New York Ex Rel. Metropolitan Street Railway Co. v. New York State Board of Tax Commissioners

Headnotes

1. Tax Law — Territorial Reach of State Taxing Power All property within a State's territorial limits is presumptively subject to its taxing power, and the burden of proof rests on one claiming that particular property is beyond that power by contract or otherwise; the claimant must make it entirely clear that the property is beyond the State's reach.
2. Tax Law — Intangible Property and Franchises Intangible things, including franchises, are property subject to taxation like other property; a State may subject franchises to taxation as part of the general burden of supporting government, and there is no constitutional objection to the taxation of franchises.
3. Contracts Law — Grants from the Public — Implied Terms In grants from the public, nothing passes by implication; in charters of this description, no rights are taken from the public or given to the corporation beyond those which the words of the charter, by their natural and proper construction, purport to convey.
4. Constitutional Law — Impairment of Contracts — Tax Exemption Absent direct stipulations relinquishing the right of taxation, a provision in a grant of privileges or franchises that the grantee shall pay something therefor is not to be construed as an equivalent or substitute for taxes amounting to a contract of exemption from future taxation under the impairment clause of the Federal Constitution.
5. Tax Law — Omission to Tax — State Power A legislature's omission, for one year or a series of years, to tax otherwise taxable classes of property does not destroy the State's power to subject them to taxation when it sees fit.
6. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection Nothing in the Federal Constitution prevents a State from granting exemptions from taxation; a reduction, upon equitable considerations, of payments in the nature of taxes made by certain corporations on their franchises from the amount imposed by a general law does not entitle every franchise owner to a similar reduction, nor render the tax invalid as denying equal protection of the law or depriving holders of some franchises of property without due process of law.
7. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection The difference between surface street railroads and subsurface street railroads is sufficient to justify classification in the mode and extent of taxation, and a tax otherwise legal on surface street railroad franchises does not deprive their owners of equal protection of the laws because subsurface street railroad franchises are not subjected to a similar tax.
8. Constitutional Law — Validity of Special Franchise Tax Law The New York tax law as amended May 26, 1899 (Laws of New York, 1899, c. 712, p. 1589), imposing taxes on certain public franchises, is not, as far as the franchises in this case are involved, repugnant to the equal protection, due process, or impairment of obligation clauses of the Federal Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment.
9. Tax Law — Definition of Special Franchise A franchise, right, authority, or permission of the kind specified in the subdivision is known for purposes of taxation as a "special franchise," and a special franchise includes the value of the tangible property of a person, copartnership, association, or corporation situated in, upon, under, or above any street, highway, public place, or public waters in connection with the special franchise, which tangible property is taxed as part of the special franchise.
10. Tax Law — Special Franchise — Municipal Property No property of a municipal corporation is subject to a special franchise tax.
11. Tax Law — Special Franchise — Credit for Payments in Nature of Tax If, when a tax assessed on a special franchise is due and payable under the law applicable to the city, town, or village in which the tangible property is located, it appears that the affected person, copartnership, association, or corporation has paid to such city, town, or village for its exclusive use within the next preceding year, under an agreement or under a statute requiring the same, any sum based on a percentage of gross earnings or other income, any license fee, or any sum on account of such special franchise, which payment was in the nature of a tax, all amounts so paid for the exclusive use of such city, town, or village, except money paid or expended for paving or repairing pavement of any street, highway, or public place, are deducted from any tax based on the assessment made by the state board of tax commissioners for city, town, or village purposes, but not otherwise, and after such deduction the remainder is the tax on the special franchise payable for city, town, or village purposes.
12. Tax Law — Special Franchise — Certificate of Payments The chamberlain or treasurer of a city, the treasurer of a village, the supervisor of a town, or other officer to whom a sum is paid for which a person, copartnership, association, or corporation is entitled to credit under this section must, not less than five nor more than twenty days before a tax on a special franchise is payable, make and deliver to the collector or receiver of taxes or other officer authorized to receive taxes for such city, town, or village a certificate showing the several amounts paid; on receipt of such certificate, the collector, receiver, or other officer must immediately credit on the tax roll the amount stated against any tax levied on an assessment of a special franchise for city, town, or village purposes only, no credit may be given on account of such payment or certificate in any other year, nor for a greater sum than the amount of the special franchise tax for city, town, or village purposes for the current year, and the collector, receiver, or other officer must collect and receive the balance, if any, of such tax as required by law.
13. Tax Law — Assessment Machinery — Judicial Review Other sections of the law provide the machinery for assessment, with the assessment to be made by the state board of tax commissioners, and one section authorizes certiorari to review their proceedings.
14. Constitutional Law — Street Railroads — Consent Requirements The New York Constitution of 1846, as amended, art. 3, sec. 18, prohibits the legislature from passing a private or local bill granting to any corporation, association, or individual the right to lay down railroad tracks, and no law may authorize the construction or operation of a street railroad unless the consent of the owners of one-half in value of the property bounded on the affected portion of the street or highway, and the consent of the local authorities having control of that portion, are first obtained. Const. 1846, as amended, art. 3, sec. 18
15. Constitutional Law — Street Railroads — Commissioners in Lieu of Consent Where the consent of the property owners cannot be obtained, the General Term of the Supreme Court in the district where the railroad is proposed to be constructed may, on application, appoint three commissioners, who shall determine, after a hearing of all parties interested, whether such railroad ought to be constructed or operated, and their determination, confirmed by the court, may be taken in lieu of the consent of the property owners. Const. 1846, as amended, art. 3, sec. 18
16. General — Franchises — Sale at Public Auction Under Laws 1884, chap. 252, sec. 7, the local authorities of any incorporated city or village to whom application is made for consent to construct, maintain, use, operate, or extend a street surface railroad upon any street, road, avenue, or highway may, at their option, provide for the sale and sell at public auction the franchise, subject to all the provisions of the act. Laws 1884, chap. 252, sec. 7
17. General — Franchises — Annual Percentage Payments — Cities of 250,000 or More Under Laws 1884, chap. 252, sec. 8, every corporation incorporated under, or constructing or operating a railroad constructed or extended under, the act, within cities having a population of 250,000 or more, must annually, for the first five years after commencement of operation of any portion of its railroad, pay into the city treasury to the credit of its sinking fund three per cent of its gross receipts for the year ending the next preceding September 30, and after the expiration of those five years must make a like annual payment of five per cent instead of three per cent of gross receipts. Laws 1884, chap. 252, sec. 8
18. General — Franchises — Annual Percentage Payments — Apportionment for Extensions and Branches A corporation existing and operating a street surface railroad that extends its tracks or constructs and operates branches under the act, or the corporation operating such branches or extensions, pays such percentages only upon the portion of its gross receipts bearing the same proportion to the whole as the length of the extensions and branches bears to the entire length of its tracks. Laws 1884, chap. 252, sec. 8
19. General — Franchises — Consent of Local Authorities — Form and Filing Under Laws 1884, chap. 252, sec. 4, the consent of the local authorities must in all cases be applied for in writing; when granted, such consent must be upon the express condition that the pertinent provisions of the act shall be complied with, and must be filed in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the railroad is located. Laws 1884, chap. 252, sec. 4
20. General — Franchises — Public Auction Condition of Consent Under Laws 1886, ch. 642, § 1, local authorities of an incorporated city or village, upon application for consent to construct, maintain, use, operate, or extend a street railroad or a railroad for transportation of passengers, mails, or freight over, upon, under, or through streets, roads, avenues, parks, or public places, must provide, as a condition of consent, that the right, franchise, and privilege of using the street, road, avenue, park, or public place be sold at public auction to the bidder agreeing to give the largest percentage per annum of the company's gross receipts, with adequate security for fulfillment of the agreement and for commencement and completion of the road according to the plans and on the routes fixed, within the designated times. Laws 1886, ch. 642, § 1
21. General — Franchises — Auction Agreement — Statutory Percentages Preserved Such an auction agreement shall not release any such road from the percentages required to be paid by chapter 252 of the Laws of 1884. Laws 1886, ch. 642, § 1
22. General — Franchises — Reservation of Power to Regulate Fares The legislature expressly reserves the right to regulate and reduce the rate of fare on such railroad or railway. Laws 1886, ch. 642, § 1
23. General — Franchises — Forfeiture and Resale for Nonpayment Upon failure or refusal of the party or corporation operating or using the railroad to pay the agreed rental or percentage of gross earnings, the consent and right to operate may, upon not less than sixty days' notice, be declared forfeited and resold to the highest bidder in the manner provided. Laws 1886, ch. 642, § 1
24. General — Franchises — Compensation to the City — Sinking Fund Persons granted the right to construct, maintain, operate, and use a street railroad, or their assigns, shall pay to the sinking fund commissioners of the city of New York one thousand dollars per annum, to be applied in the same manner as moneys received on account of rentals and leases. Laws 1868, ch. 625
25. General — Franchises — Compensation for Street Occupancy A company granted the privilege of occupying certain streets with street railroad tracks shall make compensation to the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city of New York for the value of the rights and privileges granted or authorized, the mode of ascertaining that compensation being by three commissioners whose decision shall be final and conclusive as to the company and the city, with the amount fixed to be paid to the commissioners of the sinking fund of the city within thirty days after it becomes payable and applied to the reduction of the debt of the city. Laws 1871, ch. 19; Laws of 1874, ch. 508 context
26. General — Franchises — Annual Percentage of Gross Receipts A franchise grant may require the grantees or their assigns to pay annually into the city treasury one percent of the gross receipts of the road, with gross receipts determined by the sworn statement of the railway's president and treasurer, subject to inspection of its books by the city comptroller. Laws of 1874, ch. 508
27. Tax Law — Special Franchises Are Property Local or special franchises constitute property and have all of the attributes of property: they are vendible and transferable, may be leased or mortgaged, survive the existence of the corporation upon which they are bestowed, and cannot be taken away, even under the power of eminent domain, without due compensation.
28. Contracts Law — Municipal Corporations — Additional Compensation for Franchises A city cannot exact additional compensation or payments by subsequent ordinance beyond what was reserved or stipulated at the time of the grant without violating the contract rights of the grantee of a franchise.
29. Contracts Law — Implied Terms — Fixed Annual Payments A stipulation in a contract between a city and a railway company, entered into pursuant to the express provisions of a statute and providing for the payment of a fixed annual sum or tax, necessarily implies that the fixed annual sum or tax cannot be increased by the State or the city without impairing the contract; what is implied in a contract or statute is as much a part of it as what is expressed.
30. Contracts Law — Interpretation When the highest court of a State has adjudicated upon the validity and legal scope and effect of a contract, particularly that of a municipality, and subsequent contracts are made on the faith of, and investments are made in reliance upon, that judicial interpretation, the contracts must be construed and given legal effect according to the law as authoritatively declared at the time the contracts were entered into.
31. Contracts Law — Franchise Grants — Fixed License Fee Not Subject to Increase A grant of a franchise to use the streets of a city constitutes a contract, and where a city stipulates in a franchise grant for a fixed license fee or tax, the city cannot increase that tax without impairing the obligation of its contract.
32. Contracts Law — Interpretation It is a cardinal rule in drafting contracts and statutes not to express what is implied in law; if a contract specifically provides for a fixed tax or rate, it is implied in law that the express stipulation is exclusive and covers the present and future, as fully as if the contract expressly so recited.
33. Contracts Law — Interpretation Contracts with States or municipalities are to be construed so that an exemption from future taxation or regulation of rates is not implied unless in reason necessary to give effect to the agreement, and when a grant is upon valuable consideration, imposing pecuniary and other obligations upon the grantee to which he is bound by a valid contract, the grant should be construed according to the rules of legal reasoning governing all contracts.
34. Tax Law — Nature of Fixed Annual Payments — Label Not Controlling The mere fact that the original statute or contract does not call a fixed annual payment or exaction a tax makes no difference; the label used in a statute or contract does not determine whether such a payment is a tax, but if a statute had called the obligation a tax, it would not have constituted it such had its nature been otherwise.
35. Tax Law — Payments to Sinking Fund The fact that a specific sum or percentage is payable into the sinking fund of a city does not change its nature as a tax.
36. Tax Law — Annual Sums for Franchises Essentially Taxes Under common understanding, an annual sum paid or exacted for a franchise, right, or privilege—such as the right to use a city's streets or a town's highways—is essentially a tax, and a fixed annual percentage imposed on corporations' gross or net receipts or earnings for the privilege of exercising franchises is essentially a tax.
37. Tax Law — Use of "Compensation" and "Rental" Use of the words "compensation" and "rental" by the legislature does not change the nature of an annual payment for a franchise as a tax.
38. Statutory Interpretation — Legislative Characterization The legislative characterization of payments as "in the nature of a tax" has force, and the word "or" may be equivalent to "and."
39. Statutory Interpretation — Contemporaneous Practical Construction Contemporaneous practical interpretation by public officials, in light of which contracts were made, is entitled to almost the force of law.
40. Contracts Law — Franchise Grants — Implied Limitation on Increase Where a franchise, right, or privilege to use a city's streets is granted on terms including a definite and fixed annual payment, it is fairly implied that the stipulated payments are not to be increased.
41. Tax Law — Franchises Already Paid For A franchise granted by the legislature cannot subsequently be taxed if a price has been paid for it which the legislature has accepted.
42. Constitutional Law — Analogous Powers of Taxation and Rate Regulation The governmental powers or functions of taxation and of regulating rates and tolls are closely analogous, and the reasoning, rules of construction, and principles of law and public policy applicable to them are the same; in cases concerning limitation or restriction of legislative power, nothing is presumed in limitation or restriction of legislative power except what is expressed or implied.
43. Contracts Law — Implied Terms — Part of Contract What is implied is as much a part of a contract or statute as what is actually expressed.
44. Constitutional Law — Impairment of Contracts — Fixed Rates A grant of power to a corporation to fix or collect tolls or rates does not of itself imply any exclusion of the legislature's power thereafter to declare what shall be prima facie reasonable compensation for services to be rendered, but where a corporation's charter or an agreement between a corporation and the State or a municipality expressly provides for a fixed rate of toll or charge, such rate cannot be varied by the legislature or municipality without impairing the obligation of the contract.
45. Constitutional Law — Special Assessments — Impairment of Contracts A city cannot, through the form of taxation or assessment for improvements, increase the obligation assumed by a railway company in respect of the subject that was in the minds of the parties and formed part of their express agreement.
46. Contracts Law — Franchises Not Covered by General Legislation Each franchise not covered by the act of 1884 and subsequent similar legislation constituted a contract entitling the grantee to protection against the exaction of further payments to the State or to the city.
47. Constitutional Law — Reserved Power to Amend — Additional Payments A reservation of power to alter or amend acts or charters does not uphold additional payments sought to be imposed; the legislature cannot require the grantee to perform the terms of its grant according to the letter while releasing itself from any reciprocal duty and imposing an additional tax while holding on to the contract.
48. Constitutional Law — Reserved Power — Vested Property Rights The reserved power to alter, amend, or repeal does not permit or sanction the destruction of vested property rights.
49. Constitutional Law — Fourteenth Amendment — Arbitrary or Unequal Taxation The Fourteenth Amendment affords practical and effective protection against arbitrary or unequal taxation, and its spirit and meaning require that taxes imposed upon property of substantially the same kind, in substantially the same situation, and used for substantially the same purposes be equal so far as equality may be practically attainable.
50. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection A statute that attempts to classify those engaged in the same business and owning similar property and to discriminate among them unfairly or unnecessarily is repugnant to the Fourteenth Amendment; while unavoidable inequality may not render a statute unconstitutional, where substantial equality is readily attainable and it is plain that members of a class are unfairly and unjustly discriminated against in a manner easy to obviate, the statute cannot be permitted to stand.
51. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection A statute that adds to the obligations of contracts while preserving all the burdens of those contracts operates arbitrarily to deny equal protection of the laws and due process.
52. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection A statute that provides for the deduction of annual payments covered by existing contracts from the amount of tax levied, whereby those who agreed to pay lump sums or annual amounts less than the new tax for their franchises are discriminated against, operates arbitrarily to deny equal protection of the laws and due process.
53. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection A statute that discriminates against franchise holders and subjects them to taxation while exempting their competitors operating under the surfaces of many of the same streets operates arbitrarily to deny equal protection of the laws and due process.
54. Constitutional Law — Classification of Special Franchises as Real Estate — Deductions When a legislature classifies special franchises as real estate subject to the same taxation, state and local, as all other real estate, it cannot permit owners of such franchises to deduct rentals, annuities, or instalments of purchase price from their tax while all other real estate owners pay taxes without such deductions.
55. Tax Law — Classes of Street Railway Franchises in New York City There are three classes of franchises to operate street railways in the city of New York: those granted without payments, those for which a lump sum was paid, and those for which annual payments were agreed to be made, either of a fixed sum or of a fixed percentage of gross receipts, or both.
56. Constitutional Law — Impairment of Contracts — Payments in Nature of Taxes If payments made under such franchise agreements were in the nature of taxes—either commutation or annual—the increase would impair the obligations of the several contracts.
57. Tax Law — Valuation — Capitalized Value of Annual Charge In ascertaining the actual value of franchises subject to an annual charge, the capitalized value of the charge may be deducted, since the true net value of an interest in property conditioned upon and subject to an annual charge can thereby be arrived at.
58. Constitutional Law — Due Process A legislative enactment that requires or authorizes taxation of a class of property on a sum arbitrarily fixed by assessing officers, without reference to the property's value, deprives owners of property without due process of law and denies equal protection of the laws.
59. Tax Law — Apportionment — Legislative Power The determination of the method of apportioning a tax is within the legislative power of the State, uncontrolled by the Federal Constitution, which requires only that some method of apportionment of the burdens of a tax be provided and that the tax not be arbitrarily laid.
60. Tax Law — Apportionment by Value — Due Process Constitutional provisions requiring all taxation of property to be uniform and apportioned according to value are merely declaratory of the fundamental principle of due process of law in taxation, and the necessity of apportionment according to value exists independently of any such constitutional provision, apportionment by value being the only escape from the oppression and injustice of arbitrary exactions.
61. Tax Law — Evidence of Value of Special Franchise The market value of share stock and bonds furnishes no evidence of the value of a special franchise, and taxable assets of a corporation cannot be determined by the amount of outstanding mortgage bonds.
62. Tax Law — General Franchises and Good Will Not Taxable for Local Purposes Under New York law, general franchises and good will are not taxable for local purposes.
63. Tax Law — Corporate Assets and Earnings as Evidence of Franchise Value The aggregate assets of a corporation furnish no evidence of the value of its franchise, nor do its earnings furnish such evidence.
64. Tax Law — Delegation of Quasi-Judicial Powers An assessment is void where quasi-judicial powers are delegated by tax commissioners to agents who, rather than the commissioners themselves, determine the valuation; a valuation and an established basis for apportioning tax burdens are essential to lawful taxation, and a tax imposed without any real valuation of the thing taxed is arbitrary and unlawful.
65. Constitutional Law — Impairment of Contracts — Additional Burdens of Same Nature The State cannot impose additional burdens of the same nature as those already imposed by franchise contracts duly made between a city, as the State's delegated representative, and a railroad company.
66. Contracts Law — Franchise Contracts Fix the Measure of Tax Burdens Franchise contracts fix and limit the amount of burdens in the nature of taxes that the contracting railroad company may thereafter be compelled to pay on account of the intangible rights created by those contracts.
67. Constitutional Law — Due Process A statute that fails to indicate any principle or method for ascertaining the value of intangible property included in a special franchise, combined with a valuation proceeding that substitutes speculation and guess-work for judgment, amounts to an absence of quasi-judicial action constituting a taking of property without due process of law, and the statute is unconstitutional to the extent it contemplates such a procedure.
68. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection Multiple assessments of the same property by different methods deprive the taxpayer of the equal protection of the laws.
69. Federal Courts & Jurisdiction — Conclusiveness of State Court Construction A decision of a state court of last resort sustaining a state statute is conclusive in this Court as to any question of conflict between that statute and the state constitution, and this Court will not interfere with the construction given by state courts to laws regulating the taxation of property within the State.
70. Federal Courts & Jurisdiction — Review of Findings of Fact and Valuation This Court will not review findings of fact or the conclusions of assessing officers as to the value of property sought to be assessed, and decisions resting on pure questions of fact, or on local laws not involving a Federal constitutional question, are not reviewable.
71. Constitutional Law — Impairment of Contracts — Special Franchise Tax Act The act under which the relator was assessed for its special franchises does not impair the obligation of any contract within the meaning of section 10 of Article I of the Federal Constitution.
72. Tax Law — Extension of Taxing Power to New Subjects The authority of every State to tax all real and personal property within its jurisdiction is unquestionable, and a State may from time to time bring within the purview of its taxing power new subjects not covered by previous legislation, including mortgages owned by citizens of other States on property within the State, the right of succession to the property of one dying, debts owing by a resident debtor to a non-resident creditor, the right given to a foreign corporation to carry on business within the State, and the amount of capital employed by a foreign corporation within the State.
73. Tax Law — Franchises of Public Service Corporations The franchises of a public service corporation, being property, may be the subject of taxation, especially when united with tangible property designed to utilize such franchises.
74. Tax Law — Abandonment or Restriction of Taxing Power — Presumptions The power to tax being essential to the very existence of the State, there can be no presumption that it has been abandoned or restricted; whoever claims that the State has abandoned or restricted its taxing power must show that the intent to grant immunity was conferred in express and unambiguous terms, and a grant of immunity from taxation will not be extended by implication beyond its fair import.
75. Tax Law — Municipal Attempt to Confer Exemption In the absence of express statutory authority, the State alone can grant exemption from taxation, and an attempt by a municipality to confer exemption from taxation is ultra vires and ineffectual.
76. Tax Law — Strict Construction of Self-Imposed Restrictions Where a State undertakes to restrict its own power of taxation, the rule applicable to the interpretation of public grants applies: the instrument by which the restriction is claimed to have been created must be strictly construed to surrender the sovereign power no further than is expressly declared by the terms of the grant, and the grantee takes nothing in that respect by inference.
77. Constitutional Law — Contracts — Implied Tax Exemption A contract of exemption from taxation will not be implied unless it is clear beyond question that the legislature intended to deal with the subject of taxation or exemption from taxation.
78. Contracts Law — Tax Exemption — Requisites A contract of exemption from general taxation may be implied from the language of an ordinance only if the city had the power to grant such exemption, intended to do so, and there was consideration for the contract; consideration is essential to a contract of tax exemption.
79. Tax Law — Special Franchises — Reserved Power of Legislature The right to tax the relator's special franchises was properly exercised under the power reserved to the legislature by the constitution and statutes of New York.
80. Constitutional Law — Impairment of Contracts — Franchise Payments as Compensation No contract was created by the statutes and ordinances relied on that precluded the State from imposing a tax on the relator's special franchises, because the payments required of grantees under those statutes and ordinances were not taxation but compensation for the rights conferred.
81. Tax Law — Franchises — Annual Payments as Consideration, Not Commutation The annual payments required under the cited statutes were compensatory consideration for the grant of a fee or the rental of a leasehold, and not commutation for taxes; none of the cited statutes refers to exemption from taxation, and the privileges granted were deemed things of value for which the municipality was entitled to compensation.
82. Tax Law — Franchises Taxable Notwithstanding Rental Payments Railroad franchises were placed on the same footing as ferry franchises and wharfage rights leased by the city of New York for an annual rental and nevertheless taxed as property.
83. Tax Law — Corporate Taxation The right to impose the various forms of taxation now imposed on New York corporations, cumulatively, has been recognized in numerous cases.
84. Tax Law — Franchise Payments — No Intent to Exempt There was no intention to exempt special franchises from taxation; the payments required were merely compensation for the right conferred.
85. Constitutional Law — Due Process An erroneous decision by a state court does not deprive an unsuccessful litigant of property without due process of law where the parties were fully heard in the regular course of judicial proceedings, and the objection that the act under consideration violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is without merit.
86. Evidence — Examination of Judicial or Quasi-Judicial Officers A judicial or quasi-judicial officer may not be subjected to an extraordinary inquisition, such as being placed on the witness stand to testify to the operations of his mind in performing entrusted duties.
87. Tax Law — Classification by Legislature In matters of taxation, classification by the legislature is not in contravention of the Constitution.
88. Tax Law — Rapid Transit Act — Special Franchises The exemption provision of section 35 of the Rapid Transit Law has no relevancy to a special franchise; the railroad referred to in the Rapid Transit Act is sui generis and clearly differs from every other railroad in the State, the company operating the subway does not own any special franchise in the sense that the relator and other corporations own them, and the underground railroad is the property of the city of New York.
89. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection A party that is a beneficiary of a statute does not lie with them to attack for inequality a statute under which they derive a benefit.
90. Constitutional Law — Equal Protection Exact equality is a practical impossibility under any system of taxation and is not required; where a single rule is