The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-26 00:00:00

SUCCESSION DUTY BILL.

The Succession Duty Bill, as prepared and brought in
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord John Russell,
and the Solicitor-General, has just been printed under
an order of the House of Commons. It is intituled " A
bill for granting to her Majesty duties on succession to
property, and for altering certain provisions of the acts
charging duties on legacies and shares of personal
estates.
The first or interpretation clause provides that, for the
purposes of the act, the term "real property" shall de-
note all freehold, copyhold, customary, leasehold, and
other hereditaments, whether corporeal or incorporeal,
in Great Britain and Ireland, not comprised in the defi-
nition of " personal property," which term is not to in-
clude leaseholds, but shall include money payable under
any engagement, and all other property ordinarly de-
noted by the words "personal property," and all such
shares of any public company as are accounted real estate
and personal annuities of inheritance.
By clause 2 it is enacted that every past or future dis-
position of property, by reason whereof, upon the death
of any person dying after the time appointed for the
commencement of the act, any other person is or shall
become entitled to any beneficial interest in any pro-
perty, either immediately or after any interval, certainly
or contingently, and either originally or by way of sub-
stitutive limitation, and every devolution by descent,
reverter, or act of law of any beneficial interest in real
property, either in possession or expectancy upon the
death of any person dying after the commencement of
the act, to any other person, shall be deemed to confer
on the person entitled by reason of any such disposition
or devolution a "succession ;" and the term " successor"
shall mean the person so entitled, and the term " pre-
decessor" the settlor, testator, obligor, ancestor, or other
person from whom the interest of the successor is or
shall be derived.

Clause 3 provides that where any person, shall, at or
after the passing of the act, have any property vested in
them jointly, by any title not conferring on them a suc-
cession, any beneficial interest in such property accruing
to any of them by survivorship shall be deemed to be a
succession ; and every person to whom any such inte-
rest shall accrue shall be held to be the successor ; and
the person upon whose death such accruer shall take
place shall be accounted the predecessor ; and where any
person shall take any succession jointly, they shall pay
the duty, if any, chargeable theron by this bill, in pro-
portion to their respective interests in the succession ;
and any beneficial interest in such succession, accruing
to any of them by survivorship, shall be deemed to be a
new succession derived from the predecessor from whom
the joint title shall have been derived.
It is provided by section 4 that

" Whew, by reason of any past or future disposition of
property taking effect upon the death of any person dying
after the time appointed for the commencement of this
act, any other person shall have a power of appointment
over property exerciseable for his own benefit, he shall, in
the event of his making any appointment for his own
benefit, be deemed to be entitled at the time of his exer-
cising such power to the property or interest thereby
appointed as a succession, and the person by whom such
power shall have been created shall be deemed to be the
predecessor ; but in all other cases the person taking a suc-
cession by the exercise of any power of appointment shall
be deemed to have derived his succession from the person
creating the power as predecessor."
Again, it is enacted by clause 5 that
" Where any property shall at or after the time appointed
for the commencement of this act bo subject to any charge,
estate, or interest, determinable by the death of any per-
son, or at any period ascertainable only by reference to
death, the increase of benefit accruing to any person or
persons upon the extinction or determination of such charge,
estate, or interest shall be deemed to be a succession accru-
ing to the person, or the persons if more than one, then
entitled beneficially in possession to the property, accord-
ing-to his or their respective estates or interests therein, or
beneficial enjoyment thereof; and the person or persons
from whom such successor or successors respectively shall
have derived title to the property so charged shall be
deemed to be the predecessor or predecessors, as the case
may be."
By section 6,
"Where any disposition of property, not being a bond
fide sale, and not conferring an interest expectant on deatk
on the person in whose favour the same shall be made, shall
be accompanied by the reservation or assurance of or con-
tract for any benefit to the grantor, or any other person,
for any term of life or for any period ascertainable only by
reference to death, such disposition shall be deemed to con-
fer at the determination of such benefit an increase of bene-
ficial interest in such property, as a succession equal in
annual value to the yearly amount or yearly value of the
benefit so reserved, assured, or contracted for, on the per-
son in whose favour such disposition shall be made."
Clause 7 enacts that
" Where any disposition of property shall be made to take
effect at a period ascertainable only by reference to the date
of the death of any person dying after the time appointed for
the commencement of this act, such disposition shall be
deemed to confer a succession on the person in whose favour
the same shall be made ; and where any disposition of pro-
perty shall purport to take effect presently, or under such
circumstances as not to confer a succession, but by the
effect or in consequence of any engagement, secret trust, or
arrangement, the beneficial ownership of such property
shall not bona fide pass according to such disposition, but
shall. in fact, devolve to any person on death, or at some
period ascertainable only by reference to death, then such
last-mentioned person shall be deemed to acquire a succes-
sion derived from the person making the disposition as the
predecessor; and where any court of competent jurisdic-
tion shall declare any other disposition to have been frau-
dulently made for evading the duty imposed by this act, it
shall be lawful for such court to declare a succession to
have been conferred on such person at such time and to
such an extent as such court shall think just ; and such
last-mentioned person shall be deemed to have taken a
succession accordingly derived from the person making
such a disposition as predecessor."
So far with respect to the description of successions
to be chargeable with duty under the act. The bill pro-
ceeds to state that the duties imposed under it shall be
considered as stamp duties, and shall be under the care
and management of the Commissioners of Inland Re-
venue.

The next important feature of the measure is the
scale of duties to be levied and paid under it in respect
of every succession, according to its value. The follow-
ing are the duties, namely :
"1. Where the successor shall be the lineal issue, or
lineal ancestor of the predecessor, a duty of 1/. per centum
upon such value.

"2. Where the successor shall be a brother or sister, or
a descendant of a brother or sister of the predecessor,
duty at the rate of 3/. per centum upon such value.
"3. Where the successor shall be a brother or sister of
the father or mother, or a descendent of a brother or sister
of the father or mother of the predecessor, a duty at the
rate of 5/. per centum upon such value.
" 4. Where the successor shall be a brother or sister of
the grandfather or grandmother, or a descendant of the
brother or sister of the grandfather or grandmother of the
predecessor, a duty at the rate of f 2. per centum upon
such value.

" 5. Where the successor shall be iu any other degree of
collateral consanguinity to the predecessor than is herein-
before described, or shall be a stranger in blood to him, a
duty at the rate of 101. per centum on such value."
The bill (inter alia) makes a succession, subject to
trusts for charitable or public purposes, chargeable with
duty ; provides that leasehold estates are not to be
charged with legacy duty as personal estate ; that the
interest of a successor in real property is to be con-
sidered a.s an annuity ; that real property directed to be
sold shall be considered as personalty ; and that no duty
shall be payable on any succession which shall be of less
value than 201. in the whole, or upon any moneys ap-
plied to the payment of the duty on any succession ac-
cording to any trust for that purpose, or by any person
in respect of a succession, who, if taking the same as a
legacy, would be exempted from the payment of duty
under the Legacy Duty Acts.
These are the principal provisions of the bill ; but it also
contains elaborate rules for valuing lands, houses, timber,
advowsons, manors, mines, and every conceivnble descrip-
tion of property which can be the subject of succession ;
states under what circumstances allowances can be made
for incumbrances ; gives a power to the commissioners
to receive the duty in advance, and to commute that
which may accrue in future ; and provides that the act
shall take effect and come into operation from the 19th
of May in the present year.

TER➢IS OF THE NEW AUSTRALIAN CONTRACT.—Ac
cording to the conditions of the new Australian mai
contract the contractors must state at which of the three
ports, Melbourne, Sydney, or Adelaide they propose to
sail, and they will be bound accordingly, but they will
be at liberty to touch at either, or both of the other two
ports, as may suit their convenience. If the contractors
cannot touch at all the three ports they must provide
for the delivery of mails at the ports at which they do
not touch. If they land all the mails at Adelaide a
deduction of fourteen days will be made for the time
allowed them for the performance of the whole mail ser-
vice, and if they land them at Melbourne a deduction of
seven days will be made.