The Hawaiian gazette., 1891-08-11


rules of the Minister of Finance, il
! pursuance of Section 90, Chapter 4S
Laws OF 1882, and they have not beel
published SO as to be obligatory upol
all persons.
The tax return of the plaintiff, giving acre
age OF Its lands, their character ant
! value and the names OF the lands, is ;
! sufficient compliance with Section SO o
the Taxation Act, which requires thu
return to give the description, situa
ton and value" of the real estate.
OPINION OF THE COURT PER JUDD, c. j
This is a bill in equity, to enioin
the collection OF the taxes for the
year 1890, assessed upon the property
of the plaintiff corporation. It al
leges that the plaintiff, by its mana
ger, made sworn return of its prop
erty to the assessor within the stat
utory time; that it was objected to
as not containing certain particulars
alleged by the assessor to be required
by a regulation OF the Minister of
Finance, and that on the assessor in
creasing the returned valuation from
$500, 2929 to $416,0 9629, the plant
if rendered costs and asked for an
appeal, which was denied, on the
ground that the return did not COM
ply with the law. The plaintiff ten
ders and pays into court $4,000, 80,
the tax upon the valuation in the re-
turn, and prays that the tax collector
may be enjoined from collecting any
further sum.
The first question involved in this
case is, is there any rule or regula-
ton by the Minister of Finance in
force and validity requiring the par
ticulars in the return asked for by
the assessor?
The 69th section of the taxation
Act (1682) Compiled Laws, p. 1871
is as follows: "The Minister of
Finance shall have power and it is
hereby made his duty to prescribe
all needful rules and regulations for
the assessment and collection of
taxes, in cases where no such rules
and regulations are made by law;
however, that the same
shall not be in contravention of any
existing statute or inconsistent with
the Constitution"
There is on the 4th page of the
blank "return or statement" fur
nished to the tax payers to be filled
in, signed and sworn to by him,
series of directions, beginning " all
must be assessed at its full
cash value as of July LIST, 19-,"
and ending with a number of ques-
lions, "are you an agent of an insur-
ance company2 II so state the name
Of the company, and the amount of
actual premiums received during
5he year previous tc lst July, 18-,
8; number of carriages and
used for hire or pleasure;
lumber of wagons, carts and drays
lsed for work only; number of
logs; are you a member of any fire
,r military company? and what one?
Ill schedules attached to this return
ire part hereof and must be filled |
,ut.
approved by Godfrey Brown.
Minister of Finance"
Then follows a part of Section So,
Chapter 43, Laws 1882, which has
,een quoted in full in this opinion
Some of the directions above men
toned are definitions and particulars
aiken from the statutes, but often
hanged in language, or with many
PARTICULARS not in the statute. One
# the so-called rules reads, SIN max
ng return please state the street
nd number of lots in town, and lots
q the country should be described
y noting the name of the iii or ahu-
'uaa in which they are situated; also
tate if any property has been sold
Turing the year, to whom and for
7hat price; also the number of the
oval patent and the Land Commits
toner's Award"
We notice that this page of the
eturn is not headed Rules and
for the assessment and
objection of taxes made by the Min
;ter of Finance in pursuance of the
sw," &c, or by anything to indicate
nat they are authoritative and have
he force of law. The use of the
7ord "please in the direction to
tate the street and number of the
own lots would indicate that com
lance with it is optional with the
axpayer.
1t is not enough to say that these
D called rules have been distributed
} each taxpayer, and that the plain
fl has had notice of them brought
ONE to him. The statute prescribes
nat "No written law shall be obliga-
Dry without being first printed and
lade public" Section 1, Civil Code.
age l, Compiled Laws. A rule of
apartment of the government made
] pursuance of a statute must be
rinted and published as a general
lle obligatory on ali persons and
anRot be put into operation by
iecemeal by giving notice of it 10
ne individual after another.
No provision is made in the 69th
sction of the Taxation Act of 1882
Or the publication of these rules,
Though such provision is common.
ide, the publication required of
equations made by the Board of
[ealth, p u. Compiled Laws.
But we regard the general pro-
lsion in the first section of the Civil |
\