ceased, if she had actually used her eyes, could have seen the danger and avoided it. Burke v. N. Y. Cent. R. R. Co., N. Y. Sup. St., Gen. Term, Nov., 1893. CORRESPONDENCE. THE NEW YORK STATE COLLATERAL INHERITANCE ТАХ. Editor of the Albany Law Journal: ** Chapter 483, Laws of 1885, reads as follows: SECTION 1. After the passage of this act all property which shall pass by will ** * to any person or per** other than to or for the use of father, mother, husband, wife, children, brother, sister, etc., shall be and is subject to a tax of five dollars on every hundred of the clear market value. SECTION 13. In order to fix the value of property of persons whose estates shall be subject to the payment of said tax the surrogate shall * * * appoint some competent person as appraiser. Under this act the Court of Appeals has held (Matter of Cagger. 111 N. Y. 343) that "the tax is upon the individual and can be imposed only when the interest devised to each beneficiary exceeds $500." RIGHT OF RAILROAD COMPANIES ΤΟ USE CITY STREETS-EXTENT OF GRANT.-A grant by the Commonwealth or by a municipal corporation under authority derived from the Commonwealth is to be taken most strongly against the grantee, and nothing is to be taken by implication against the public except what necessarily flows from the nature and terms of the grant. In the interpretation of grants giving to railroads the right of passage on streets, there is no necessary implication that the right is limited to a specific number of tracks. The right is limited to an occupation reasonably demanded for the transaction of the business contemplated. Where, by actual use in the business, it has been demonstrated what extent of occupancy is sufficient to accomplish the purpose of the grant, the extent of the use determines the extent of the grant. Where the words of the grant to a railroad company do not expressly concede the exclusive right to certain streets for their full width, and it is shown by actual use that the company's railroad can be operated on much less than the full width of the street, there is no necessary implication from the nature of the grant that the company, by the construction of its road upon a part, acquired a right to the whole of the street. There can be no constructive appropriation of the whole of a public street, under a right of passage, which will be effectual to bar the right of the public to the part not in actual use for the SECTION 1. A tax shall be and is hereby imposed purpose granted. The presumption that a railroad upon the transfer of any property, real or personal, of corporation has taken the general width specified in the value of five hundred dollars or over. its charter has no application to the surface of public SECTION 2. When the property or any interest therein streets where the words express with reference to such passes to streets nothing more than a right of passage. Schuyl-child, etc., such transfer of property shall not be taxaany father, mother, husband, wife, kill Valley R. Co. v. Philadelphia & Reading R. Co. Penn. Sup. Ct., Feb., 1893. SHAREHOLDER'S LIABILITY IN NATIONAL BANK.A person who appears on the books of a national bank as the owner of its stock shares, but who is conceded to hold the stock “in trust for the true owner, is not liable as a stockholder for the debts of the bank when the true owner of the stock has been adjudged to be liable therefor, although nothing can be realized upon execution of the judgment against the actual owner. Both the trustee and owner cannot be owners of the same stock. The Federal statute (R. S., § 5151) attaches the liability only to "shareholders." Yardley v. Wilgus (U. S. Circ. Ct., E. Dist. Penn.), 56 Fed. Rep. 965. STOCKHOLDERS-RIGHT TO INSPECT BOOKS.-In Louisiana it was held that while a stockholder has the right to inspect the books of the company at all reasonable times, he cannot recover damages against it because the secretary refuses him permission to make such inspection. La. Sup. Ct., April 24, 1893. Legendre v. Brewing Association, 12 South. Rep. 827. Opinion by Breaux, J. TENDER-SUFFICIENCY-PRESUMPTION OF PAYMENT. -In 1862 complainant borrowed from defendant $500, executing his bond therefor, and a deed in trust to secure its payment on or before April, 1864. In April, 1863, complainant sent money to his wife with which to discharge this obligation, but defendant refused to take it, though tendered to him three times. The loan was partly in Confederate treasury notes and partly in such other paper and State money as was then circulating, and the tender was of Confederate notes, the only money then circulating where the parties lived. Held, on a bill to enjoin a sale under the deed of trust in 1889, that there was a valid tender in 1863, and that by the lapse of time a presumption of payment had arisen. King v. King (Va.), 17 S. E. Rep. 894. In the Matter of Herve, 112 N. Y. 100, the court said: "The tax is not imposed upon the estate of which she was seized or possessed, but only upon so much of it as passes to certain persons, not all persons or any person." "There are," says the court, "many other provisions of the act * ajc * all tending to show that ** ak it is simply the estate or share of the beneficiary acquired through the will** * which is to be valued and the duty estimated according to its value." Chapter 399, Laws of 1892, is as follows: * * ble under this act unless it is personal property of the value of ten thousand dollars or more, in which case it shall be taxable under this act at the rate of one per centum. SECTION 11. "The surrogate * * shall, as often as and whenever occasion may require, appoint a competent person as appraiser to fix the actual market value at the time of the transfer thereof of the property of persons whose estates shall be subject to the payment of any tax imposed by this act." I have italicised the words which are identical in the two acts. In 5 Misc. Rep. 439 the surrogate of the city and county of New York, after quoting the Court of Appeals to the effect that this statute should be "strictly construed in favor of the citizen," proceeds to impose a tax of one per centum upon an estate given to a wife valued at $9,385, because the whole estate, including the "widow's mite," amounted to $25.428. Possibly the learned surrogate (like myself) has a spite against the law and wants to make it odious. Otherwise his decision is inexplicable except upon the ground that, as he points out, he has so decided before. An able lawyer (beaten of course) once said that a little thing like the decision of the Court of Appeals never changed the opinion of any good lawyer. Verbum sapienti. Yours truly, SIDNEY F. RAWSON. PORT RICHMOND, N. Y., December 10, 1893. OLD AND NEW STYLE IN THE CALENDAR. Editor of the Albany Law Journal: Apropos of the article in the ALBANY LAW JOURNAL of December 2, referring to "Old and New Style" in the calendar, it may be of interest to add that there are in the old records here in New York some apparent paradoxes in chronology. Thus one can read the record of a will proved before the testator's death, and in one instance at least of a will proved before it was made. This anomaly is found only, I believe, in the wills of the early settlers from Holland, Belgium and Francenations which followed the Gregorian calendar soon after it was adopted in Rome in 1582. That calendar, it will be remembered, not only corrected the error of ten days, but it also changed the beginning of the year from March 25-Lady day-to January 1. England however clung to the old calendar until 1752, and hence when she took New Netherland from Holland in 1664 she introduced there with her laws "old style" chronology, which the Huguenots and Hollanders had given up long before they came here. Hence a will made here by a Huguenot settler for instance between the 1st of January and the 25th of March would apparently bear a date a year later than that of its probate as recorded in the court established by English law. For example, February 20, 1684, in the Gregorian calendar was February 10, 1683, in the calendar of England of that period. The confusion which could thus easily arise was avoided as a rule by adding to a date the initials N. S. or O. S., or by writing the date thus: February 18, 1682. But that precaution was not always taken. 10 Perhaps all this is well known to most of your readers, though I have found a few to whom it was new. W. E. VER PLANCK. NEW YORK, December 4, 1893. AN NOTES. N original decision was entered by a Missouri judge who discharged a homely government timber thief on the ground that it was punishment enough for him to carry such a face around. More than seven hundred joint resolutions to amend the Constitution of the United States have been offered in Congress during the past one hundred years, yet but seven of them were ever sent to the States for ratification, including those due to the result of the civil war. It is a singular fact that the premier duke and peer of France is not, as generally believed, the Duke of Uzès, but an English nobleman; for the dukedom of Chatellerault, now held by the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, was created in 1549, whereas that of Uzès dates from 1565. Manuela y Palido, of Madrid, is the only woman lawyer in Spain. On account of this unique distinction her picture was placed in the Spanish exhibit of the Columbian fair, and her permit to practice hung near. She is a remarkably handsome young woman, and probably does not lack for clients. Mr. Wren, in a lecture on education, which is printed in the Review of Reviews, corrects a very common error with reference to what are called the three estates of the realm, very generally styled "Queen, Lords and Commons." As he points out, the three estates are (1) the Lords Spiritual, (2) the Lords Temporal and (3) the Commons. Parliament is composed of King or Queen and these three estates of the realm. The deaf juror who recurs with every Assize has, says the Pall Mall Gazette, just appeared in an acute (and obtuse) form at a town on the south-eastern circuit. He rose in the box and asked leave to be excused on the ground of his infirmity. "Are you very deaf?" said Lord Coleridge in silvery tones, almost inaudible. "Yes, my lord, I am," was the prompt reply. Then I think you may be sworn," was the equally prompt rejoinder." Charles Parlange, who is to succeed the lamented Billings as United States judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, has been State senator and lieutenant-governor, and is now an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. The New Orleans Picayune vouches for him as a gentleman of high character, spotless reputation and enviable acquirements, thoroughly versed in Louisiana law and practice, equally esteemed by his fellow judges and by the bar. Prisoner "Jedge, is this skinny, red-nosed feller You have goin' to be my lawyer?" Judge-" He is. no attorney, and it is the duty of the court to appoint counsel to defend you. Are you ready for trial?" "Jest a minute, your honor; he's one of these divorce lawyers, ain't he?" "He is sometimes called a divorce lawyer, sir." (Straightening himself up.) "Jedge, on thinkin' the matter over, ef you hain't no objections, I'll take back that plea of not guilty. I stole the hog." -Chicago Tribune. A noted adventurer has just passed away in Paris in the person of the Marquis d'Eguillé, who had been condemned to death in many countries for political offenses. On one occasion he followed M. Blanc, subsequently the founder of Monte Carlo, into the sanctum adjoining Blanc's gaming tables at Homburg, gagged him and threatened to blow out his brains if he did not hand over a large sum. The marquis turned the key in the door when he went out, and was well away with his money before M. Blanc was released. Later on he started a small casino of his own at Irun, on the Franco-Spanish frontier. He lived by his wits from his youth, his family, though belonging to the most ancient nobility of France, being absolutely without financial resources. In a case which came before Judge Lumley Smith, Q. C., recently, in the Westminster County Court, a tailor sought to obtain a committal order against the Marquis of Donegall for non-payment of a bill for clothes supplied. The defendant did not appear, but a solicitor's clerk pleaded that he was exempted from such process as this, as he was a peer of the realm. His honor said there was no doubt that a member of the House of Commons was exempt, as he could not be taken away from his duties, and it might be the same in the case of a member of the House of Lords. But as the name of the Marquis of Donegall was not in the list of members of the House of Lords, he would commit him for two days, suspending the warrant for two months. If it could be shown that defendant was exempt, he would reconsider his decision. The Marquis of Donegall sits in the House of Lords in virtue of his title of Baron Fisherwick.-London Solicitors' Journal. Colonel Fellows once remarked that his experience in the district attorney's office compelled him to believe that the best way to commit a murder was to take a pistol and go into the most crowded street in the city and shoot down one's victim in the presence of as many witnesses as possible, for the result was sure to be as many different tales of how it happened as there were persons who saw or heard it. The force of this suggestion is both witnessed and illustrated by one of the points made by the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, when he pointed out that in every conversation between two persons there were really six different identities engaged. That is, John, as he is known to his Maker, the real John. Then there is John as John thinks himself to be, inevitably a very different person. Then there is John as Thomas regards him, which is still another character, and there is Thomas also in this threefold way. It is not wonderful then that John and Thomas, after half an hour's conversation together, go away with different impressions of what has been said. Nor, multiplying John and Thomas innumerably, is it remarkable that from a crowd of witnesses of a particular event many different stories issue, not only as to how it happened, but as to what it really was.-New York Tribune. |