Bank of Kentucky v. Kentucky, 207 U.S. 258 (1907)

Bank of Kentucky v. Kentucky


No. 87


Argued October 23, 1907
Decided December 2, 1907
207 U.S. 258

ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS
OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY

Syllabus

A municipal corporation is not necessarily bound by the decree in a suit against another municipality because officers of the state were parties thereto.

The relation of the state board of valuation to the counties and other municipalities is a matter of state regulation.

In Kentucky, neither a sheriff nor assessor nor the board of valuation has control of the fiscal affairs of the county, and a judgment against them does not bind the county.

A judgment against a county of Kentucky and the members of the state board of valuation restraining the collection of taxes of that county as impairing the obligation of a contract created by a law of the state and within the protection of the federal Constitution is not, because such state officers were parties, res judicata as to the validity of taxes imposed by another county, nor is such other county privy to the judgment.

It is competent for the legislature of a state to change the day that a bank shall report its property for assessment and to provide that the lien of the assessment shall follow the property in the hands of a vendee.

94 S.W. 620 affirmed.

The facts, which involve the liability of certain banks in Kentucky to be assessed for back taxes under the revenue law of the Kentucky, are stated in the opinion.