Stewart v. Kansas City, 239 U.S. 14 (1915)

Stewart v. Kansas City

No. 24

Motion to dismiss or affirm submitted October 18, 1915
Decided November 1, 1915
239 U.S. 14

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

Syllabus

What the duty of a county officer is under the law of the which he is an instrument is a local question and this Court has no jurisdiction under § 237, Judicial Code, to review the judgment of the state court.

A county officer has no personal interest in a litigation brought to compel him to apply public moneys in his hands in accordance with the state law, and he cannot defend such a suit on the ground that the statute is unconstitutional as depriving him as an individual or as a taxpayer of his property without due process of law or denying him the equal protection of the law.

Municipalities of the state are creatures of the state, and the power of the state thereover is very broad, and may be exercised in many ways affecting the property of, and giving rise to inequalities between, municipalities without encountering the due process and equal protection provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The statute of Kansas requiring counties to reimburse municipalities of the first class, but not of other classes, for rebates allowed for prompt payment of taxes is not unconstitutional under the due process or equal protection provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Writ of error to review 90 Kan. 846 dismissed.

The facts, which involve the jurisdiction of this Court under § 237, Judicial Code, to review a judgment of the state court in a case involving the rights and duties of a county officer, are stated in the opinion.