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Portland, July 8. 1820

To the Governor of the State of Maine

Sir,

Your letter of the fifth instant, addressed to the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine, has been received by us; in which you request our opinion upon the following questions, viz:

Firstly, Whether the State tax, levied on towns and plantations of this State by the tax act passed by the General Court of Massachusetts in February last, ought of right to be apportioned and assessed by the assessors of said towns and plantations on real estate, according to the rule of valuation fixed in said Act, or according to the rule fixed and established by the Constitution of this State?

Secondly: Whether the County taxes, granted to the several Counties of this State by the General Court of Massachusetts in February last, ought of right to be assessed and apportioned by the assessors of said towns and plantations in said Counties, on real estate by the first or second of the aforesaid rules?

Thirdly: In conformity to which of the rules aforesaid town and plantation taxes assessed, since the fifteenth of March last, by the several towns and plantations in this State, ought of right to be apportioned and assessed on real estate by the assessors of the same?

In compliance with your requisition, we have attended to the subject of your letter, and carefully examined the questions proposed, the Constitution and Laws to which they refer, and the principles which are involved in their decision: And now have the honor of submitting the result of our investigation and our opinion:

The third section of the tenth article of the Constitution of this State is on these words: "All laws now in force in this State, and not repugnant to this Constitution, shall remain and be in force until altered or repealed by the Legislature or shall expire by their own limitation." If the words now in force, used in the above quoted section, have relation to the day when the Constitution was completed and signed, then there is no question as to any supposed repugnance of any of the provisions of the above mentioned tax act to the Constitution in relation to the principles of assessing real estate, because that act was not in force when the Constitution was signed or adopted by the people: but, according to what we deem the proper construction of the cited section, the words "now in force," must be considered as having relation to the fifteenth of March last; the day when the power