Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company v. Reid

In the case just above adjudged and reported, the property of the railroad company could not by its charter be taxed under any circumstances. In the case of the charter of the railroad company now under consideration the exemption was limited to a term of fifteen years. After this limitation expired the legislature was at liberty to tax the individual shares of the stockholders whenever their annual profits exceeded 8 per cent., provided that the tax did not exceed twenty-five cents a share per annum. The pleadings in the case showed that the annual profits on the shares never reached 8 per cent.

Messrs. Carlisle, McPherson, and B. F. Moore, for the plaintiff in error:

It is laid down in Lord Hobart's Reports that affirmatives in statutes that introduce a new rule imply a negative of all else. Father Plowden equally declares that when a statute limits a thing to be done in a particular mode, it includes a negative of any other mode.

The tax is in violation of rules thus anciently and authoritatively laid down; rules conformed to obvious sense and justice.

Mr. W. H. Battle, contra, argued that such exemptions were so grossly impolitic that they could not be considered as legitimate exercise of legislative power.

Mr. Justice DAVIS delivered the opinion of the court.