 Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Cheyenne

Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Cheyenne, 113 U.S. 516 (1885), was an appeal from the Supreme Court of the Territory of Wyoming regarding a bill charging that the collection of an illegal tax would involve the plaintiff in a multiplicity of suits as to the title of lots being laid out and sold, which would prevent their sale, and which would cloud the title to all his real estate, states a case for relief in equity.An Act of the Legislature of Wyoming, passed December 13, 1879, required the state auditor to furnish to the territorial board of equalization a list for assessment and taxation of the roadbed, superstructure, and other enumerated property of every railroad and telegraph company in the territory when any portion of the property of such company was situated in more than one county, and required the board to value and assess the property of the corporation for each mile of its road or line, and to certify to the county clerks of the counties in which the property was situated the assessment per mile, specifying the number of miles and amount in each of the counties, and which required the county commissioners to decide and adjust the number of miles and amounts within each precinct, township, or school district within their respective counties and cause such amounts to be entered on the lists of taxable property returned by the assessors, withdrew the duty of assessing fractional parts of such railroad and the property of such companies from all local assessors in the territory, including its incorporated cities.