Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/589

* INCOME TAX. 515 INCORPOREAL. to cover exactly fiscal needs. In Italy the income tax was introduced by the law of 1864 (amended in 1877), and the fiscal needs of France after the Franco-Prussian War forced it also to adopt a na- tional tax upon the income of corporations and associations. By a law of 1891 Prussia intro- duced a direct tax upon incomes. The tax was graduated, but at first made no provision for dif- ferentiation. In 1893 an auxiliary tax was levied upon property, thus establishing difl'ercntiation in effect. In 1893 Holland adopted an income- tax law which provided both for graduation and differentiation. By this law corporations as well as individuals are subject to tiie tax; but the holders of corporate securities pay no additional income tax on the revenue from them. A similar law was introduced in Xew Zealand in 1893. Switzerland. Denmark, and Austria levy income taxes, as does also Australia. During the War of 1812 an income tax was advocated for the Federal Go^•ernment by Secre- tary Dallas, and in 1862 such a tax was actually adopted, and remained in force until 1872, de- spite the opposition of the propertied classes. No satisfactory machinery was established for its application. Individuals were required to submit estimates of their incomes, and as there was no means of verifying these estimates, the tax was paid only by those who were scrupulous enough to admit that their incomes exceeded the untaxed minimum. In spite of the great increase in national wealth, the receipts from the income tax declined from year to year. In 1894 the income tax was again introduced as a part of the Wilson Tariff Bill, and was carried largely by the Western and Southern members, despite vio- lent opposition from the cities of the East. The tax, however, was declared unconstitutional (May 20. 1894) because, although a direct tax, it was not apportioned among the States according to population. Income taxes have been imposed in several States (Massachusetts. Pennsylvania. Louisiana, Virginia, North Carolina. South Carolina), but in no case have tney been rigidly enforced and just- ly administered, and in no case have they been firoductive of large revenue. The Income Law of Massachusetts dates from colonial times, and exempts incomes under .$2000, as well as income derived from property already taxed. See Finance ; Taxation. INCOMMENSURABLE. See Commensttba- DLE. INCONNU, ax'k6'nu' (Fr., unknown). A fish, usually called the Mackenzie Kiver salmon {fiteiwdtis Mackenzii), which is intermediate between salmon and whitefish. usually weighs ten pounds, though sometimes it is much larger. It ascends all the rivers of Arctic America and Asia, and is of much importance to the natives of their valleys, though the fish is oily. It was discovered by Alexander Mackenzie, whose fol- lowers named it. INCONSTANT, The: or. The Way to Win Him. A oonu'dy by (ieorge Farquhar (1702), ad:i|)ted from Fletcher's Tri7<f (loose Chase. INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF AU- THORS, The. a society organized in London, in 1884. by Sir Walter Besant. for the protection of authors and composers, and modeled on La A'ooK*/** des Gens de Lettres of Paris. Its pur- pose is to maintain the rights of authors, to advise them as to questions of copj-right, to as- sist them in making contracts with publishers, and in recovering money due under contracts. The society has also vigorously advocated amend- ments to the copyright law, and in 1899 sent its secretary, Jlr. G. Herbert Thring, to Canada to bring about a settlement of the colonial copyright question. The official organ is the Author, which is published monthly from the society's office. Among its other publications are : Grievances of Authors; Literature and the Pension List; Copyright Late Reform; The Methods of Pub- lication. The first president of the society was Lord Tennyson. INCORPORATION. The act by which a cor- poration is formed; also, the body or legal person so formed, which is more usually called a corpora- tion. This act consists in the incorporators (or persons of whom the corporation is initially to consist) fulfilling the conditions which are im- posed by law as a condition precedent to the for- mation of the corporation, which may consist in accepting a charter (q.v. ), or in complying with the conditions of enabling statutes, or, for some purposes, the performance of acts as if the per- sons constituted a corporation (a corporation de facto). The effect of the act of incorporation is to create the rights and liabilities which the law attaches to the form of corporation so cre- ated, so that future acts relating to the corporate body may affect that as legal entity instead of the individual by whom the corporation is repre- sented. For a treatment of the various classes of corporations and the specific acts necessary to their creation, see CoRPOR.'iTlON ; Charteb; also consult the authorities there referred to. INCORPOREAL (from Lat. incorporeus, bodiless, from in-, not + corporeus, bodily, from corpus, body). In the common-law classification of real property, that which is not accompanied by seisin or the right of possession. Present estates in land, such as freeholds and leaseholds in possession, are identified with the land itself, and are described as corporeal ; that is, as some- thing substantial and tangible ; while correspond- ing interests not in possession, such as future estates and rights in the land of others, are re- garded as being of an unsubstantial and intangi- ble nature, and are accordingly described as in- corporeal. The distinction has no scientific value, as the idea connoted by the terms 'property' and 'ownership' is always that of a legal right, and rights are always bodiless things, and are equally immaterial and unsubstantial, whether they re- late to present or future enjoyment of land, and, indeed, whether they have to do with things or persons. But the distinction is a convenient one, nevertheless, and has had an important in- fluence on the development of property law. In our legal system the classification of prop- erty as corporeal and incorporeal is confined to interests in land. Though future interests in chattels and such property as shares of stock, patent rights, and copyrights are sometimes de- scribed as incorporeal, and though such eminent legal authorities as Sir Matthew Hale and Black- stone apply the term corporeal to jewels and other personal chattels, the distinction is of no value or importance in the law of personal prop- erty. On the other hand, the usual limitation of the terms corporeal and incorporeal to heredita- ments, i.e. to such interests as descend to the heir of the owner upon his death, is too narrow.