The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-12-20
DECIDES AGAINST
DOUBLE TAXATION
Judge Scott Renders Decision
in Suit Regarding Fees
of Clerks
CASE IS APPEALED
TO SUPREME COURT
Young Lawyer Appears
Against Attorney General
and Friends Give Him
Enthusiastic Ovation

Judgment was rendered by Judge
Carter Scott. of the city Circuit Court.
Tuesday afternoon In .ayor of the
plaintiff in he suit brought by Mr..
William n. kountree against Charles
.. sasille. clerk OF sae Chanccry
Court. for his refusal to record decd
until his regular fee had been aug
msnted by an additional dollar, when
the clerk claimed under a law re-
Gently enacted by tn. Legislature. An
appeal was Immediately taken, and
the case viii now ga directly To the
Supreme Court of the state for final
decision,
The case is one of Vital interest To
every clerk III Virginia, Practically
none OF them have Required the a..-
d!tiouai fee when reeuraing deeds and
contracts, and consequently may llt.
called upon. IL the higher court de-
eide against them, L. pay into the
State treasury sums from their own
pockets which shaii eqaal the extra
fees they should have collected.
His Friends With Him.
Attorney Brockenbfaugh Lamb ar
gued the case for the plaintiff, and
Attorney General Williams appeared
Tor Major SaviiiS he clerks conten-
ton being nn henaif IL the State
Mr.. f4amh was only recently admit
Ged IT, ehe Richmond har. having
scarcely attained his majority, and a
number of his young friends assem-
hied In the court when stlc case was
called u see what the Attorney Gen-
.sFFal would do to him.
When tha states Legal adviser up-
pearad with in assistant bearing an
srinfni III heavy volumes aud ii great
stack Of impressive lacking papers.
many af them. were fearful lest there
lie slaughter OF the innocent.
The young attorneys opening state
menf showed. however that he Knew
what he was doing. and long before
the ease had been concluded, when
he had established the point at issue
ria snnng friends and college mates
anticipated the result, and when
Judge scott rendered his decision up-
holding MIR Lamb in every point. the
dignity OF the court was In grave dan
ger for they gathered around him
ana beat him on the back and shook
his hand untli he had to break away
tn save himself from excessive en-
enlargement
Technical in Character.
The argument was largely ot 81 tech-
meal nature AS 70 the meaning "
words. the significance ~ punctuation
and the grammatical construction az
certain clauses found in old law under
which the clerks up to this TIME nave
collected fees and altered in the ntH
law. on which the Chaneery Court
clerk bases his argument
stripped OF us technically. however,
the. suit ~ % establish the right at
clerks to collect un deeds Vf over Sl'eoe
AN extra dollar that n, Ia levy a zee
In addition tn thc regular zee. or. II
other words, to charge double taxes .
AIR Lamb declared the contention ~
The attorney general to be nn'onsti-
tutIonaI, not only IL. that the tax would
not then bc uniform, but that thu tax
OF tn. extra dollar Is not specifically
stated without reference IL ANY othes
tax. a. the Constitution positively re-
au}reS He asserted also that the AT =
tornes generals construction violated
I'm part the clear intent OF The l-oGlsi't
fare 10 put 81 higher rate upon cons
tracts relating to railroad rolling stock
ihaa had before been III vogue, ttt"T
Judge Williams ruling. he declared the
rate would be higher on s1nail deeds
and ordinary contracts than upon very
large deeds and contracts fog Railroad
rolling stock.
The attorney general attempted to
prove to the court that the railing re-
Gently made by him MAS the only logi
cal one possible and that he had fol-
Iawed the exact wording and intent ri
tie legislative act,
Decides Against Clerks.
Judge Scott ruled against him, how
ever holding that the present law did
not contemplate the additional dol
lar. or the double tax, aud thar there
fore the clerk ri the Ghancery Court
should have recorded the deed filed by
Mr. Rountree without making ANY at
tempt to collect the extra ice,