Retzer v. Wood

• Decision Date: 12 November 1883
• Citation: 109 U.S. 185,27 L.Ed. 900,3 S.Ct. 164
• Parties: RETZER v. WOOD, Collector, etc
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

109 U.S. 185

3 S.Ct. 164

27 L.Ed. 900

RETZER v. WOOD, Collector, etc.

November 12, 1883.

This suit was commenced in a court of the state of New York, and was removed by the defendant into the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of New York by a writ of certiorari. The defendant was a collector of internal revenue, and exacted and collected from the plaintiff, at various times in the years 1866, 1867, and 1868, sums of money amount- ing in all to $61.30, as a tax of 3 per centum on the gross amounts of the plaintiff's receipts from his business, under the provisions of section 104 of the act of June 30, 1864, c. 173, (13 St. at Large, 276,) which enacted, 'that any person, firm, company, or corporation carrying on or doing an express business, shall be subject to and pay a duty of 3 per centum on the gross amount of all the receipts of such express business.' The suit was commenced June 2, 1874. The plea was the general issue. The statute of limitations was not pleaded. A jury having been waived by a written stipulation of the parties, the action was tried before the court without a jury. The court found the fact of the dates and amounts of the exactions, and these further facts: The plaintiff's business was the carrying of goods between New York and Brooklyn, and from one place in the city of Brooklyn to another place in the same city. He did not run regular trips, nor over regular routes or ferries, but where ordered. He had a place in Brooklyn where he received orders on a slate from persons who wished articles sent from there to New York, and from one place in Brooklyn to another place in Brooklyn. The goods were carried in wagons. They were of a miscellaneous character, such as boxes of dry goods, barrels of sugar, rolls of sole leather, trunks, and general merchandise. His business was done solely upon call, and at special request, and, as requested, he sent to any place in either of said cities and took baggage or freight to any place in either of said cities. On the twenty-eighth of May, 1873, he presented to the commissioner of internal revenue a claim, supported by his own oath, for the refunding to him of the moneys so exacted as taxes. No decision was ever made on the claim. The court found, as conclusions of law, (1) that the tax was illegally exacted; (2) that the action was barred by section 44 of the act of June 6, 1872, c. 315, (17 St. at Large, 257.) A judgment was rendered for the defendant. To reverse that judgment the plaintiff brought this writ of error.

There is in the record a bill of exceptions which shows that, after the plaintiff had given evidence to establish the facts so found, the defendant offering no testimony, the plaintiff requested the court to render judgment for the plaintiff, but the court refused, and the plaintiff excepted, and the court directed a judgment for the defendant, and the plaintiff excepted.

Wm. Stanley and Edwin B. Smith, for plaintiff in error.

Sol. Gen. Phillips, for defendant in error.

BLATCHFORD, J.

We are of opinion that the plaintiff was not liable to this tax, because he did not carry on or do an 'express business,' within the meaning of the statute. Although he carried goods between New York and Brooklyn, and from one place to another in either city, he did so solely on call and at special request. He did not run regular trips or over regular routes or ferries. He was no more than a drayman or truckman, doing a job when ordered. The fact that he had a place in Brooklyn where...