(DOWNLOAD) "State Ex Rel. Sparling v. Hitsman" by Supreme Court of Montana # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State Ex Rel. Sparling v. Hitsman
- Author : Supreme Court of Montana
- Release Date : January 02, 1935
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 67 KB
Description
Taxation ? Statutes and Statutory Construction ? Constitutional Law ? Default in Payment of Taxes ? Remission of Penalties and Interest ? Validity of Statute ? Emergency Statutes ? Opinions of Supreme Court ? Rule of Stare Decisis ? When Rule not Controlling ? Mandamus. Supreme Court ? Constitutional Law ? When Rule of Stare Decisis not Controlling. 1. The rule of stare decisis will not be adhered to by the supreme court where it is demonstrably made to appear that prior decisions involving the construction of a constitutional provision were manifestly wrong, judged in the light of new events and more recent judicial pronouncements appearing to be based upon correct principle. Statutes ? Emergency Acts ? Constitutional Law. 2. While an emergency does not create power and under it a power may not be called into life which has never lived, it may furnish the occasion for the exercise of power already in existence. Constitutional Law ? Statutes ? When Constitutionality to be Upheld. 3. The supreme court will indulge every possible presumption in favor of the constitutionality of a legislative Act, and no such enactment will be pronounced invalid unless its invalidity is made manifest beyond a reasonable doubt. Taxation ? Constitution ? Remission of Interest and Penalties for Failure to Pay Tax not Prohibited by Constitutional Provision. 4. While a tax is a liability created by statute within the meaning of section 39, Article V, of the Constitution, prohibiting the remission, reduction or postponement of such a liability, penalties and interest imposed upon delinquent taxpayers are not parts of the tax obligation and hence do not fall within the above prohibition. (Overruling prior decisions to the contrary.) Same ? Nonpayment of Taxes ? Interest and Penalties not Part of Tax. 5. Interest charged on a delinquent tax is in effect a penalty for failure to make prompt payment, and a penalty is imposed upon the taxpayer for the purpose of punishing him for nonpayment; neither is a part of the tax proper but subject to legislative control, the right to impose both being an incident of sovereignty. Same ? Statute Authorizing Redemption of Property Without Payment of Interest and Penalties Held Constitutional. 6. Held, that Chapter 88, Laws of 1935, authorizing redemption of real property sold to the county for taxes, without the payment of interest - Page 522 and penalties, is not violative of either section 39, Article V, section 11, Article XII, of the Constitution of the state, or of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Same ? Constitutional Law ? Special Statutes ? Above Act Held General, not Special, Statute. 7. Section 26, Article V, Constitution, prohibiting the enactment of a special statute, does not extend to a reasonable classification of persons, and one which operates in the same manner upon all persons in like circumstances is not "special" in the constitutional sense; hence Chapter 88, supra, granting the privilege of redemption of property sold for taxes without the exaction of penalty and interest to all persons in the same situation is a general and not a special Act. Statutes ? Plenary Power of Legislature. 8. In the matter of legislation the people, acting through the legislature, have plenary power except in so far as inhibited by the Constitution. Taxation ? Chapter 88, Laws of 1935, Authorizing Remission of Interest and Penalties Held not Violative of Certain Constitutional Provisions. 9. Chapter 88, Laws of 1935, held not violative of section 11, Article III, or section 1, Article XII, or section 1, Article XIII, or section 13, Article XV, of the state Constitution, or section 10, Article I of the Federal Constitution, as impairing the obligation of contracts.