—subdiv. 3, providing for apportionment of cost of repaving according to the front foot, regardless of benefits to the extent of the assessment, and without affording the property owner an opportunity to question the existence of such benefit, was held void.

"Equality is equity, and the right of the owner of a lot to have this burden of special tax ratably distributed among the lots benefited does not depend alone upon the state constitution exacting equal taxation, but has' its foundation in those elementary principles of equity and justice which lie at the root of the social compact'(

Baker, and distinguished it with these remarks: "" That was a case where by a village ordinance, apparently aimed at a single person, a portion of whose property was condemned for a street, the entire cost of opening the street, in- "'

“The whole burden of such tax cannot be placed upon a single lot on the ground that the whole is not greater than the betterment of such lot, unless the other lots on the street derive no benefit therefrom.”

As to the assessment beyond the benefits conferred, the Court declared: "In bur judgment, the exaction from the owner of private property of the cost of a public improvement in substantial excess of the special benefits accruing to him is, to the extent of such excess, a taking under the guise of taxation, of private property for public use without compensation

—the property owner to show, where an assessment of that kind is made, or is about to be made, that the sum SO fixed is in excess of the benefits received. "

See section 78 (a)(iii) of the Petition. “if by reason of circumstances, it costs more to build a walk in front of a particular lot than in front of others of the same width, this particular excess is distributed throughout all of the tracts benefited by the continuous improvement as a whole, instead of making one property owner bear an undue burden in paying for an improvement …

This principle, denying the right to impose a special assessment in substantial excess of the benefit conferred by the improvement for which it is made, has been recognized in numerous decisions. United States.

—cert. granted, 121 S. Ct. 1997 (2001)(stating that one of society 's most cherished rights is freedom of expression

Nevertheless, a basic foundation of the US capitalist economic system requires strong governmental protection of private property rights

[PDF] Findings of fact and conclusions of law

[CITATION] Vanderbilt Law Review

[BOOK] The law of municipal corporations

[BOOK] St. Louis Law Review