Van Brocklin v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 07 March 1886
• Citation: 117 U.S. 151,6 S.Ct. 670,29 L.Ed. 845
• Parties: VAN BROCKLIN and another v. ANDERSON, Com'r of Revenue, and others. * Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

6 S.Ct. 670

117 U.S. 151

29 L.Ed. 845

VAN BROCKLIN and another v. ANDERSON, Com'r of Revenue, and others. ^*

Filed March 7, 1886.

The amended bill in this case was filed in the chancery court of Shelby county, in the state of Tennessee, by the state and its proper officers and municipalities, against Van Brocklin, Stacy, and others, to enforce by sale a lien for state, county, and city taxes, assessed for the years from 1864 to 1877, inclusive, on lot 21, in block 6, and for the years from 1864 to 1878, inclusive, on lots 13 and 14, in block 13, in Fort Pickering, a suburb of the city of Memphis. Van Brocklin and Stacy answered that at the times of the assessments of these taxes the lands were the property of the United States, and therefore not subject to taxation under state authority. The case was heard upon pleadings and proofs, by which it appeared to be as follows: In June, 1864, these three lots, then owned by one Glenn, with other lots, were old by auction and struck off and conveyed to the United States under the act of Congress of June 7, 1862, c. 98, § 7, (12 St. 423,) for non-payment of direct taxes assessed thereon, with a penalty of 50 per cent. and interest. The amount so bid for lot 21 was $2.75, and the amount bid for lots 13 and 14, together with other lots not now in question, was $14. In or before 1870, Glenn conveyed the three lots to Van Brocklin, who thereupon took possession of them, and kept possession of lot 21 ever since, and of lots 13 and 14 until March 30, 1877. The United States, in 1872, brought actions of ejectment against Van Brocklin, and therein, on March 30, 1877, obtained judgments and writs of possession for the three lots, and were put in possession of lots 13 and 14. The execution of the writ of possession for lot 21 was suspended until February 3, 1878; and meanwhile, in June, 1877, this lot was redeemed by Van Brocklin in the name of Glenn from the sale for taxes by paying $2.75, the amount of the tax, penalty, and interest, and was released by the United States. In May, 1878, lots 13 and 14 were sold by the United States and bought by Stacy for the price of $54, and in July, 1878, were conveyed to him by the United States, under the acts of congress of June 8, 1872, c. 337, § 4, (17 St. 331,) and February 8, 1875, c. 36, § 26, (18 St. 313.)

The chancery court held that the taxes assessed under authority of the state of Tennessee on lot 21 were valid, and that those assessed on lots 13 and 14 were invalid, and entered a decree accordingly. Both parties appealed to the supreme court of Tennessee, which held that all the taxes assessed under the authority of the state were valid, and entered a decree for the sale of the three lots to pay them. Thereupon Van Brocklin and Stacy sued out this writ of error.

The provisions of the constitution and laws of Tennessee referred to in the poinion of that court, and in force at the time of the assessment of these taxes, were as follow: By the constitution of 1870, art. 2 § 28, 'all property, real, personal, or mixed, shall be taxed; but the legislature may except such as may be held by the state, by counties, cities, or towns, and used exclusively for public or corporation purposes, and such as may be held and used for purposes purely religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational; and shall except one thousand dollars' worth of personal property in the hands of each tax-payer, and the direct products of the soil in the hands of the producer and his immediate vendee.' By the Statutes of 1866-67, c. 40, and 1867-68, c. 28, lands of which the exclusive jurisdiction is ceded by the state to the United States for cometeries, or for public buildings, shall be 'exonerated and free from any taxation or assessment under the authority of this state, or of any municipality therein,' while so used. Comp. Laws 1871, pp. 92, 245, et seq. The statute of 1875, c. 108, entitled 'An act to define what property is by the constitution exempt from taxation, and what the legislature under the power conferred upon it does exempt, and what is taxable,' enacts that 'all property, real, personal, and mixed, shall be assessed and taxed,' with certain exceptions, among which are the following: 'All property belonging to the United States or the state of Tennessee; 'all property belonging to any county, city, or town, and used exclusively for public or corporation purposes.' Acts 1875, p. 177.

W. K. Poston and George Gillham, for plaintiffs in error.

Lee Thornton and J. B. Heiskell, for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice GRAY, after stating the case as above reported, delivered the opinion of the court:

The question presented by this writ of error is whether lands in the state of Tennessee, which, pursuant to acts of congress for the laying and collecting of direct taxes, are sold, struck off, and purchased by the United States for the amount of the tax thereon, and are afterwards sold by the United States for a larger sum. or redeemed by the former owner, are liable to be taxed, under authority of the state, while so owned by the United States. The judgment of the supreme court of Tennessee rests upon the position that these lands, although lawfully purchased by the United States, and owned by the United States at the time of being taxed under the laws of the state, were not exempt from state taxation, because they had not been expressly ceded by the state to the United States. We are unable to reconcile this position with a just view of the rights and powers conferred upon the national government by the constitution of the United States. The importance of the subject, and the consideration due to the opinion of that learned court, make it proper to state somewhat fully the grounds of our conclusion.

In the words of Chief Justice MARSHALL: 'The United States is a government, and consequently a body politic and corporate, capable of attaining the objects for which it was created, by the means which are necessary for their attainment. This great corporation was ordained and established by the American people, and endowed by them with great powers for important purposes. Its powers are unquestionably limited; but while within those limits, it is as perfect a govement as any other, having all the faculties and properties belonging to a government, with a perfect right to use them freely, in order to accomplish the objects of its institution.' U. S. v. Maurice, 2 Brock. 96, 109.

The United States, for instance, as incident to the general right of sovereignty have the capacity, within the sphere of their constitutional powers, and through the instrumentality of the proper department, to enter into contracts and take bonds, not prohibited by law, and appropriate to the just exercise of those powers, although not expressly directed or authorized to do so by any legislative act; and likewise to take mortgages of real estate to secure the payment of debts due to them, notwithstanding congress has enacted that 'no land shall be purchased on account of the United States, except under a law authorizing such purchase.' Act of May 1, 1820, c. 52, § 7, 3 St. 568; Rev. St. § 3736; Neilson v. Lagow, 12 How. 98, 107, 108, and cases there cited. So the United States, at the discretion of congress, may acquire and hold real property in any state, whenever such property is needed for the use of the government in the execution of any of its powers, whether for arsenals, fortifications, light-houses, custom-houses, court-houses, barracks, or hospitals, or for any other of the many public purposes for which such property is used; and when the property cannot be acquired by voluntary arrangement with the owners, it may be taken against their will, by the United States, in the exercise of the power of eminent domain, upon making just compensation, with or without a concurrent act of the state in which the land is situated. Harris v. Elliott, 10 Pet. 25; Kohl v. U. S., 91 U. S. 367; U. S. v. Fox, 94 U. S. 315, 320; U. S. v. Jones, 109 U. S. 513; S. C. 3 Sup. Ct. Rep. 346; U. S. v. Great Falls Manuf'g Co., 112 U. S. 645; S. C. 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 306; Fort Leavenworth R. Co. v. Lowe, 114 U. S. 525, 531, 532; S. C. 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 995.

While the power of taxation is one of vital importance, retained by the states, not abridged by the grant of a similar power to the government of the Union, but to be concurrently exercised by the two governments, yet even this power of a state is subordinate to, and may be controlled by, the constitution of the United States. That constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof are supreme. They control the constitutions and laws of the respective states, and cannot be controlled by them. The people of a state give to their government a right of taxing themselves and their property at its discretion. But the means employed by the government of the Union are not given by the people of a particular state, but by the people of all the states; and being given by all, for the benefit of all, should be subjected to that government only which belongs to all. All subjects over which the sovereign power of a state extends are objects of taxation; but those over which in does not extend are, upon the soundest principles, exempt from taxation. The sovereignty of a state extends to everything which exists by its own authority, or is introduced by its permission; but does not extend to those means which are employed by congress to carry into execution powers conferred on that body by the people of the United States. The attempt to use the taxing power of a state on the means employed by the government of the Union, in pursuance of the constitution, is itself an abuse, because it is the usurpation of a power which the people of a single state cannot give. The power to tax in volves the power to destroy; the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create; and there is a plain repugnance in conferring on one government a...