Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 3).pdf/98

 following Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday, an entry was made in the journal substantially like that made for Wednesday, as above quoted. On Tuesday and Wednesday, July, 13th and 14th, a quorum was present, and on each of the last mentioned days the board was engaged in equalizing the taxes of 1886, a verified tax roll having been completed on the 12th of July, and delivered to the auditor.

The questions of law arising upon the findings and the undisputed evidence and facts are of serious importance, whether considered with reference to the collection of the public revenues or with reference to the constitutional and statutory rights of individual taxpayers; nor do the discordant decisions and apparently endless discussions of elementary writers afford much assistance to the court in its investigations of the different points presented. The principal questions connected with the meeting of the board are two in number, and are as follows: First. Did the board of equalization in Cass County in the year in question meet upon the proper day, and hold a session of not less than two days, as the statute in force at the time required it to do? Second. When the authenticated assessment roll is not delivered to the auditor on or before the first Monday in July, as the statute directed shall be done, but is delivered before the board of equalization adjourns, and after its delivery the board remains in session for a period of two days, and while in session actually equalizes the taxes, is such delay in the delivery of the roll an irregularity in the process of assessing and equalizing the taxes that will render the taxes of that year void?

Taking up the questions in their order, it is manifestly true that the board of equalization did meet on the day designated by law for their first meeting. The statute names the first Monday of July, but that year it happened that Monday was July 4th. This day being a legal holiday, the statute expressly authorizes the postponement of secular business to be done on such day until the next business day. Comp. Laws, § 4752. The board met for the first time on the Tuesday next following the first Monday of