Gilliam County v. Wasco County

It is settled law that when a new county is created out of a part of an old one, the old county takes the county property and becomes liable for the whole of the county indebtedness, in the absence of legislative provision to the contrary. (Laramie County v. Albany County, 92 U. S. 307; Sedgwick County v. Bunker, 17 Kan. 500, 501.) Although in strict technical language a tax is not a debt, yet in an enlarged sense, whenever there is a duty to pay on any ground there is a debt. (Beacon’s Abr., Title Debt.) And on this ground it was said in Neal v. Commonwealth, 21 Gratt. 513, that “ a tax is a…