Brumagim v. Tillinghast

Citations

• 18 Cal. 265

Syllabus

<p>Tub Act of the Legislature of April, 1858, amending the Act of April, 1857, “to provide revenue for the support of the government of this State from a tax to be levied and collected from foreign and inland bills and other matters,” so far as it.imposes a tax upon bills of lading for the transportation of gold or silver from any point in this State to any point without the State, is in conflict with that clause of the Constitution of the United States which declares that “ No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may he absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws;” and hence the provisions of the original Act of 1857 for enforcing the stamp tax must be restricted in their application to other instruments than such bills of lading.</p> <p>Money paid by plaintiffs to the Treasurer of the City and County of San Francisco to purchase stamps under the Act of 1857, as amended by the Act of 1858, to put on bills of lading for the transportation of gold or silver by steamer from that city to New York, is money voluntarily paid and cannot be recovered back. As the Act of 1857, as amended, required stamps to be deposited with the Treasurer for sale, and as he had no authority to compel plaintiffs to purchase them, the fact that the owners and agents of the steamers refused to issue bills of lading without the stamps does not show any coercion on the part of the Treasurer. The conduct of third parties cannot be resorted to for the purpose of fastening a liability upon him. Unless he personally does some 'act which the law condemns, he cannot be charged, no matter how arbitrarily or improperly others have acted.</p> <p>Money voluntarily paid upon a claim of right, with full knowledge of all the facts, cannot be recovered back merely because the party at the time of payment was ignorant of or mistook the law as to Ms liability. The illegality of the demand paid constitutes of itself no ground f