mayor, etc., of Brooklyn, 4 N. Y. 419, 55 Am. Dec. 266, note; People v. Pitt, 169 N. Y. 521, 62 N. E. 662, 58

In a general sense, denotes the process of ascertaining and adjusting the Shares respectively to be contributed by several persons towards a common beneficial object according to the benefit received. In taxation. The listing and valuation of property for the purpose of apportioning a tax upon It, either according to value alone or in proportion to benefit received. Also determining the share of a tax to be paid by each of many persons; or apportioning the entire tax to be levied among the different taxable persons, establishing the proportion due from each. Adams, etc., Co. v. Shelby-ville, 154 Ind. 467, 57 N. Bl 114, 49 In R. A. 707, 77 Am. St. Rep. 484; Webb v. Bid-well, 15 Minn. 483 (Gil.' 394); State v. Farmer, 94 Tex. 232, 59 S. W. 541; Kinney v. Zimpleman, 36 Tex. 582; Southern R. Co. v. Kay, 62 S. C. 28, 39 S. E. 785; U. S. v. Erie R. Co., 107 U. S. 1, 2 Sup. Ct 83, 27 In Ed. 385. Assessment, as used in juxtaposition with taxation in a state constitution, includes all the steps necessary to be taken in the legitimate exercise of the power to tax. Hurford v. Omaha, 4 Neb. 336. Assessment is also popularly used as a synonym for taxation in general,—the authoritative imposition of a rate or duty to be paid. But in its technical signification it denotes only taxation for a special purpose or local improvement; local taxation, as distinguished from general taxation; taxation on the principle of apportionment according to the relation between burden and benefit. As distinguished from other kinds of taxation, assessment? are those special and local impositions upon property in the immediate vicinity of municipal improvements which are necessary to pay for the improvement, and are laid with reference to the special benefit which the property is supposed to have derived therefrom. Hale v. Kenosha, 29 Wis. 599. And see Ridenour v. Saffin, 1 Handy (Ohio) 464; Roosevelt Hospital v. New York, 84 N. Y. 108, ll2; King v. Portland, 2 Or. 146; Reeves v. Wood Co.unty, 8 Ohio St 338; Wood v. Brady, 68 Cal. 78, 5 Pac. 623, 8 Pac. 599. Taxes are impositions for purposes of general revenue, while assessments are special and local impositions upon property in the immediate vicinity of an improvement, for the public welfare, which are necessary to pay for the improvement and made with reference to the special benefit which such property derives from the expenditure. Palmer v. Stumph, 29 Ind. 329. A special assessment is a charge in the nafure of a tax, imposed for the purpose of paying the cost of a local improvement in a municipal corporation, and levied only on those parcels of real property which, by reason of the location of such improvement, are specially bene-fitted by it. Village of Morgan Park v. Wis-wall, 155 111. 262, 40 N. E. 611; Wilson v. Auburn, 27 Neb. 435, 43 N. W. 257; Raleigh v. Peace, 110 N. C. 32. 14 S. E. 521, 17 L. R. A. 330; Sargent v. Tuttle, 67 Conn. 162, 34 Atl. 1028, 32 L. It. A. 822. Assessment and tax are not synonymous. An assessment is doubtless a tax, but the term implies something more; it implies a tax of a particular kind, predicated upon the principle of equivalents, or benefits, which are peculiar to the persons or property charged therewith, and which are said to be assessed or appraised, according to the measure or proportion of such equivalents; whereas a simple tax is imposed for the purpose of supporting the government generally, without reference to any special advantage which may be supposed to accrue to the persons taxed. Taxes must be levied, without discrimination, equally upon all the subjects of property; whilst assessments are only levied upon lands, or some other specific property. the subjects of the supposed benefits; to repay which the assessment is levied. Ridenour V. Saffin, 1 Handy (Ohio) 464. In corporations. Instalments of the money subscribed for shares of stock, called for from the subscribers by the directors, from time to time as the company requires money, are called "assessments," or, in England, "calls." Water Co. v. Superior Court, 92 Cal. 47, 28 Pac. 54, 27 Am. St. Rep. 91; Spangler v. Railroad Co., 21 III. 278; Stewart v. Publishing Co., 1 Wash. St. 521, 20 Pac. 605. The periodical demands made by a mutual insurance company, under its charter and bylaws, upon the makers of premium notes, are also denominated "assessments." Hill v. Insurance Co., 129 Mich. 141, 88 N. W. 392. Of damages. Fixing the amount of damages to which the successful party in a suit is entitled after an interlocutory judgment .has been taken. Assessment of damages is also the name given to the determination of the sum which a corporation proposing to take lands for a public use must pay in satisfaction of the demand proved or the value token. In insurance. An apportionment made in general average upon the various articles and interests at risk, according to their value at the time and place of being in safety, for contribution for damage and sacrifices purposely made, and expenses incurred for escape from impending common peril. 2 Phll. Ins. c. xv.

— Assessment company. In life insurance. A company in which a death loss is met by levying an assessment on the surviving members of the association. Mutual Ben. It. Ins. Co. v. Marye, 85 Va. 643, 8 S. E. 481

— Assessment contract. One wherein the payment of the benefit is in any manner or degree dependent on the collection of an assessment levied on persons holding similar contracts. Folkens v. Insurance Co., 98 Mo. App. 480, 72 S. W. 720.

— Assessment district. In taxation. Any subdivision of territory, whether the whole or part of any municipality, in which by law a separate assessment of taxable property is made by the officers elected or appointed therefor. Rev. Stat Wis. 1898, § 1031.

— Assessment fund. The assessment fund of a mutual benefit association is the balance of the assessments, less expenses, out of which beneficiaries are paid. Kerr v. Ben. Ass'n, 39 Minn. 174, 39 N. W. 312, 12 Am. St. Rep. 631.

— Assessment rolL In taxation. The list or roll of taxable persons and property, completed, verified, and deposited by the assessors, not as it appears after review and equalization. Bank v. Genoa, 28 Misc. Rep. 71, 59 N. Y. Supp. 829; Adams v. Brennan, 72 Miss. 894, 18 South. 482.

— Assessment work. Under the mining laws of the United States, the holder of an unpatented mining claim on the public domain is required, in order to hold his claim, to do labar or make improvements upon it to the extent of at least one hundred dollars in each year. Rev. St. U. S. § 2324 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1426). This is commonly called by miners "doing assessment work."

An adjustment or the fixing or settling of a sum to of the proportions of a tax to be tion of property for the purpose of upon persons or property by way purpose; a local tax apportioned between burden and benefit The senses, viz.: the sense of process, distinction also between assessment sense they are one and the same, assessment more strictly being an ficial to particular persons or property fit, while a tax is a burden imposed regard to benefits.

In a general sense, denotes the process of ascertaining and adjust- re ing the shares respectively to be contributed by several persons towards a common beneficial object according to the benefit received. In taxation. The listing and valuation of property for the purpose of apportioning a tax upon it, either according to value alone or in proportion to benelit received. Also determining the share of a tax to be paid by each of many persons; or apportioning the entire tax to be levied among the different taxable persons, establishing the proportion due from each. Assessment, as used in juxtaposition with taxation in a state constitution, includes all the steps necessary to bs tuken in the legitimate exercise of the power totax, 4 Neb. 336, Assessment is also popularly used as a synonym for taxation in general,—the authori- Se tative imposition of a rate or duty to be paid. But in its technical signification it denotes only taxation fora special purpose or local improvement; logal taxation, as distinguished from general taxativn; taxation on the principle of apportionment according to the relation between burden and benefit, As distinguished from other kinds of taxation, assessments are those special and local impositions upon property in the immediate vicinity of municipal improvements which are necessary to pay for the improvement, and are laid with reference to the special benefit which the property is supposed to have derived therefrom. 29 Wis. 599. Assessment and tax are not synonymous. An assessment is doubtless a tax, but the term implies soluething more; it implies a tax of a particular kind, predicated upon the principle of equivalents, or benefits, which are peculiar to the persons or property charged therewith, and which are said a to be assessed or appraised, according to the measure or proportion of such equivalents; whereas a simple tax is imposed for the purpose of supporting the government generally, without reference to any special advantage which may be supposed to accrue to the persons taxed. Taxes must be levied, without discrimination, equally upon all the eubjects of property; whilst assessments are only levied upon lands, or some other specific property, the subjects of the supposed benefits; to repay which the assessment is levied. 1 Handy, 464. In corporations. Instalments of the money subscribed for shares of stock, called are called “assessments,” or, in En “calls.” The periodical demands made by a m insurance company, under its chartera Jaws, upon the makers of premium n also denominated “assessments.” Of damages. Fixing the amounto ages to whieh the successful party in a is entitled after an interlocutory judg has been taken. Assessment of damages is also the given to the determination of the sum a corporation proposing to take lands public use must pay in satisfaction of mand proved or the value taken. In insurance. An apportionment in general average upon the various ar: and interests at risk, according to their at the time and place of being in safety, f contribution for damage and sacrifices pur posely made, and expenses incurred for cape from impending common peril. 2 Ins. c. xv.