Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/896

 884 FEDBBAL lUBFOBTEB. �'•^Wliere a statute contains botlj a j^tohibition and a penalty, a contract or transaction contrary thereto ia absolutely illegal and void, unless it appears, upon a consideration of the wliole act, that the legislature did notso intend." �And it is also admitted that a contract made contrary to a penalty may be held void, if Suoh appears to have been the intention of the legislature. In such cases much depends upon the nature fend amount of the penalty preseribed, and whether it is aimed at the contract itself, or only some f orm or incident of it ; as, whether it was intended to prevent a contract or con- veyance of the kind in question, or only as a seeurity that it should be made on a certain kind of paper, or stamped with stamps of a certain value, whioh shall be cancelled, so as to prevent their reuse. In this case the fact that the statute has, in section 158, in addition to the penalty imposed upon the maker for the omission to stamp a conveyance, provided s;^ecially that such conveyance shall be void in case such omission is the reBult of a fraiidulent intent, tends str&ngly to show that it waa.not the intention of congress tomake.a conveyance void for want (rf caaicelling o; stamp thereon, in addition to the penalty imptised on that accotant. > �■ Upoffl a carefUl ^iew of tha whole act, and the ciroum- stances of the case, itwaa^i^eryclefar and 'satisfaotory that such was not the intention of the legislature ;,and the fact that the stamps were not duly cancelled as alleged in the bill, so far assection 156 is cbncernedvis theref ore altogether imma- terial in this controversy. 'Section 158, as amended, pro- vides that a person who makes a .conveyanc'e without duly stamping the same and cancelling the stamps, as required by law, "with intent to evade the provisions of this act," shall be subjeot to a penalty, and "such" conveyance, "not being stamped according to the law," shall be deemed invaLid and of no effect. The provision concerning the cancellation of stamps, and the clause "not being stamped according to law," were added to this section by the amendment of 1866. A conveyance made contrary to this section is void; but the mere omission to stamp the conveyance or cancel tho stamps does not constitute or establish a violation of the ��� �