Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-07-22
Ta the Ea;tors of the Gazette .

BY the laws Of Virginia in 1924, County
expenditures for Roads, Bridges, Court
Houses, Jails. the support Of the Poor, &c,
were betrayed by poll or capitation tax i'm
posed Sy.the County Courts upon all male
persons above the age of sixteen yearz, and
all female slaves above that age. The OBJ
jcctions to capitation tax for such purposes
as compelling the poor man to pay as much
as the rich, were so Objectionable, that pc
tition in that year from the citizens of the
County of Berkeley, Special Act was pas
sed by the General Assembly providing that
expenditures for Roads and Bridges in the
County of Berkeley should be betrayed in
part. at least, by tax upon the lands in the
County.
The law was amended in 1924 and
IS, so that by the act passed on the 9Th of
March, 1885, it was pronounced shat the
levies thereafter assessed by the County
Court of Berkeley should not exceed the sum
of fifty cents for each tithable person" and
that "the residue of County expenditures
should be betrayed by an assessment on the
lands and other taxable property of the
County"
Under this act the County levies have
ever since been made up to that Of 1851, in
elusive.
In 1s49 the General Assembly revised
the statuateary law of the State and enacted
law to take effect on tie LIST of July, 1850.
In that Code is contained Law providing
that the County Courts of Virginia shall, in
the months of May and June thereafter, levy
the County expenditures upon the tithables
of the County, to wit All male persons
above the age Of Is years and all female
slaves above that age, and providing further
that "after an order shall have been made by
the Court of any County at one term. for the
slider the cxpediency of levying uron lands
and other property. if at such next term
majority of the acting Justices be actually
present and concur therein, the Conrt may
order the levy on free male persons over the
age of 16 years, and on all slaves. land and
other property assessed with State tax with
in the County And by another chapter of
the said Code it is provided that "all acts
and pats of acts of a general nature in
force at the time of passing this act shall be
repealed from and after the said LIST day of
July next.
The question has been raised whether the
lery for the County Of Berkeley, made at
the May and June terms last, and made as
it cas under the special act Of 1885, is
pahd one9 And this question depends upon
the further one-Whether the New Code re-
peals the special act or not think that
it does not, and that it would be to be re-
GREETED if it did
The express repeal is only of acts of
general nature" and all legal definitions
denominate the act Of 1885 a special statute
and not an act of a general nature, and
there is nothing in the levy law of the New
Code which necessarily. requires a repeal of
the act of 1885 by implication.
have said that it would be to be regret
ted if it were-and for these reasons:
County expenditures are mainly, though
not entirely, for the benefit of the land owner
and property holder, and il is fit that these
should mainly bear the 5urthen The spe-
cial act of 1885 so provides. 1t limits the
assessment on tithables to sum not more
than fifty cents, while the levy law of the
New Code leaves the amount discretionary
with the Justices of the County Court.