V. & A. Meyer & Co. v. Pleasant
| Citation | 6 So. 258,41 La.Ann. 645 |
| Decision Date | 01 June 1889 |
| Docket Number | 1214 |
| Parties | V. & A. MEYER & CO. v. B. F. PLEASANT, SHERIFF AND TAX COLLECTOR |
| Court | Supreme Court of Louisiana |
APPEAL from the Third District Court, Parish of Union. Barksdale, J.
Everett & Everett, for Plaintiffs and Appellees.
E. H McClendon, District Attorney, for Defendant and Appellant.
The plaintiff, a commercial firm domiciled in the City of New Orleans, enjoin the tax collector of Union parish from the sale of a certain judgment rendered in the district court of Union parish in their favor and against their debtor, D Stein & Co., which had been listed and assessed in Union parish.
They base their injunction on various grounds, of which it is only necessary to consider one, viz: That said judgment is not subject to assessment and taxation in Union parish, but can only be assessed and taxed at the domicil of the owners to-wit: in the Parish of Orleans, and, therefore, that the tax for which the property is about to be sold is illegal.
I.
A motion is made by the plaintiffs to dismiss the appeal on the ground that this court is without jurisdiction ratione materiae.
If the property is not subject to assessment and taxation in Union parish, then the tax sought to be enforced against it under an assessment made in said parish is undoubtedly unauthorized by law, and, therefore illegal.
This is not a dispute about the quantum or manner of assessment. The claim is, that the property is not subject to assessment or taxation, in Union Parish, in any amount or manner.
This clearly involves a contestation as to the legality of the tax, of which this court has jurisdiction without regard to the amount involved. Maguire vs. Vogh, 36 Ann. 812; Gillis vs. Clayton, 33 Ann. 286.
The tax collector affirms the validity of the tax on the ground that section of Act 98 of 1886, directs that movable property shall be assessed in the parish where it is located. This applies to tangible movables, but not to incorporeal rights generally, which follow the person of the owner and are not susceptible of physical location. It is well settled that the situs of a debt as property is at the domicil of the creditor. Murray vs. Charleston, U.S.; Kirtland vs. Hodgkins, 100 U.S. 496; State tax on foreign held bonds, 15 Wall 300; Cooley on Taxation, p. 15.
A judgment is merely the highest form of evidence of a debt. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that debts owing to foreign creditors are not subject to taxation by a State, because such a debt is a right, personal to...
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