Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/888

 874 PaDEBAL BEPORTEE. �foreign wills. The United States contendsthat the clause of the statute above quoted should be interpreted to mean that any legacy under a will, wberever made, is Subject to a legacy tax, if the legacy enures to the benefit of an American citizen, and he receives the same; and that, the other woids, "or by the intestate laws of any state or territory," are not restrictive as to wills. There is no ade- quate reason, it is urged, why an American citizen, receiving a legacy through a foreign -will, should bot paya legacy tax when he would be subject thereto if the legacy was through a domestic will. To this argument may be suggested that the same reason would prevail with respect to the intestate estates. The law of the domicile prevails as to personalty, whether the decedent is testate or intestate; yet the same clause of the statute limits the liability of the executer, in cases of intestacy, to the transmission of property by the laws of the state or territory. Why ahould not property, passing by laws of descent in a foreign country tb an American citizen, be subject to tax as well as if passing by will? Is there, in the language of the statute, any dis- tinction to be drawn between a foreign legacy and a foreign distribu- tion of an intestate estate, or are the terms used in the same sen- tence to be interpreted as bovering the same giroiliid ? �There are other provisions bf the statute that shed light'bn tiie subject. The executer was required to makeh'is returns and pay the tax to the oollector of the district wher'e the decedent resided. The decedent in this case resided in Ireland, and never was in the United States. Consequently, the executor's returp and payment conld not be made in accordanee with law to any United States collector. �Without expressly passing upon this point, ibut intimating merely that the statute. does not cover a case like the present, it is important to consider the effect of the repealing act of July 14, 1870. That act repealed the succession and legacy taxes, with thi-s saving proyiso— r �"ihat all the provisions of said [repealed] acts shall continue in full force for levying and collecting all taxes properly ^vssessed, m liable to ^be assessed, or aceriiing under the provisions of, the fprnier acts,-ojr drawbacks, the right to which bas already accrued, or which may hereaf ter accrue, under said act^," etc. �Without ente'ring upon the nice distinctions between successions and legacies, it niust suffice that the, taxes chargeable were, und.er the statutes, due and, payable when the beneficiary entered into the posr session or enjoyment of the property, and not before. It is obvious that the.valueof the succession or legacy ooiild not be determined until the right pf possession aecrued. "' ■:: ��� �