(DOWNLOAD) "Missoula Etc. Bk. v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co." by Supreme Court of Montana * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Missoula Etc. Bk. v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co.
- Author : Supreme Court of Montana
- Release Date : January 17, 1926
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 70 KB
Description
Taxation — Property Purchased by Guardians of Incompetent Veterans of the World War With Funds Received from United States by Pension or Compensation — Statutes — Constitutional Law — Public Policy of State — Statutory Construction — Rules. Statutes — Constitutionality — Rules by Which Question Governed. 1. A statute attacked as unconstitutional must, if possible, be so construed as to render it valid; it is presumed to be constitutional and all doubts should be resolved in favor of its validity; its invalidity must be shown beyond a reasonable doubt and it will not be held unconstitutional unless violation of the fundamental law is clear and palpable. Public Policy of State — By What Measured. 2. The public policy of the state is to be measured by reference to the Acts of the legislature, and, in the absence of them, to the decisions of the courts; but when the legislature has spoken upon a particular subject and within the limits of its constitutional powers, its utterance is the public policy of the state. Page 597 Same — Taxation — Statute Exempting Property Purchased With Funds Received from United States as Pension or Compensation. 3. Where at the time the legislature by Chapter 98, Laws of 1931, amended section 1998, Revised Codes, so as to exempt from taxation funds paid to guardians of incompetent Veterans of the World War or property purchased with such funds, there was a debatable question whether or not title to such funds remained in the federal government, the state legislature was authorized to declare the policy of the state in that respect and thus settle the question. Taxation — Property Purchased With Funds Paid to Guardians of Incompetent World War Veterans Exempt — Statute — Constitutionality — Public Policy. 4. Under section 1998, Revised Codes, as amended in 1931, all property, real and personal, in the possession of legal guardians of incompetent veterans of the World War or their minor dependents "where such property is funds or derived from funds received from the United States" as pension, compensation, etc., is exempt from taxation as property of the United States while held by the guardian. Plaintiff, as guardian of the estate of a minor son of a deceased veteran paid under protest taxes on real property, purchased with funds received by the guardian of the veteran, claiming that the property was exempt from taxation as property of the United States. Held that it was within the power of the legislature to declare it the policy of the state, based upon an admissible construction of the federal statutes in that behalf, that title to the funds received from the United States as pension, etc., after their delivery to the guardian should remain in the United States, and that the benefit of such statutes should extend to real property purchased with such funds; and that section 1998 is constitutional.