24

As this act did not apply to devolutions of real property, but was a species of stamp tax upon receipts given for any legacy or share of the personal property of a decedent, and, being easily evaded, it was not a great source of revenue, particularly as where no receipt could be given no tax could be imposed; 2 so that, in 1796, Pitt adopted the Roman system, as modified in Holland, by endeavoring to have all successions taxed. He clearly discerned the effect of such a law upon the revenues of the kingdom, if it could be applied to real estate and kindred property; but the act, as proposed to parliament, seems to have met with opposition, for, as finally passed, it only applied to personal property and shares given under the statute of distributions. By later statute it was extended to donationes mortis causa.25 Finally, in 1853, by the succession duty act,26 a new law came in force, taxing all successions to real property, chattels real, and a vast variety of personal property and rights not reached by the legacy act. This law owed its existence to the exertions of Gladstone, and to a certain extent displaces the legacy act, though, curiously enough, it has been held that, where the legacy tax may not be imposed, the estate passing may nevertheless be liable to succession duty, and under some circumstances to both.27

The act of Victoria is minute in its details, contains elaborate tables for the purpose of establishing the value of

tween 1776 and 1780; Smith's work in 1776; but it is just as likely, as Gibbon held office as secretary under Lord North, that the latter received his ideas from the former.

24 Green v. Croft, 2 H. Bl. 30.

25 36 Geo. III. c. 52, § 7; 8 & 9 Vict. c. 76, § 4; 44 Vict. c. 12, § 38. 26 16 & 17 Vict. c. 51.

27 Attorney General v. Cleave, 31 Law T. (N. S.) 86; Attorney General v. Littledale, L. R. 5 Exch. 275.

annuities and other interests under it and under the legacy act,28 and seems to tax every conceivable interest accruing either by last will and testament, intestate laws and acts inter vivos, and is in some instances both prospective and retroactive.29 Altogether it presents a most admirable sys

tem of taxation.c

There would seem to be, as a general rule, no exceptions allowed under this act, even charitable corporations being taxed; but, under the legacy act, legacies to husbands and wives are not taxed. The law was the same under the legacy act of congress. The succession duty act is more comprehensive in these respects than any of the stat utes existing in this country, because its effects are sweeping, including not only strangers and collaterals, but, as we have said, lineal heirs in the ascending and descending line. 32 The percentage of the tax is justly graduated from 1 to 10 per cent., which latter sum is assessed upon shares to strangers to the blood and remote relatives.3

33

The succession tax is not imposed upon estates under

28 16 & 17 Vict. c. 51, § 31.

29 Attorney General v. Fitzjohn, 2 Hurl. & N. 465; Wilcox v. Smith, 26 Law J. Ch. 596; Attorney General v. Middleton, 3 Hurl. & N. 125. 30 The English statutes are collated in Trev. Tax. Suc. (4th Ed., London) p. 299 et seq.

31 16 & 17 Vict. c. 51, § 16.

32 Layton, in speaking of the act, says: "The provisions are of a most comprehensive and searching character, so much so that it is difficult to imagine a transaction or dealing with property, to take effect upon a death after the 19th May, 1853, that will elude its operation, general or special." Leg. & Suc. Dut. (7th Ed.) p. 110.

33 "The principle of graduation (as it is called),—that is, of levying a larger percentage on a larger sum,-though its application to general taxation would be, in my opinion, objectionable, seems to me both just and expedient as applied to legacy and inheritance duties." Mills, Polit. Econ. bk. 5, c. 11, § 3.

£300,34 and the legacy duty is not imposed when the personal property is under £100.35

That these taxes, when applied under well-drafted laws, may be made wonderfully remunerative to the state, and must lessen the general burden, is easily demonstrated by the fact that the English government now derives an enormous revenue from their enforcement.3 The law, however, is still said to be open to revision.3

37

The duty has been increased and extended by other statutes.38

The act of 1889 fixed an entirely new duty, viz. a fixed 1 per cent, estate duty upon the capital value of estates exceeding £10,000 in value. This act expires June 1, 1896, and is said to be somewhat experimental; and by the "finance act,” passed in 1894, a further tax has been imposed of 1 per cent. upon real estate and personal property of the value of £10,000 and upward.39 This is a substitute for the estate duty.

84 44 Vict. c. 12, § 36; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 51, § 18.

35 43 Vict. c. 14, § 13.

36 In 1881 it amounted to £3,592,777; in 1882, £3,540,585; and in 1883, £3,536,238, or nearly $18,000,000.

37 3 Dowell, Hist. Tax'n, p. 155.

38 See Act 1888, 51 Vict. c. 8; Act 1889, 52 Vict. c. 7, "Estate Duty"; 57 & 58 Vict. (1894) c. 30, "The Finance Act."

39 See these acts discussed, in a brochure, entitled "Estate Duty and Successive Duty," by J. E. C. Munro, Esq., London, 1894. The interested reader may also consult the following authors upon the English acts:

(1) Brodie, Peter B. Tax on Successions and Burdens on Land. London. 1890.

(2) Buxton, Sydney. A Handbook to the Death Duties. London. 1890.

(3) Lenaghan, Patrick. A Treatise on Legacy Duty, etc.; the Law of Domicile. London. 1850.

(4) Trevor, Ch. C. London. 1881.

(5) Wallace, Robt. J. Epitome of Death Duties. London. 1886.

(6) Layton. Legacy, etc.; Duties. 9th Ed. London. 1892. (This

The tax is said to bear heavily and severely upon land, and it has been criticised upon this ground.**

The revenue derived from the probate, legacy, and succession and estate duties, in England, is enormous, amounting to over £11,000,000 annually." Payment of the tax is secured by provisions which not only make the duty a first charge or lien on the property, as well as a debt to the crown from the successor, but also make all persons accountable to the crown for the duty,-such as trustees and executors. We have given a few excerpts from these acts in the notes.12

is an excellent work. It contains a full account of all death duties exacted under the English law.)

(7) Dowell. History of Taxation and Taxes in England.

40 See article "The New Death Duties in England," by the Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, North Am. Rev. Jan., 1895, p. 95.

41 See Finance Accounts 1889-90, p. 17; Id. 1890-91, p. 19; Report Com'rs Int. Rev. 1891, p. 19; Statesman's Year Book 1893, p. 43; "The Inheritance Tax," by Max West, N. Y., 1893, p. 41.

42 3 Dowell, Hist. p. 152; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 51, §§ 42, 44. For the English statutes and decisions thereon, also consult 3 Fish. Har. Dig. 5416-5430; 4 Fish. Har. Dig. 7480; 6 Fish. Com. Law Dig. 631. The "Legacy Act" (55 Geo. III. c. 184) makes the following rates payable on legacies and the residue of personal estate and real estate directed to be sold, whether the title to such residue accrues by virtue of any testamentary dispositions or upon a partial or total intestacy, whether the amount is £20 or upward:

(1) Children of their descendants, or parents, or other lineal ancestors, £1 per cent.

(2) Brothers or sisters, or their descendants, £3 per cent.

(3) Brothers or sisters of fathers and mothers, or their descendants, £5 per cent.

(4) Brothers or sisters of grandmothers, etc., £6 per cent.

(5) Persons of any degree of collateral consanguinity, or strangers to the blood, £10 per cent.

See 36 Geo. III. c. 52; 45 Geo. III. c. 28.

The "Succession Duty Act" of 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 51. See, also, 51 Vict. c. 8; 52 Vict. c. 7) provides as follows: "Every past or future disposition of property by reason whereof any person has or shall become beneficially entitled to any property or the income thereof upon

§ 5. The American Statutes.

As has been said, collateral inheritance, succession, and lineal tax laws now exist in the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Virginia, West Virginia, New York (di

the death of any person dying after the time appointed for the commencement of this act, either immediately or after interval, either certainly or contingently, and either originally or by way of substitutive limitation, and every devolution by law of any beneficial interest in property or the income thereof upon the death of any person dying after the time appointed for the commencement of this act, to any person in possession or expectancy, shall be deemed to have conferred or to confer, on the person entitled by reason of any such disposition or devolution, a 'succession,' and the term 'successor' shall denote the person entitled, and the term 'predecessor' shall denote settlor, disponer, testator, obligor, ancestor, or other person from whom the interest of the successor is or shall be derived."

Joint tenants taking by survivorship are deemed successors, and successions are conferred by general powers of appointment. Persons entitled to real estate, subject to life leases, are not liable; and dispositions with a reservation of benefit to the grantor, etc., or to take effect at periods depending on death, or made to evade the duty, are liable.

The following are the rates of duty:

(1) Where "successor” is the lineal issue or lineal ancestor of predecessor, £1 per cent.

(2) Where he is brother, sister, or descendant of brother or sister of predecessor, £3 per cent.

(3) Where he is brother or sister of father or mother, or descendant of brother or sister of father or mother, etc., £5 per cent.

(4) Where he is brother or sister, or grandmother or grandfather, or descendant of brother or sister of grandfather or grandmother of predecessor, £6 per cent.

(5) Where he stands in any other degree of collateral consanguinity to the predecessor, or is a stranger in blood to him, £10 per cent. (6) Succession subject to trusts for charitable or public purposes are liable to £10 per cent.

For tables calculating legacy and succession duties under above acts, see, also, Theob. Wills (3d Ed.) 614.