Home > Journals > Michigan Law Review > MLR > Volume 28 > Issue 3 (1930)
DURESS OF PROPERTY-ASSESSMENT LIEN OF CITY AS CONSTRAINT
Abstract
The authorities are almost unanimous to the effect that where the payment of a tax is voluntary it can not be recovered even though the tax is illegal or the act authorizing it is unconstitutional. 3 COOLEY, TAXATION, sec. 1282; In re Trustees of Village of Delhi, 201 N. Y. 408, 94 N.E. 874. The reason is stated to be that ignorance or mistake of law can furnish no ground of recovery. Where duress is present, however, that offers an independent basis for equitable relief. 3 COOLEY, TAXATION, sec. 1283. Underwood Typewriter Co. v. Chamberlain, 92 Conn. 199, 102 Atl. 600. There is a difference of opinion as to what constitutes an involuntary payment but it is agreed that there must be some degree of coercion to which the tax-payer submits. Vanderbeck v. City of Rochester, 122 N. Y. 285, 25 N.E. 408.
Recommended Citation
DURESS OF PROPERTY-ASSESSMENT LIEN OF CITY AS CONSTRAINT,
28
Mich. L. Rev.
315
(1930).
Available at:
https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol28/iss3/5