Wright v. Blakeslee
| Decision Date | 01 October 1879 |
| Parties | WRIGHT v. BLAKESLEE |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of New York.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Mr. A. C. Miller for the plaintiff in error.
The Solicitor-General, contra.
This is an action brought by B. Huntington Wright, the plaintiff in error, against Blakeslee, the defendant, formerly collector of internal revenue for the twenty-first revenue district of New York, to recover the amount of a succession tax collected from the plaintiff and his sister in 1867, the latter having assigned her interest to the plaintiff.
A jury was waived, and the cause was tried by the court. From the findings the following facts appear: Henry Huntington, of Oneida County, New York, died in October, 1846, leaving a will, by which, amongst other things, he devised to his executors certain real estate, in trust, to receive the rents and profits, and apply the same to the sole and separate use of his daughter Henrietta (if a feme covert at his death) during the term of her natural life, and at her decease, if she should leave issue surviving, the testator gave and devised the said real estate to such issue absolutely and in fee. When the testator died, his daughter Henrietta was the wife of one Benjamin H. Wright, and had two children living, B. Huntington Wright (the plaintiff) and a daughter. Henrietta died in September, 1865, leaving her said two children and her husband surviving. In June, 1867, the plaintiff and his sister were notified by the assessor to make return, as required by the fourteenth section of the Internal Revenue Act of June 30, 1864 (13 Stat. 226); and they both refused and declined to make any return, or give any knowledge or information as to the quantity, location, or value of the real estate, and thereupon they were summoned to appear before the assessor in relation thereto. They appeared accordingly, and claimed that the estate was not liable to assessment for a succession tax. The assessor decided against them, and assessed a tax of one per cent on the full value of the property, and added thereto a penalty of fifty per cent and expenses, making in all $595.59. In June, 1867, the assessor notified the parties of the tax imposed, the value of the property, and the penalty affixed. The assessment or tax, with the penalty, was placed upon the assessment roll, and delivered to the collector (the defendant) for collection, and he notified the parties to pay the tax.
On the 31st of July, 1867, the parties paid the tax under protest, the tax paid amounting to $595.59, of which $389.56 was tax, $194.78 was penalty, and $11.25 was the expenses for making the assessment and valuation. The amount assessed upon each, viz. B. Huntington Wright and Henrietta H. Wright, was $297.29.
On the 5th of October, 1872, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue wrote the parties that the claim to have the tax refunded had not been submitted to the department, and forwarded them a blank to be filled up and transmitted to the department, and they would then pass upon the case upon its merits.
About the 3d of January, 1873, the appeal was perfected and filed with the commissioner.
On the 3d of July, 1873, the commissioner rendered his decision upon the merits, rejecting the whole claim, and gave notice thereof.
On the 15th of June, 1875, Henrietta D. Wright, one of the parties against whom one-half of the tax had been levied and collected, transferred her claim to the plaintiff.
On the same day a summons was delivered to the sheriff of New York to serve on defendant.
On the 24th of June, 1875, the summons was actually served on defendant. The action was originally brought in the State court, but was removed into the Circuit Court of the United States, upon proceedings had under the statute.
Upon these facts the court decided, as matter of law, that the tax and penalty were properly assessed and collected, and that the plaintiff ought not to recover.
The first and principal question in the case is whether the devolution of the property to the children of Henrietta Wright on her death in September, 1865, was a 'succession,' within the meaning of sect. 127 of the Internal Revenue Act then in force. 13 Stat. 287. The language of that section is as follows:——
'That every past or future disposition of real estate by will, deed, or laws of descent, by reason whereof any person shall become beneficially entitled, in possession or expectancy, to any real estate or the income thereof, upon the death of any person dying after the passing of this act, shall be deemed to confer on the person entitled by reason of any such disposition a 'succession;' and the term 'successor' shall denote the person so entitled, and the term 'predecessor' shall denote the grantor, testator, ancestor, or other person from whom the interest of the successor has been or shall be derived.'
Comparing the terms of the devise of Henry Huntington with the language of this section, we do not see where there is any room for doubt. The will clearly gave to the trustees an estate for the life of Henrietta Wright, with remainder in fee to her children surviving her. At her death, in 1865, those children did 'become beneficially entitled in possession,' and every condition of the law was fulfilled. There was a 'past' 'disposition of real estate by will,' 'by reason whereof' the children of Henrietta Wright became 'beneficially entitled, in possession,' to the property devised, 'upon the death of [a] person dying after the passage of this act.' We think the case is directly within the terms and meaning of the act. Up to the moment of Henrietta Wright's death her children had no interest in the land except a bare contingent remainder expectant upon her death and their surviving her. At her death it came to them as an estate in fee in possession absolute. We cannot imagine a plainer case of devo lution within the description of the law.
It is suggested that as the act refers to the acquisition of estates 'in possession or expectancy,' it cannot mean to embrace estates which had already accrued as estates 'in expectancy' before the act was passed. But such an implication cannot be allowed to prevail against the express words of the act, which include all estates to which a person should become beneficially entitled upon the death of any person dying after the passage of the act. In the present case, the children of Henrietta Wright first became 'beneficially entitled' to the property in question at their mother's death. They then became 'beneficially entitled in possession.'
It is also suggested that the case is more aptly described in sect. 128 of that act, which is as follows:——
'That where any real estate shall, at or after the passage of this act, be subject to any charge, estate, or interest, determinable by the death of any person, or at any period ascertainable only by reference to death, the increase or benefit accruing to any person upon the extinction or determination of such charge, estate, or interest shall be deemed to be a succession accruing to the person then entitled beneficially to the real estate or income thereof.'
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Coolidge v. Long 1930
...Under these acts, the mere passage of title was not sufficient; possession and enjoyment were also required. Wright v. Blakeslee, 101 U. S. 174, 177, 25 L. Ed. 1048, went upon the ground that, up to the moment of the life tenant's death, 'her children had no interest in the land except a ba......
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Frew v. Bowers, 284.
...is no more than an intermediate assurance of eventual enjoyment, which alone gives any substance to the right. How far Wright v. Blakeslee, 101 U. S. 174, 25 L. Ed. 1048, depended upon the fact that the remainders were contingent, stricti juris, it is not necessary to inquire, for this tax ......