The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-05-25

dissenting from the decision of the ma
jority of the Supreme Court (Judges
Peyton and TarbelD he announced that
the right of taxpayers to remedy by
injunction against illegal taxation, had
been recognized and enforced, unques-
toned and unchallenged, as far back as
our judicial records extend"
The legitimate conclusion from his ar
gument was that the action Of the Court
was simply revolutionary proceeding
unknown to law and to custom, and &
denial of Justice to the taxpayers of the
State, in the interest of the Ring of
Plunderers who have usurped authority to
enrich and aggrandize themselves at their
cost.
The tax law itself is a monstrosity.-
No such scheme of oppression has ever
before been imposed upon this people,
And its intrinsically wicked features have
been perverted into a worse engine of
fraud and tyranny than was designed by
its authors, through the acts of incom-
petent and dishonest officials.
The abuses thus practiced were admit
ted by Gov. Alcorn himself and graph
cally described in a message to the
Legislature, which was called upon to
interpose with additional Legislation TO
check them. In testimony of the cor
ruption and dishonesty of the officials
charged with the execution of the law,
their appointments, though of his own
creation, were in many instances, can
celed. And the Legislature itself was
driven by the force of surrounding cir
cumstances to provide by special act for
the correction of what were termed Ger
rors' in the assessment and valuation of
property.
In proof that this extraordinary decis-
ion of the Court was in contravention of
the d" uniform, unbroken practice in this
State"-and indeed that it was manufac-
tured for this particular emergency in the
struggle between the taxpayers and the
tax-eaters-the fact might have been
cited that since the occupancy of the
bench of the Supreme Court by Judge
Peyton who pronounced the recent de-
cision, the right of remedy by injunction
in a case precisely similar to the one re-
Gently decided, was distinctly declared
1t was a suit begun by original bill in
equity in the Chancery Court of TishO-
mingo county to enjoin the Sheriff, ID. F.
Beall, from proceeding to sell the pro
perty of C. H. Reed q Co., for taxes
1t was decided at the April Term, A. ID.
1869, by the High Court of Errors and
Appeals, when Thomas Shackleford was
Chief Justice, and e. g. Peyton, and
f. Jefords were associate Justices. The
case was lengthily argued, and the opin-
ion of the Court is spread over fifteen
pages of the Record Book of Opinions. -
1t pcas concuTred IN by all the Judges.
The Judge delivering the opinion says:
"The Bill was filed in Chancery Court
of Tishomingo county, (alleging) that
&c that the defendant in error (Sherifi
Beall, of Tishomingo county, was
4" about to collect said tax by levy and
g sale of property of appellants &C. H.
60 Reed & Coz an injunction acas obtain
"ed."
After an elaborate review of the au-
thorities, the Court said in conclusion:
We are therefore of the opinion,
that the injunction should be made perpetual
against the collection Of the additional tar
assessed by the Assessor of TfshOmingO
county upon the State Tar; and that the
Injunction should be dissolved so far as
it enioins the one hundred dollars State
Tax, as assessed against the license of
plaintiff in error.
" The Demurrer should have been
overruled, in the cause, for it was good
only as to a part of the Bill.
1.-The Demurrer will be overruled and
the decree reversed, and the cause re-
manded for further proceedings in ac-
cordance with this opinion"