$5. The American statutes.-As has been said, collateral inheritance tax laws now exist in the States

1. Children or 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.

The "Succession Duty Act" (16 and 17 Vict. ch. 51) 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 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 sis ter of predecessor, £3 per cent.

3. Where he is brother or sister of father or mother, or de

of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, Connecticut and Delaware, and were for a time in force in North Carolina and Louisiana.'

Legacy and succession taxes were likewise imposed upon real and personal property under several different acts by Congress during the War of the Rebellion, and they were a prolific source, both of revenue and litigation to the Federal Government. They imposed a tax of 1 to 5 per cent. upon both lineal and collateral heirs, exempting only husband or wife of decedent under the legacy act, and in this respect, as well as in the, terms used, were much like the English acts from which they were evidently taken. These laws, however, with their numerous amendments, were all swept away by the Repealing Act of 1870, and it has not been thought important to present them in the Appendix.3

scendant 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, Theobold on Wills, 3d ed. 614.

1 See Statutes, Appendix; Matter of McPherson, supra; Ely's Taxation in American States and Cities, 1888, p. 313; Davies' System of Taxation mentions Missouri, but I have been unable to find any such law in that State.

2 Scholey v. Rew, 23 Wall. 349.

Act June 30, 1864, ch. 173, sec. 173; 13 U. S. Stat. 223-285; 13 Id. 287, secs. 124, 127, 128; 14 Id. 98-100; Repealed by Act July 14,

In this country, differing from the English method, except under the acts of Congress above re ferred to, these taxes have, as a rule, been imposed only upon certain collateral relatives, strangers to the blood, and corporations that are not specially exempted by law from taxation. In including both real and personal property within the purview of the law, the earliest of American statutes made a vast improvement upon the English system as embraced in the "Legacy Act," but unlike the English laws or the succession and legacy laws of Congress, too many exemptions and exceptions seem to have been made the State statutes, and thus a vast amount of property devolving upon collaterals and so called charitable institutions annually escapes taxation here which is there made to pay duty. In these respects the American system is insuperably inferior to that of England.

(a). Pennsylvania.-The English law evidently soon attracted attention in this State, for the first collateral inheritance act was passed in Pennsylvania in 1826. This act is, perhaps, still in force under the rulings of the Pennsylvania courts, but it has been considerably modified by various amendments, added from time to time, and recently, by the Law of 1887, the whole subject has been codified. It is said that the provisions of the new act are scarcely more than a re-enactment and consolidation of the prior laws.1

1870, ch. 255; 16 U. S. Stat. 256-261, sec. 17, the repealing clause of which act, however, provided: "All provisions of said act shall continue in full force for levying and collecting all taxes properly assessed or liable to be assessed or accruing under the provisions of former acts or drawbacks, etc."

1 Law Penn. 1887, p. 79, see Appendix; Com's. Appeal (Fage

"The tax has contributed so essentially to the firm establishment of the credit of Pennsylvania," says an eminent judge," and has been so long approved by the people of the State, that it is not likely ever to be given up," an assertion the truth of which is fully confirmed by the large revenue derived from this tax in 1889.*

(b). Louisiana.—In Louisiana, by law of 1828,3 a legacy tax was imposed of 10 per cent, upon legacies to foreign heirs and citizens residing abroad. This law, as modified, was finally repealed in 1877, for what reason does not appear.*

(c). Maryland.-The Maryland law was passed in 1864, and is now contained in the Code of that State.5

ly Est.), 128 Fa. St. 603; s. c. 18 Atl. Rep. 386; Com's. App. (Cooper's Est.), 17 Id. 1096; 5 Penn. C. R. 271; aff'd 127 Pa. St. 435; Bittinger's Est., 1889, 129 Pa. St. 338. See Estate of Del Busto (1888), 45 Leg. Int. 474; S. C. 23 W. N. C. 111, where Penrose, J., has collated and explained all the laws of Pennsylvania on the subject. The law from 1826 to 1855, will be found in 1 Purd. Dig. The subject is also treated to a limited extent in Scott on Intestate Law of Pennsylvania, 1871, 535, et seq.

214.

1 Com. v. Coleman, 52 Penn. St. 473.

2 See note, p. 17.

3 Act of March 25, 1828, No. 95.

4 Act 1877, p. 125, Repealing Art. 1221 to 1223 Rev. Civ. Code, and sections 3683-84 Rev. Stat. of 1870; see, also, Act March 30, 1830, sec. 1; Act March 26, 1842, sec. 4.

5 See Appendix, Art. 81, p. 1242; 2 Md. Pub. Stat. 1888, Revised Code (1878), p. 117; see, also, L. 1874, ch. 483, sec. 113; L. 1864, ch. 483, sec. 115; L. 1880, ch. 44; Id. ch. 455. In this State the gift of freedom to a Slave was taxed. State v. Dorsey, 1848, 6 Gill, 388.

(d). Virginia.-In Virginia time to time, existed since 1844. 5 per cent.1

the law has, from

It imposed a tax of

(e). North Carolina.-The Statute of North Carolina upon this subject was passed in 1846,2 but it seems to have suffered repeal in 1883.3

(f). Delaware.-The Statute passed in Delaware in 1869, has since been embodied in the Revised Code of that State. The act is based upon the English statutes, the tax being graduated from one to five per cent.1

(g). Connecticut.-The most recent Statute is that of Connecticut, passed in 1889, imposing a tax of 5 per cent. upon all sums over a thousand dollars."

(h). West Virginia.-In this State a law has existed since 1887, by which a tax of two and one-half per cent. is imposed upon collateral inheritances, and where the amount of the estate is less than $1,000 it is exempt.

6

iSee Eyre v. Jacob, 14 Grat. 422; Law, Feb. 6th, 1844; Code, 1849, ch. 36, et seq; Act March 28, 1863, sec. 15; Act 1866-7, p. 861, ch. 64, sec. 3. The Act of 1854 was repealed by Act of 1856; Fox v. Com. 16 Grat. 1. For a history of these laws see Miller v. Com. 1876, 27 Grat. 112.

2 Law 1846, ch. 72, secs. 1, 2, Battle's Rev. 1873, p. 775, sec. 59.

3 Code N. C. 1883, sec. 3867.

4 See Rev. Code, Del. 1874, p. 38; Law 1869, vol. 13, ch. 390.

5

See Appendix, Pub. Law Conn. 1889, ch. clxxx, p. 106.

6 Warth's Code (2d ed.), 1887, ch. 32, sec. 51 a.; L. 1887,

ch. 31.