Sherman v. United States (178 U.S. 150)

In the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of New York, on November complaint against the United States, seeking to recover from said defendant the sum of $8,969.02, which he claimed had been unjustly exacted by John G. Ward, collector of internal revenue for the fourteenth district of New York, from George T. Murdock, executor of the last will of Mrs. Jane H. Sherman, the mother of complainant, as a duty or tax imposed by virtue of the provision of the act of June 13, 1898; that said sum of $8,969.02 was deducted by the said executor from the income due and payable under the provisions of said will to the complainant; that the income, of which the complainant was entitled to receive an annual portion during his life, was composed in part of United States bonds, which the complainant avers to be, by virtue of the acts of Congress under which they were issued, nontaxable and nonassessable for the purposes of taxation.

The United States, appearing by Charles H. Brown, United States attorney for the northern district of New York, demurred to the complaint upon the ground that the same did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. On hearing the circuit court sustained the demurrer, and ordered that the complin t be dismissed. A writ of error was allowed to this judgment, and the cause was brought to this court.

Messrs. Charles E. Patterson, Alpheus T. Bulkeley, Charles F. Southmayd, William V. Rowe, and Evarts, Choate, & Beaman for plaintiff in error.

Solicitor General Richards for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Shiras delivered the opinion of the court: