State v. McNeal

Decision Date30 September 1886
Citation48 N.J.L. 407,5 A. 805
PartiesSTATE (CHRISTIE, Prosecutor) v. MCNEAL, Collector, etc.
CourtNew Jersey Supreme Court

On certiorari to bring up taxes assessed on the real and personal estate of the prosecutor, and also the poll-tax.

C. Parker, for plaintiff in certiorari.

W. D. Edwards, contra.

DEPUE, J. The prosecutor claims an exemption from taxation under the provisions of an act of the legislature approved April 25, 1884, (P. L. 1884, p. 265.) Section 73 of the act entitled "An act for the organization of the national guard of the state of New Jersey" provides that all general and staff officers, field officers, commissioned and uncom-missioned officers, musicians, and privates of the national guard shall be exempt from jury duty and poll and military tax during the time they shall perform military duty, and every person who shall have served seven years, and been honorably discharged, shall forever after be exempt from jury duty. Revision, 691, § 71. By section 8 of a supplement approved April 4, 1873, it was enacted that, in addition to the exemption from general and special poll-tax, the members of the national guard above named should be exempted from state, county, and municipal taxation upon $500 during the period they should be actually serving in the national guard. Revision, 696, § 114.

The act of 1884 is entitled "An act to give certain active and exempt firemen the same advantages in respect to taxes and jury duty as now are or hereafter may be allowed to members of the national guard of this state." It enacts that all persons enrolled as active or exempt members of any fire or hose company, or hook and ladder organization, etc., who do not receive more than $150 per annum for their services, "shall be entitled to have and receive the same and no other advantages in respect to taxes and jury duty as now are or hereafter may be allowed to members of the national guard of this state."

Paragraph 4, § 7, art. 4, of the constitution, as amended in 1875, provides that "no act shall be passed which shall provide that any existing law, or any part thereof, shall be made or deemed a part of the act, or which shall enact that any existing law, or any part thereof, shall be applicable, except by inserting it in such act."

The prosecutor is an exempt fireman within the terms of the act of 1884. The question arising is whether the act conforms to the constitutional provision above cited. The object of the constitutional provision was not to curtail or embarrass the legislature in the enactment of laws, but the purpose was to obtain a fair and intelligent exercise of the law-making power. It has therefore been decided by this court, and the court of errors, that an act of the legislature which is complete and perfect in itself—the purpose, meaning, and full scope of which is apparent on its face—is valid, though it may provide for actions or means for carrying its provisions into effect by reference to a course of procedure...

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10 cases
  • State v. Armstrong.
    • United States
    • New Mexico Supreme Court
    • December 31, 1924
    ...in carrying out its provisions by reference to other statutes. See Campbell v. Board of Pharmacy, 45 N. J. Law, 245; Christie v. McNeal, 48 N. J. Law, 407, 5 A. 805; People ex rel. v. Banks, 67 N. Y. 575; State v. Fargo Bottling Works, 19 N. D. 396, 124 N. W. 387 (7), 26 L. R. A. (N. S.) 87......
  • Noble v. Bragaw
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • April 16, 1906
    ... 85 P. 903 12 Idaho 265 G. E. NOBLE, State Veterinary Surgeon, Petitioner and Plaintiff, v. ROBERT S. BRAGAW, State Auditor, Defendant Supreme Court of Idaho April 16, 1906 ... Parsons, 40 N.J.L. 123; ... Colwell v. Chamberlain, 43 N.J.L. 388; Campbell ... v. Board of Pharmacy, 45 N.J.L. 241; State v. McNeal ... (Christie v. Bayonne), 48 N.J.L. 407, 5 A. 805; ... State v. Morrey, 23 Utah 273, 64 P. 764; State ... v. Buker, 23 Utah. 276, 64 P ... ...
  • Boise City v. Baxter
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • August 6, 1925
    ...66 P. 478; Archbold v. Huntington, 34 Idaho 558, 201 P. 1041; McDonald v. Doust, 11 Idaho 14, 81 P. 60, 69 L. R. A. 220; Christie v. Bayonne, 48 N.J.L. 407, 5 A. 805; on Const. Limitations, 203-205; Carroll v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 28 Idaho 466, 154 P. 985; 1 Lewis' Sutherland on Statutor......
  • Jersey City v. Martin
    • United States
    • New Jersey Supreme Court
    • June 26, 1941
    ...v. Board of Pharmacy of New Jersey, 45 N.J.L. 241, affirmed 47 N.J.L. 347; Evernham v. Hulft, 45 N.J.L. 53; Christie v. McNeal, Collector of Bayonne, 48 N.J.L. 407, 5 A. 805. If the statute embody "a complete and perfect act of legislation in itself," it may provide for "ancillary proceedin......
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