Southern Car & Foundry Co. v. State

• Citation: 32 So. 235,133 Ala. 624
• Parties: SOUTHERN CAR & FOUNDRY CO. v. STATE.
• Decision Date: 04 June 1902
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama

32 So. 235

133 Ala. 624

SOUTHERN CAR & FOUNDRY CO. v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 4, 1902

Appeal from city court of Anniston; Thos. W. Coleman, Jr., Judge.

Action by the state against the Southern Car & Foundry Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

This action was brought by the appellee against the appellant to recover a license privilege tax for the years 1899, 1900 1901, and tax commissioner's fees thereon; the amount of said taxes being $500 for one year, and the fees $50 on each amount. The defendant pleaded the general issue and several special pleas. The third plea was as follows: "Third. That it had procured license from the proper authorities to do business in Alabama for the time mentioned in the complaint." The other special pleas referred to in the opinion are sufficiently shown therein. The plaintiff demurred to the third plea upon the ground that it fails to aver that the defendant had paid for and taken out a license under which the suit was brought, and that it does not aver that the license was taken out before suit was brought. This demurrer was sustained. The demurrers interposed to pleas 4 and 4 1/2 and 5 were upon the ground that said pleas presented no defense to the action, and that the statute of limitations of one and two years was no bar to the recovery of the license tax. These demurrers were sustained. The cause was tried by the court, without a jury, upon an agreed statement of facts, which was in words and figures as follows: "That the defendant, Southern Car & Foundry Company, is a corporation organized under the laws of the state of New Jersey; that said corporation was organized some time before June 1, 1899, and that on June 1, 1899, it had and that it has had continuously since that date, a paid-up capital stock exceeding one million dollars; that the defendant engaged in business in Calhoun county, Alabama viz., in the business of building cars, etc., on the 1st day of June, 1899, and that it has continued in business in said county during the years 1899, 1900, and 1901, to the present having been engaged during all of said time at Anniston, in said county, in the building of cars, etc.; that the defendant had not taken out any license from the judge of probate of Calhoun county to do business in the state of Alabama for any one of said years, and that before the bringing of this suit the tax commissioner of Calhoun county reported to the judge of probate of said county the failure of the defendant to take out such license for each of said years, and that the defendant failed or refused to take out such license, and that thereupon this suit was brought; that while the defendant had during the said years 1899, 1900, and 1901 a paid-up capital stock exceeding one million dollars only two hundred thousand dollars of its said capital stock was invested in property or business in the state of Alabama, the balance of its capital being invested in other states, or used in business in other states; that the Southern Car & Foundry Company had prior to the 1st day of June, 1899, purchased the stock, pr perty, and business of the Elliott Car Company, a corporation existing under the laws of Ala bama, located at Gadsden, Alabama, having a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and that said Elliott Car Company had taken out a license to do business in the county of Etowah for the year 1899, having paid therefor the sum of $75 to the state, and $37.50 to the county of Etowah; that for the year 1900 the Southern Car & Foundry Company paid to the judge of probate of Etowah county the sum of $75 for the state and $37.50 for the county, and like sums for the year 1901, and for this sum the judge of probate of Etowah county issued to it a license to do business as a corporation for each of said years; that, except as above stated, the Southern Car & Foundry Company did not pay any license taxes to the state or to any county for the years 1899, 1900, or 1901, and that no license was issued in the name of the Southern Car & Foundry Company for 1899, and that it paid only $75 to the state for 1900, and a like sum of $75 for 1901; that the Southern Car & Foundry Company is authorized and empowered, under its charter, to engage in the manufacture of cars, to operate rolling mills, machine...