Tasker v. County Commissioners

Fowler, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented by this appeal is whether the Commissioners of Garrett County are liable to be sued upon the contract which is set out in the plaintiff’s declaration. This contract is evidenced by an order passed by the defendants, by which it appears that the plaintiff was authorized and directed to trace up and compile a book of abstracts of title for the use of the County Commissioners’ office, of all unassessed lands in said county. It was provided by this order that upon the adoption of the plaintiffs report he should be allowed a fair and reasonable compensation for his said work.

The first count in the declaration was struck out on motion of the plaintiff, and the defendant demurred to the declaration as thus amended. The second count is based upon the theory that the plaintiff performed his part of the contract, and that although the defendants examined, ratified, approved and adopted his work and reports, they refused to compensate him therefor. The third count alleges that the defendants received and examined the work of the plaintiff, but fraudulently refused to adopt it. It must be conceded, we think, that if the defendants, as ¹⁵³ Commissioners of Garrett County, had power to make the contract, each count of the amended narr. sets out a good cause of action.

For while it is so well settled that it is unnecessary to cite authorities to sustain it, that municipal bodies like the defendants act with limited corporate authority, and persons dealing with them must be held to know the extent and limit of such corporate powers, yet not every act they may do, nor every officer they may appoint can be specifically designated in their charters. And, therefore, our own Code, Art. 25, relating to County Commissioners, provides in section 1 that they shall have power to appoint agents, officers and servants required for county purposes, not otherwise provided by law or the Constitution. And the whole question, therefore, is whether, first, it is the duty of the County Commissioness to assess for taxation unassessed lands, and secondly, whether any officer whom they are, either by law or the Constitution, specifically authorized to appoint could provide them with the information necessary to enable such assessment to be effectually and properly made. That it is the duty of the commissioners to assess such lands is, of course, clear.