Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/537

 630 FEDERAL REPORTER. �such majority of tax payers," (that is, "a majority of the tax payera of the town who are taxed or assessed for property, net including those taxed for dogs or highway tax only, upon the last preceding assessment roU or tax list of the town, and •who are assessed or taxed for, or represent, a majority of the taxable property upon said last assessment roll or tax list,") "and are taxed or assessed for, or represent, a majority of tax- able property," (that is, "a majority of the taxable property upon said last assessment roll or tax list ; ") "and that they desire that such municipal corporation shall create and issue its bonds to an amount named in such petition, and invest the same, or the proeeeds thereof, in the stock or bonds, as said petition may direct, of such railroad company in this state as may be named in said petition." �Although the petition proper, in this case, signed by the 246 petitioners, omits the clause as to dogs and highway tax, yet the petition and the verification to it, taken together, con- tain and set forth ail the matters required by the strictest interpretation of the statute. It is sufficient, under the statute, if the verified petition sets forth the required mat- ters. It is the petition so verified that is to set them forth. The verification is a part of the petition, and the petition includes the petition proper and the verification. The petition verified by one of the petitioners is to be regarded as verified by ail of them. The verification is to be taken as made by ail who signed the petition. The statute authorizes one to verify for ail. "The application is to be made by a verified petition." The application, consisting of the verified peti- tion, — that is, of the petition proper and the verification, — is to set forth so and so. In this case it does so, within the strictest rule laid down by the court of appeals of New York. �It was not necessary that the petition or verification should refer to the owners of non-resident lands taxed as such. The statute defines the words "tax payer" as including and mean- ing "the owner of any non-resident land taxed as such." �Therefore, when the petition and verification use the words "tax payer," they include thereby, necessarily, the owners of non-resident lands taxed as such. ����