Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ It is urged, however, that a different rule could be applied in favor of one who purchased the land under the circumstances stated above. But the attempt to liken taxation, whether general or special, to the enforcement of a vendor's lien, and thus to introduce the doctrine concerning bona fide purchasers for value, rests on a fallacy similar to that which we have mentioned above, which would deny the right to tax upon an executed consideration. ”

“ The reasons, as summed up by the circuit court, are that the law in force at the time of doing the work did not authorize a charge for planking upon the abutting property, that the ordinance No. 1285, ordering the improvement, did not authorize any planking, that the city could assess only the land abutting on the improvement, and the plaintiff's land was far away from the planking, and that such an assessment of the whole cost, including the planking, on the property on Weller street, is absolutely unfair as to the plaintiff's land.
A general attack upon the statute of 1893 is not attempted. ”

“ Assuming, without deciding, that the question is open to the plaintiff in this proceeding, we are of opinion that the record does not justify interference by injunction on the ground that the assessment was manifestly unfair.
The answer to the other objections may be made in few words. If, as is said, planking was not authorized under the word 'sidewalks' in ordinance No. 1285, the city has done or adopted the work, and presumably has paid for it. At the end the benefit was there, on the ground, at the city's expense. The principles of taxation are not those of contract. ”