Case ID: scl_34/html/0400-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

The State, ex rel. B. F. Hunt, v. H. L. Pinckney, Tax Collector.
    
    A MamAamm does not lie to compel a Tax Collector to receive in payment of taxes the “special indents” issued by the State in 1788, or previously.
    “Paper medium” and “special indents” are distinct and separate public liabilities; and the latter are not, in their origin, purpose, or the liability they express, included in the description of the former, so as to be, under that head, receivable in the payment of taxes.
    
      Before Frost, J. at Chambers, Charleston, 1847.
    The object of the rule was to test the validity of certain indents being evidences of debt, issued by the State, of which this is a copy:
    
      State of South Carolina — -
    Pursuant to the Act to raise supplies for the year 1788, this special indent of five pounds shall be received in payment of taxes. [Seal]
    J. Deveaux. ) Industria et virtus
    
    J. Ballentine. 3 Prima nobilitas.
    
    The relator tendered this money in payment of taxes for the year 1846, which was refused. The relator insists that it was an enduring contract by the State, who received full value. The report and the several Acts of Assembly will set out enough to exhibit the questions made.
    The relator moved for a rule against the respondent, to shew cause why a mandamus should not be issued to require him to receive, in payment of the taxes assessed for the year 1847, certain special indents, amounting to £60, issued pursuant to the Act to raise supplies, passed in 1788.
    His Honor ruled as follows. It is not the official duty of the respondent to receive such indents in payment of taxes ; it is clear that this Court has no authority to interfere in behalf of the relator, by issuing a mandamus to the respondent so to ’ receive them.
    
      4 Stat. 639.
    4 Stat. 690.
    4 ^gg39’ & ’
    5 Stat'59,
    5 Stat-130.
    fgg 209P274.’ ' &c.’ 353,
    The Act of 1843, prescribing the duties of the Tax Collectors m the collection of supplies, directs that “ all taxes shall be paid in specie, paper medium, or the notes of specie paying banks.” This direction to the Tax Collectors, to receive certain securities in payment, is prohibitory of the receipt of any other description. If the special indents are not comprehended in “ paper medium,” the respondent can have no authority to take them in paymeht.
    Special indents, of the character of those claimed by the relator, were’ first issued under the Act to raise supplies for the year 1784. They were issued for the express purpose of paying the interest of the public debt of that year, and were declared to be receivable in payment of the taxes of that year only. Provision was made for the redemption, in specie, of the balance of the issue which might not be extinguished in payment of taxes. In 1785, the payment of the interest of the public debt was provided for in the same manner. In 1786 and 1787, the other issues of special indents were made for the same purpose; and all preceding indents were declared to be receivable in payment of taxes due for the several years in which they were issued, indiscriminately. The Act of 1788 directs that “ special indents shall be receivable by the collectors and treasurers in payment of taxes.” By the fourth section it is provided that the issues of 1784, 1785, 1786, and 1787, be indiscriminately received in payment of the taxes imposed by that Act, and the tax Acts of the years specified. By the clause fixing the rates of taxation, it is directed that payment should be made in “ special indents, specie, or paper medium.” It might admit of a question whether the special indents, issued under the Act of 1788, were not, like those of the previous years, made and intended to be receivable only in payment of the taxes of the years specified, and received by the public creditors on that security, and the special appropriation made by that, and the preceding Acts, for the payment of the interest of the public debt. The Act to raise supplies for the year 1789 directs that the payment of the taxes shall be received in £1 specie, or paper medium;” and that the special indents which may be issued for the year 1789, shall be received in payment of the taxes for the years 1784, 1785, 1786, .1787, and 1788. The Act of 1789 is not mentioned. From that time to the present, all the tax Acts direct payment to be made in specie, “ paper medium,” notes of particular banks, or of specie paying banks. The Act of 1794 declares that 11 nothing shall be received in payment of taxes but specie and ¡f,he paper medium, issued by authority of the Legislature, and bank paper, redeemable in gold and silver, and pay certificates of the members of the Legislature.”
    
      “ The paper medium” was a public debt entirely distinct from “ special indents.” It was created under an Act passed in 1785, entitled, “ An Act to establish a medium of circulation, by way of loan, and to secure its credit and utility.” The object of the Act is recited to be to aíford a speedy and effectual relief to the great and general distress of the citizens, from the scarcity of money to answer the calls of internal trade, “by introducing a paper medium of circulation upon solid foundations.” It authorized the issue of “paper bills,” purporting “to pass in payment to the treasurers of the State, in discharge of all debts, duties, and taxes, payable thereto in gold or silver coin, during the term of five years.” These bills were issued to citizens of the State, by way of loan, on the mortgage of real estate. They form the subject of frequent and long continued legislation, under the invariable description of “the paper medium.” (See 4. Stat. 748 and 5th Stat. pp. 61, 166, 192, 210, and other pages referred to in the index, under the title of “ paper medium.”)
    4 Stat. 712.
    5 Stat. 91.
    4 Stat. 628.
    From this summary enquiry into the origin of “ paper medium,” and “ special indents,” it appears that they are distinct and separate public liabilities; and that the latter are not, in their origin, purpose, or the liability they express, included in the description of the former. The distinction between them is recognized in the tax Act of 1788, and is maintained through the entire course of legislation since that time. The “ paper medium” expresses the bills of credit which were issued to supply a deficient circulation. Though not made a general tender in payment of debts, by the instalment law passed in 1788, purchasers at sheriff’s sales had the option to pay in specie, or paper medium. “ Special indents” were issued for the specific purpose of paying the interest annually due on the public debt, by permitting the creditor to discount his claim for interest against the demand for taxes.
    It is not material to the decision of this motion, that the validity and justice of the relator’s claim should be investigated, by reference to the terms of credit on which special indents were received by the public creditors, or the provision made for the payment of them, by the several Acts under which they were issued, or by the application of the presumptions of law and fact, against the relator’s right, arising from the great lapse of time. Even if the State were unquestionably liable to pay these indents, this Court has no jurisdiction to enforce the payment. If in any case this Court can interfere, by mandamus, in behalf of a creditor of the State, to compel payment of his demand, it can only be when the Legislature has directed an officer, in possession of funds for that purpose, to discharge a debt, and, in violation of his duty, he refuses to do so.
    Nor is it necessary to decide whether, under the Act of 1788, the receipt of these indents, in payment of taxes, was not limited to the taxes of that year, and of those mentioned in the Act. If the State should issue indents, or other obliga-1 tions, and charge the annual taxes with the payment of them, and neglect or refuse to authorise the tax collector to receive such obligations in payment, it would be a public delinquency which could not be redressed by a mandamus to the tax collector to discharge the obligations of the State, by receiving them.
    The special indents, tendered by the relator to the respondent, not being included in the description of “ paper medium,” the respondent was not authorized to receive them in payment of taxes; and the motion was refused.
    The Relator appealed, upon the grounds :—
    1. The paper medium, offered to the tax collector, was a contract made by the State of South Carolina, for which she received full value; and she is not authorized to violate it, as it amounts to repudiation, and is against the constitution of the United States, providing that no State shall pass “any law impairing the obligation of contracts.”
    
      2. That the time when this paper medium is to be received in payment of taxes, not being limited, the State, after receiving full value, is not at liberty to limit the same to any year, or to pass a statute of limitations in its own favor.
    3. Because the tax collector is bound to carry out the Act authorizing the holder to tender the obligations of the State in payment.
    Hunt, for the motion.
    Hayne, Attorney General, contra.
    The whole Court concurred in the opinion of the Circuit Judge, for the reasons assigned in his report,
   And the motion was dismissed.