Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/529

KENSETT V. STIVERS. 517 �act of 1875, a plan of the bridge, approved under a public act of congress, had for some years been adoptee! and acted npon. That plan showed preeisely to what extent the bridge would obstruct navigation upon the river, and more than five millions of dollars had been expended upon the bridge. The plan and character of the bridge must be assumed to have been known to the legislature, and the act of 1875 is an act providing for the completion of the bridge then in course of construction, and the trustees to be appointed under that act are required to complete that bridge. There was then a legislative approval and sanction of the bridge as then being constructed according to the plan pre- scribed by the act of congress, and thereafter the trustees were required only to conform to the plan thus adopted and approved in the construction of the bridge. So long as there is no departure from such plan the structure could not be assailed as an obstruction to navigation. What is thus sanctioned by both the state and national legislatures cannot be a nuisance or otherwise unlawful." �As to the guys or stays which were attached to the main span of the bridge, and hung below the bottom chords, they were used only in construction, and were not to be permanent; and it is not at all clear that they were a violation of the conditions prescribed by the secretary of war. Moreover, they have been removed. �The bill must be dismissed, with costs. �Note. The power of congress to authorize a bridge across a public river navigable from the sea is paramount. Silliman v. Hudson Riv. Br. Co. 4 Blatchf . 83, 409 ; North Rive)- Steam-hoat Co. v. Livingston, 3 Cow. 713 ; People v. Rensselaer, etc., R. Co. 15 Wend. 113. See Clinton Bridge Case, Woolw. 150.— [Ed. ���Kensett v. Stivers and others. �{Circuit Court, S. D. N'eu York. November 8, 1880.) �Internai, Revenue— Erboneous or Illegal Taxation— Injonction. �Where a tax is assessed, upon manufactured articles liable to duty, by a per- son in office and clothed with authority over the subject-matter, ils collection cannot be restrained by injunction in any court of equity «i the United States, however erroneously or illegally it bas been assessed. �JOKISDICTION AND POWBR OP ASSESSOHS. �The power of assessing taxes on tobacco against tobacco manufacturers nec- essarily covers the question of quantity, rate of tax, amount of tax, and per- sons liable to tax, and mistakes in any of these respects are only errors, and not such absence of jurisdiction as to make the proceedings wholly nul! and �TOld. ��� �