Walker v. People

• Citation: 61 N.E. 489,192 Ill. 106
• Parties: WALKER et al. v. PEOPLE.
• Decision Date: 24 October 1901
• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois

192 Ill. 106

61 N.E. 489

WALKER et al.

v.PEOPLE.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 24, 1901.

Appeal from Cook county court; Carl E. Epler, Judge.

Action by the people against William B. Walker and others. From a judgment affirming an appraisement of the county judge, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Bentley & Burling, for appellants.

H. J. Hamlin, Atty. Gen., Edwin W. Sims, Co. Atty., and Frank L. Shepard, Asst. Co. Atty., for the People.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the county court of Cook county affirming the appraisement of the county judge of Cook county, fixing the cash value of the estates, annuities, and life estates growing out of the estate of Silas B. Cobb, deceased, and the inheritance taxes to which they are liable. The appraiser appointed by the county judge under the provisions of the inheritance tax law to appraise the estate of Silas B. Cobb, deceased, filed with the county judge on October 3, 1900, his report as such appraiser, in which he found the total value of the estate to be the sum of $6,700,217.46. The county judge thereafter found the value of said estate to be the sum of $6,700,217.46, and entered an order fixing the value of each beneficiary's interest therein, together with the tax payable thereon. From this order of the county judge, appellants appealed to the county court. Thereafter the county court, after a hearing of the matter, found that the values placed upon the estates, annuities, and life estates were the true, fair, and clear cash value of the same, and affirmed the order of the county judge therein. From this judgment of the county court the present appeal is prosecuted. The assignment of errors on appeal from the order of the county judge to the county court alleged that the appraisement or assessment was against the evidence, that the county judge erred in placing an excessive valuation upon the personal property belonging to the estate, that the county judge erred in arbitrarily taking as the fair market value of the stocks belonging to the said estate the prices at which small amounts of the said stock sold at or about the time of the death of the said Silas B. Cobb, and that the statute upon which said appraisement or assessment was based is unconstitutional.

MAGRUDER, J. (after stating the facts).

1. The act known as the ‘Inheritance Tax’ law of this state has been decided in a number of cases to be constitutional, and therefore any further discussion of the question here would be unnecessary and fruitless. Kochersperger v. Drake, 167 Ill. 122, 47 N. E. 321,41 L. R. A. 446;Ayers v. Trust Co., 187 Ill. 42, 58 N. E. 318;Billings v. People, 189 Ill. 472, 59 N. E. 798;Magoun v. Bank, 170 U. S. 283, 18 Sup. Ct. 594, 42 L. Ed. 1037.

2. The only other question presented by the record is whether the theory followed by the appraiser in fixing the valuations of certain of the stocks belonging to the estate-said valuations having been adopted by the county judge-was the correct theory. The inventory of the decedent's estate, giving the fair market value thereof, included the following items: 6,327 shares of the capital stock of the Chicago City Railway Company at the market value of $265 per share, making $1,676,655; 500 shares of the capital stock of the Chicago West Division Railway Company at the market value of $650 per share, making $325,000; 2,000 shares of the capital stock of the Diamond Match Company at $123 per share, making $246,000; 2,500 shares of the capital stock of the South Side Elevated Railroad Company at the market value of $99 per share, making $247,500; 1,000 shares of the preferred capital stock of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Company at the market value of $81.50 per share, making $81,500; the total personal property aggregating $5,829,819.96. The proof shows that the valuations placed upon the stocks in question as above indicated were in accordance with the fair market value of the same; that is to say, that the figures above given as the market value of each share of the stocks in question are supported by the evidence. The only testimony in the case was that of three witnesses, whose depositions were attached to the report of the appraiser. The market value of the stocks, as shown by the testimony of these three witnesses who were called by the appellants, was evidenced by sales on the market. For example, the fair market value of 6,327 shares of capital stock of the Chicago City Railway was fixed by the appraiser at $265 per share. This finding is supported by the public sales of that stock on the Chicago Stock Exchange, as shown by the testimony of the three witnesses so called by the appellants. Each witness testified that the sales on the Chicago Stock Exchange ranged on or about the date of the death of the decedent from $260 to $270 per share. The findings of value per share as to the other stocks above named is likewise supported by the testimony of these witnesses as to sales of the same actually made. The testimony, however, of these witnesses was to the effect that the market for the stocks of the five companies in question is Chicago, and that the stocks are generally sold in small lots, of 10, 20, 50, and 100 shares. The price of each share of stock, as above given, is the price at which sales of these stocks were effected on or about the day...