Opinion of the Court. subsequent act of the legislature, in which is found no exemption clause. The act of 1867, reviving the charter, authorized the corporation to receive payment of subscriptions to its capital stock in lands, provided the lands were within five miles of the line of its road; and if the exempting clause can be construed to apply to property other than that used in the business of the company it would be limited to property which by the charter, as it then stood, it was authorized to acquire. Subsequently thereto, and in 1870, it was authorized to receive in the way of subscription to its capital stock lands lying anywhere within the limits of the State, and it was under this authority that it took title to the lands in question. Now, this act of 1870 is no mention of any exemption, nothing to suggest that the legislature intended that this roving authority to take title to lands carried with it the right to withdraw all the lands thus taken from the burdens of taxation, and it would be clearly in violation of the accepted rule of construction in respect to contracts of exemption to extend the provisions of the exempting clause in the acts of 1859 and 1867 to property, the right to acquire which was conferred solely by the subsequent act. in Again, it is insisted that section 19 of the act of 1859, which was not changed in any subsequent statute, made the exemption conditional upon the fact that the road was commenced within two years and completed withîn ten years; that, as a matter of fact, this condition was not complied with, and hence, that the exemption failed entirely. The argument is that all tax levies and sales of these lands were only conditionally invalid, and that, the condition failing, the tax sales became operative and the title passed. On the other hand, it is said that this condition was a condition subsequent; that during the time prescribed in the condition the lands were exempt from taxation, even though after that time proceedings might be instituted under special warrant of the legislature for the assessment and collection of taxes thereon, and hence, that all proceedings instituted and carried through during the pendency of such time of exemption were absolutely void. We do not deem it necessary to decide this Opinion of the Court. question, and only refer to it as suggesting equitable considerations against any expansion of the claimed exemption. But, further and chiefly, the only exemption was from taxation, and it is a general rule of construction that a clause exempting from taxation does not release the property so exempted from liability for assessments for local improvements. Sheehan Jr. v. The Good Samaritan Hospital, 50 Missouri, 155; Buffalo City Cemetery v. Buffalo, 46 N. Y. 506; Paterson v. Society for establishing Useful Manufactures, 24 N. J. Law, 385; State v. Newark, 35 N. J. Law, 157. This question was considered in this court in Illinois Central Railroad v. Decatur, 147 U. S. 190. The exemption in that case was "from all taxes under the laws of this State," (Illinois) and it was held that that clause did not relieve the property from the burden of special assessments imposed to pay the cost of local improvements. The question was discussed at some length and the various authorities reviewed in the opinion then delivered. That is also the settled law of the State of Mississippi. Daily v. Swope, 47 Mississippi, 367; Vasser v. George, Id. 713; Macon v. Patty, 57 Mississippi, 378. In the first two of these cases it was held, not only that special assessments for local improvements did not come within the constitutional limitations as to taxation, but also that the construction and repair of levees were to be regarded as local improvements for which the property specially benefited might be assessed. We quote from Vasser v. George, page 721: "We are content to refer to our views on this subject, just delivered in Daily v. Swope. In that case we reached the conclusion that local assessments for local improvements were not embraced in the twentieth section of the twelfth article [said section reading taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the State. All property shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as directed by law,'] but were referable to the general power of taxation, which was supreme, unless restrained by the Constitution of the United States, or of the State. The limitation upon the power in that section only applies and governs taxes levied for the Opinion of the Court. usual, ordinary and general purposes of the state, county and incorporated city or town, and does not include special assessments for local public objects for the purpose of ameliorating property and enhancing its value, and also contributing to the general convenience, health or welfare of the community. That, in apportioning such assessments, the legislature or local taxing body may levy them on the basis of special benefits received, because of the improvement made. And, further, may adopt that mode which, in its discretion, seems equitable and just, either by specific taxes or according to value, or in the instance of a very small locality, as a street or square in a city, either the area of the lots, the front measurement or value may be selected. So, too, in the levee district, composed of several counties and parts of counties, lands in the river counties, which are supposed to receive the largest benefit, may be assessed higher than those more remote. The legislature may classify the lands and tax accordingly." That such is now the settled law in Mississippi is not denied by counsel for complainants, but it is insisted that these decisions were subsequent to the vesting of title to those lands in the railroad company; that at that time the rule of decision in the State was different, and that the rights of the railroad company were created and vested under the rule as then announced, and also that no subsequent change in decision could disturb the rights created in reliance upon the previous rule. In support of this they refer to Southern Railroad Company v. Jackson, 38 Mississippi, 334, but that case does not sustain their contention. In it the railroad company claimed under a statute, providing "that the stock, fixtures and property of said company shall be exempt from taxation," but the taxes which were held included within the exemption were the general taxes of the city for corporate purposes. There was no special assessment for local improvements on property benefited thereby, but simply the ordinary taxes levied for corporate purposes, including, it is true, among them matters of public improvement. Such taxes come strictly within the provisions in respect to taxation. Opinion of the Court. A city is a municipal corporation, a political subdivision of the State, charged with certain specified duties of government within its territorial limits, and for the full discharge of those duties it is authorized to levy taxes. In this respect it does not differ from a county, and although some of the funds derived from a city tax may have been used for public improvement, that does not change the character of the tax. It does not cease to be a tax properly so called, any more than would a tax levied by the State if a portion of the funds raised thereby were invested in the building of a capitol, or any other public improvement. This is the only decision of the Supreme Court of the State to which our attention is directed as enunciating a doctrine different from that laid down in the cases in 47 and 57 Mississippi, supra. The rule therefore established in Mississippi is in harmony with that recognized generally elsewhere, to the effect that special assessments for local improvements are not within the purview of either constitutional limitations in respect to taxation or general exemptions from taxation. It follows, therefore, that the exemption in this charter in no manner released the property from the burden of the special assessments for the construction and repair of the levees. These special assessments for levee improvements culminated in sales and deeds under express authority of the statutes of the State, and by them a perfect title was transferred, which finally passed to the defendant. No defects are pointed out by the complainants in these proceedings-at least, none which go so far as to vitiate those proceedings if the property was subject to such assessments. This conclusion disposes of the principal question in this case. We may, however, go further and consider some other matters in reference to these assessments. On March 16, 1872, the legislature passed an act to facilitate the construction of the railroad, Laws Miss. 1872, c. 75, p. 313, section 3 of which reads: "That all lands which have heretofore been purchased by or forfeited to the State of Mississippi, for taxes due and unpaid thereon, and which have been sold to said Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company by the original owners of the Opinion of the Court. same, shall be sold to said railroad company by the auditor of public accounts, at two cents per acre, upon the presentation of satisfactory evidence of titles to said railroad company, from said original owners, and satisfactory proof that not less than twenty-five miles of said road have been constructed: Provided, The title to the lands shall have been conveyed by said owners to said company, prior to the passage of this act, and that in all cases where the said lands have been forfeited to or purchased by any of the levee boards in the levee districts in this State, in which any of the said lands lie, and are now held or claimed by any of the said levee boards for the non-payment of the levee taxes, and where the title is held by said railroad company, said levee boards are hereby required to arrange for the payment of said taxes by receiving in payment of the same, any of the bonds of the levee boards: Provided, That if the said Selma, Marion and Memphis railroad shall receive the $4000.00 subsidy per mile, the said railroad shall pay into the state treasury one and one half of one per cent on the gross earnings of said road, for every mile of said road in this State, beginning two years after they receive the first subsidy: Provided further, That this tax shall only be levied until said railroad company shall be required to pay tax on its property." Under the authority of this statute the auditor conveyed these lands to the company by deeds which recited that the lands had been "sold to the State of Mississippi for taxes due the said State," and that the company had paid into the state treasury two cents per acre "in full of all state and county taxes due thereon to the present date." No reference was made in these deeds to the levee taxes; no recital of any payment of them, or of any adjustments with the levee commissioners. Complainants contend that the deeds are themselves evidence of a prior payment and discharge of the levee taxes, on the theory that such payment was a statutory prerequisite to the conveyance by the auditor. Nofire v. United States, 164 U. S. 657. We do not so understand the force of the The transactions with the auditor and with the levee board were independent of each other. The auditor sold and VOL. CLXIV-43 |