Case ID: cal_31/html/0210-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "By the Court, Sanderson, J.:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

THE PEOPLE v. MORRIS A. COHEN.
    Taxation.—The “ claim to and possession of” land is property liable to taxation, even if the land belongs to the United States.
    Tax on Claim to Land.—A tax on a “claim to and possession of” land is not a tax on the land itself.
    Case Affirmed.—The People v. Shearer, 30 Cal. 645, affirmed.
    Appeal from the District Court, Seventh Judicial District, Napa County.
    The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.
    
      Rayle & Pendegast, and W. S. Wells, for Appellant.
    
      J. G. McCullough, Attorney-General, for the People.
   By the Court, Sanderson, J.:

Action for taxes against defendant and certain real estate described in the assessment as “ claim to and possession of six hundred and nine acres of land in Suscol Valley, particularly described as follows,” etc.

The defendant, by way of defense, averred that the land was public land of the United States, and therefore exempt from taxation. Plaintiff moved for judgment bn the pleadings and obtained it, and the defendant has appealed.

The land itself is not taxed, but. the defendant’s claim and right of possession is taxed. The. question presented is therefore precisely the same which we considered and determined in the case of The People v. Shearer, 30 Cal. 645. Upon the authority of that case the judgment is affirmed.