Page:Fletcher v. Oliver.pdf/5

RhTerm, 1868.] the payment of the road tax complained of, and asserts that the law of 1868, under which he presumes the tax was levied, is not, in his opinion, unconstitutional, and that he will collect said tax from complainant and others, if not restrained from so doing.

The Chancellor, upon bearing, dismissed the bill of Fletcher with costs, and it is from this decree he appeals to this court.

Section 16, of article 15, of the Constitution of Arkansas declares:

"All laws of this State, not in conflict with this Constitution, shall remain in full force until otherwise provided by the General Assembly," etc.

It therefore becomes proper to inquire whether the law, that these parties rely upon for protection, is in harmony with this clause of the Constitution; and, in doing so, art. X., sec. 2, of that instrument is called to our attention, which reads as follows:

"Laws shall be passed, taxing, by a uniform rule, all moneys, credits, investments in bonds, joint stock companies, or otherwise, and also all real and personal property, according to its true value in money ; but burying grounds, public school houses, houses used exclusively for public worship, institutions of purely public charity, public property used exclusively for any public purpose, shall never be taxed. but the General Assembly may exempt from taxation personal property to the value of five hundred dollars to each tax-payer."

Under the former Constitution, all laws that exempted property of the community from taxation received a strict construction, because all such laws are in derogation of equal rights.

The 39th section of the charter of the city of Little Rock declares that "the inhabitatntsinhabitants [sic] of Little Rock are hereby exempted from working upon any road beyond the limits of the city, and from paying any tax to procure laborers to work on the same."

The complainant alleges that the words "and from paying any tax to procure laborers to work on the same," exempts