The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-06-24
IMPORTANT DECISION.

!
Ouachita parish decreeing that the pro
perty, franchises, appurtenances of thu
Vicksburg, shreveport & Texas Rail
rad arc subject to taxation. We give
tbs decision In full. Under this deci
sion. the back taxes up to 1881, for the
parish of Ouachita amount to ove1
$4,000. The parishes of Madison
Richland and Caddo are, to the amour
of the taxation assessed, benef1ciaries o
the Judgment hereto appended:
james Dennis, Sheriff and 1str Collecto
rs. Vscksb,uy, Shreveport and Pac!f
Railroad. IL.
The defendants appeal from judg
ment condemning them to pay three
years' State taxes, aggregating over six
Thousand dollars.
They complain that they are exempt
from such taxes, by reason of the pur-
chase, made In 1879, of the property,
franchises and isnnasAaities of the Vicks-
burg, Shreveport and Texas r.. r. Co.,
chartered by the Legislature in 1858
TACT 228). They claim that by the Sec
ond section of the act of Incorporation,
that company was relieved from the
payment Of all and any taxation from
the beginning Of its existence and was
TO continue SO during. ten years after
the completion Of the road, within
STATE borders.
We do not propose to determine
whether the defendants have acquired
the exemption claimed for the reason
that If the first company did not own
It the defendants did not acquire it.
Pretermitting that and the several
questions, save one, presented and
argued by the able counsel on both
sides, we will proceed to consider the
sole main issue which the case offers,
which Isl: Whether the exemption
granted In 1853, by the State, conced
ing it asyue'ado to have enured to the
defendants, does or not relieve them
from taxes falling due before the COM
pletion of the road, which is as yet un-
finished, and will so remain for some
time yet.
The section relied upon reads:
"That the capital stock of said COM
pany shall be exempt from taxation,
and its roads, fixtures, work shops,
warehouses, vehicles of transportation,
and other appurtenances, shall be ex-
empt from taxation for ten years after
the completion of said road, within the
limits of this State.''
In the case of Baton Rouge, G. Il. &
o. r. r. Co. VS.. Kirkland, Sheriff, SO
A., 622, an identical question was pre-
scented which we solved, deciding that
the company was not entitled to the
exemption asked.
The free, candid, dignified and cour-
teous manner in which the opinion in
that case was criticised by the counsel
for the defendants, in the printed, oral
and manuscript argument, has proved
a cause of satisfaction to us, as it has
afforded us the opportunity of listen
Ing to valuable considerations which
had not been urged in the previous
case, and of reviewing an important
ruling which might have been errone-
ously made.
AO SA0AAA hO" - SnAt Nue
accorded in 1853, and which has passed
to the defendants, exonerates them
from taxes before, as we'll as after, the
completion of the road, but not for
more than ten years after its termina-
ton.
If this pretension We're recognized,
the second section would be taken as
reading that the property of the COM
pany 4" shall be exempt from taxation
from the creation Of the corporation and
for ten years after the completion of
said road within the limits of the State"
1t is a principle 80 universally recog-
nized, that exemption laws must be
construed strictly, that the mere an
of the proposition estab-
fishes it. It applies not only to gener-
nj laws, but also to special enactments,
such as charters of corporations of any
class. All property must be taxed, ex-
sept such as is expressly relieved from
The burden either by valid federal or