Citizens' Bank v. Parker

Citations

• 192 U.S. 73
• 24 S. Ct. 181
• 48 L. Ed. 346
• 1904 U.S. LEXIS 1034

Syllabus

<p>When a contract is asserted and tbe Constitution of the United States invoked to protect it, all of the elements which are claimed to constitute it are open to examination and review by this court; and also all that which is claimed to have taken it away, and the writ of error will not be dismissed.</p> <p>The rule requiring a strict construction of statutes exempting property from taxation should not be infringed but where ambiguity exists it is the duty of the court to determine whether doubt exists and to solve it and not to immediately surrender to it.</p> <p>Where it is res judicata that the original charter of a bank by which its capital is exempt from any tax constituted a contract within the impairment clause of the Constitution, and that such exemption is not affected by subsequent charters and constitutions, and there is no doubt that the State intended to offer inducements to enlist capital in the early development of the State, and no license- tax was demanded for fifty-eight years although that method of taxation was in force during the whole period, the exemption from any tax may be construecLas including a license tax on occupation as well as taxes on property.</p>