Ford v. Delta & Pine Land Co.

Citations

• 164 U.S. 662
• 17 S. Ct. 230
• 41 L. Ed. 590
• 1897 U.S. LEXIS 1699

Syllabus

<p>Exemptions from taxation are to be strictly construed, and no claims for them can be sustained unless within the express letter or the necessary scope of the exempting clause; and a general exemption is to be construed as referring only to the property held for the transaction of the business of the party exempted.</p> <p>The exemption from taxation conferred by the 19th section of the act of the legislature of Mississippi of November 23, 1859, c. 14, upon the railroad company chartered by that act, does not extend to property other than that used in the business of the company, acquired under the authority of a subsequent act of the legislature in which there was no exemption clause.</p> <p>A clause in a statute exempting property from taxation does not release it from liability for assessments for local improvements.</p> <p>It has been held in Mississippi not only that special assessments for local improvements do not come within the constitutional limitation as to taxation, but also that the construction and repair of levees are to be regarded as local improvements for which the property specially benefited may be assessed; and this rule is in harmony with that recognized generally elsewhere, to the effect that special assessments for local improvements are not within the purview of either constitutional limitations in respect of taxation, or general exemptions from taxation.</p> <p>Under authority granted by the act of March 16, 1872, c. 75, of the legislature of Mississippi, the auditor conveyed to the Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company the lands in question here, by deeds which recited that they had been “ sold to the State of Mississippi for taxes due to the said State,” and that the company had paid into the state treasury two cents per acre “ in full of all state and county taxes due thereon to present date.” No reference was made in those deeds to levy taxes or assessments. Held, that those deeds were no evidence of the prior payment and dischar