Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 3).pdf/166

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
126
NORTH DAKOTA REPORTS.

plaintiff have acquired any name or designation by repute which is peculiar and different from other lands situated within government surveys in the state. On the contrary, the assertion is emphasized in the answer that the descriptions of the lands in suit are technically accurate, and conform precisely to a usage of language which is general in describing lands in this state. See extract from amended answer, supra; also, Knight v. Alexander, 38 Minn. 384, 37 N. W. Rep. 796.

Counsel make the further point that inasmuch as § 1554, Comp. Laws, required taxpayers to “list all property subject to taxation.” and because it does not appear from “annotations on the roll” that plaintiff's property was in fact listed by the assessor, that the court must conclusively presume that plaintiff not only made a statement of his property, as required by § 1547, but the plaintiff furnished the assessor a list in which the lands in question were described by preciscly similar symbols to those now appearing on the roll. In support of this point, counsel cite § § 1549, 1550, Comp. Laws, to show that, where the taxpayer fails or refuses to list his property, it then becomes the duty of the assessor to “note the fact on the roll,” and return it to the auditor. We did not so read the two sections last cited. Said sections we think, have reference to documents of a different character from the “return” and roll, viz: to lists such as the county commissioners are required, under § 1544, to furnish all assessors. We have found a section—one not cited—which we think is the only one which requires an assessor in a case of failure or refusal to list to note the fact on the roll or “return.” But this is confined to “personal property,” and the ommission to include real estate is, we think, significant, and implies, at least, that no such annotation on the roll is to be made as to real estate. Comp. Laws, § 1583. This view is strengthened by a requirement of law that the county commissioners shall furnish assessors in each year blank forms for listing, containing “a list of all the entered lands in his county subject to taxation,” which list shall contain “lands by township, range and section, and any division or part of a section.” Where the owner