Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/121/138/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 00:57:53+00:00

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The main purpose of Congress in fixing limits to state taxation on investments in shares of national banks was to reader it impossible for the state, in levying such a tax, to create and foster an unequal and unfriendly competition by favoring institutions or individuals carrying on a similar business and operations and investments of like character.
The term "moneyed capital," as used in Rev.Stat. § 6219, respecting state taxation of shares in national banks, embraces capital employed in national banks and capital employed by individuals when the object of their business is the making of profit by the use of their moneyed capital as money -- as in banking as that business is defined in the opinion of the Court; but it does not include moneyed capital in the hands of a corporation, even if its business be such as to make its shares moneyed capital when in the hands of individuals, or if it invests its capital in securities payable in money.
The mode of taxation adopted by the State of New York in reference to its corporations, excluding trust companies and savings banks, does not operate in such a way as to make the tax assessed upon shares of national banks at a greater rate than that imposed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens.
franchise tax, it does not appear that the rate of taxation thus imposed by the laws of New York is less than that upon shares in national banks.
Deposits in savings banks are exempted from state taxation for just reasons, and, as the exemption does not operate as an unfriendly discrimination against investments in national bank shares, it cannot affect the role for the taxation of the latter.
The amount of bonds of the City of New York which are exempt from taxation under state laws is too small, as compared with the whole amount of personal property and credits which are the subject of taxation, to affect, under Rev.Stat. § 6219, the validity of an assessment.
The bonds of municipal corporations are not within the reason of the rule established by Congress for the taxation of national banks.
assessment and taxation shall not be at a greater rate than is made or assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of this state. In making such assessment, there shall also be deducted from the value of such shares such sum as is in the same proportion to such value as is the assessed value of the real estate of the bank or banking association and in which any portion of their capital is invested in which said shares are held, to the whole amount of the capital stock of said bank or banking association. Nothing herein contained shall be held or construed to exempt the real estate of banks or banking associations from either state, county, or municipal taxes, but the same shall be subject to state, county, municipal, and other taxation to the same extent and rate, and in the same manner, according to its value, as other real estate is taxed. The local authorities charged by law with the assessment of the said shares shall, within ten days after they have completed such assessment, give written notice to each bank or banking association of such assessment of the shares of its respective shareholders, and no personal or other notice to such shareholders of such assessment shall be necessary for the purpose of this act."
"It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between the parties to the above-entitled suit that, for the purpose of the trial of this cause, the facts hereinafter stated are true, and that the cause be submitted for trial and decree upon such statement alone, together with the pleadings:"
other than the State of New York, and the remainder residents of the State of New York."
"2. That on the second Monday of January, 1885, the proper tax officers of the City of New York, acting under chapter 409 of the Laws of 1882 of the State of New York, did value and assess for taxation the shares of stock of said bank against the individual shareholders thereof at the rate of $89 per share, after deducting the proportion of the assessed value of the real estate of said bank applicable to each share of stock as by law required, making the total gross valuation of said shares in the hands of the shareholders the sum of $890,000, from which sum the debts of sundry indebted stockholders, amounting to $89,128, were deducted, as by law allowed, leaving the total valuation of said shares against said stockholders upon which taxes were thereafter assessed the sum of $800,872."
"3. That on the second Monday of January, 1885, the aggregate actual value of the shares of stock of the incorporated moneyed and stock corporations incorporated by the laws of the State of New York, deriving an income or profit from their capital or otherwise (not including life insurance companies, trust companies, banks, or banking associations, organized under the authority of this state or of the United States), amounted to the sum of $755,018,892; that Exhibit A, hereto appended and made a part of this agreement, contains a list of the corporations whose shares of capital stock are embraced in said sum of $755,018,892, and also shows the total par value of the shares of capital stock of each of said corporations."
amounted to $195,257,305, all of which is shown in detail in the schedule hereto annexed, marked 'Exhibit B.'"
"5. That at the said period, the aggregate actual value of the shares of the capital stock of the trust companies existing in the State of New York and organized under its laws, amounted to $32,018,900, as is shown in detail in the schedule hereto annexed, marked 'Exhibit C,' of which sum the amount of $30,215,900 was of trust companies located in the City of New York."
"6. That at the same period, the aggregate actual value of the deposits due by the savings banks of this state to depositors was $437,107,501 (not including the surplus accumulated by the said corporations, amounting to $68,669,001)."
"7. That the aggregate actual value of the bonds and stocks issued by the City of New York, subject to the provisions of chapter 552 of the Laws of 1880, at the said period amounted to $13,467,000."
"8. That the aggregate actual value at the same period of the shares of stock of corporations created by states other than the State of New York, owned by the citizens of the State of New York, amounted to at least the sum of $250,000,000."
"9. The assessed valuation of all personal property, after making the deductions allowed by law, in the City of New York (at the said period), as shown by the annual record of the assessed valuation of real and personal estate of the said city for the year 1885, was $202,673,806. This sum included the capital of corporations (after making deductions for investments thereof in real estate, shares of New York corporations, taxable upon their capital stock under the laws of this state, and non taxable securities), as follows:"
"The sum so deducted for the value of the real estate belonging to said trust companies located in the city of New York did not exceed $2,336,572.31."
"The 'aggregate amount of the taxable personal estate' within the State of New York, exclusive of said city, after deducting debts due by the owners thereof for the year ending December 31, 1884, as assessed by the assessors and returned to the State Comptroller, is $151,632,369. This sum included the capital of corporations (after making the deductions for investments thereof in real estate, shares of New York corporations taxable upon their capital stock under the laws of this state, and nontaxable securities, of the amount of $34,466,612)."
against the shareholders of the said complainant upon said shares by the use of all needful legal process."
311. That any statutes of the United States, or of the State of New York, may be cited and relied upon before the said court as if herein fully set forth.
From a decree dismissing the bill the present appeal is prosecuted.
MR. JUSTICE MATTHEWS after stating the case as above reported, delivered the opinion of the Court.
"Nothing herein shall prevent all the shares in any association from being included in the valuation of the personal property of the owner or holder of such shares in assessing taxes imposed by authority of the state within which the association is located, but the legislature of each state may determine and direct the manner and place of taxing all the shares of national banking associations located within the state, subject only to the two restrictions: that the taxation shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of such state, and that the shares of any national banking association owned by nonresidents of any state shall be taxed in the city or town where the bank is located, and not elsewhere. Nothing herein shall be construed to exempt the real property of associations from either state, county, or municipal taxes to the same extent, according to its value, as other real property is taxed."
In the present case, no question is raised by the appellant as to the validity of § 312, c. 409, of the Laws of New York of 1882, considered by itself, nor in reference to the rule of valuation or assessment which it prescribes. No exception is taken to the form of the assessment, nor is the case based in any degree upon the dereliction of the assessing officers in the discharge of their duties, there being no allegation and no proof that they have not performed their whole duty under the statutes of the state.
"in that it has by its legislation expressly exempted from all taxes in the hands of the individual citizens numerous species of moneyed capital, aggregating in actual value the sum of $1,686,000,000, while it has by its laws subjected national bank shares in the hands of individual holders thereof (aggregating a par value of $83,000,000), and state bank shares (having a like value of $22,815,700) to taxation upon their full actual value, less only a proportionate amount of the real estate owned by the bank."
This exemption, it is claimed, is of a "very material part relatively" of the whole, and renders the taxation of national bank shares void.
"moneyed or stock corporations, deriving an income or profit from their capital or otherwise, incorporated by the laws of New York, not including trust companies and life insurance companies, and state or national banks."
The value of such shares, it is admitted, amounts to $755,018,892.
2d. Trust companies and life insurance companies. The actual value of the shares of stock in trust companies amounts to $32,018,900, and the actual value of the shares in life insurance companies amounts to $3,540,000, which life insurance companies, it is admitted, are the owners of personal property, consisting of mortgages, loans, stocks, and bonds, to the value of $195,257,305.
3d. Savings banks, and the deposits therein. The deposits amount to $437,107,501, and an accumulated surplus to $68,669,001.
4th. Certain municipal bonds issued by the City of New York, under an act passed in 1880, of the value of $13,467,000.
5th. Shares of stocks in corporations created by states other than New York, in the hands of individual holders, residents of said state, amounting to $250,000,000.
"The burden of county taxation imposed by the latter act has at all events been removed from all bonds or certificates of loan issued by any railroad company incorporated by the state; from shares of stock in the hands of stockholders of any institution or company of the state which, in its corporate capacity, is liable to pay a tax into the state treasury under the act of 1859; from mortgages, judgments, and recognizances of every kind; from moneys due or owing upon articles of agreement for the sale of real estate; from all loans, however made, by corporations which are taxable for state purposes, when such corporations pay into the state treasury the required tax on such indebtedness."
This enumeration of exempted property, the amounts of which were stated in the bill and admitted by the demurrer, was held to include such a material portion relatively of the moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens as to make the tax upon the shares of national banks an unfair discrimination against that class of property, but no attempt was made in the opinion of the court to define the meaning of the words "moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens," as used in the statute, or to enumerate all the various kinds of property or investments that came within its description, or to show that shares of stock in the hands of stockholders of every institution, company, or corporation of a state, having a capital employed for the purpose of earning dividends or profits for its stockholders, were taxable as moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens.
manner, and to such an extent, that the shares of stock therein are in fact subject to a tax equal to that which is assessed upon shares of national banks, and 3d, that if there are any exceptions, they are immaterial in amount and based upon considerations which exclude them from the operation of the rule of relative taxation intended by the act of Congress.
In view of the nature of the contention between the parties to this suit and the extent and value of the interests involved, it becomes necessary to review with care the previous decisions of this Court upon the same subject and to endeavor to state with precision the rule of relative taxation prescribed to the states by Congress on shares of national banks.
"That the tax so imposed under the laws of any state upon the shares of any of the associations authorized by this act shall not exceed the rate imposed upon the shares in any of the banks organized under the authority of the state where such association is located."
In the reenactment of this statute in 1868, 15 Stat. 34, this proviso was omitted. The case of Van Allen v. Assessors, 3 Wall. 573, was decided under the act of 1864, as originally enacted. In that case, the taxing law of New York, which was in question, was held to be invalid because it levied no taxes upon shares in state banks at all, the tax being assessed upon the capital of the banks after deducting that portion which was invested in securities of the United States, and it was held that this tax on the capital was not a tax on the shares of the stockholders equivalent to that on the shares in national banks. It was also decided in that case that it was competent for the states, under the permission of Congress, to tax the shares of national bank stock held by individuals notwithstanding the capital of the bank was invested in bonds of the United States which were not subject to taxation.
"The answer is that upon a true construction of this clause of the act, the meaning and intent of the lawmakers were that the rate of taxation of the shares should be the same, or not greater, than upon the moneyed capital of the individual citizen which is subject or liable to taxation. That is, no greater proportion or percentage of tax in the valuation of the shares should be levied than upon other moneyed taxable capital in the hands of the citizens. This rule seems to be as effectual a test to prevent unjust discrimination against the shareholders as could well be devised. It embraces a class which constitutes the body politic of the state, who make its laws and provide for its taxes. They cannot be greater than the citizens impose upon themselves. It is known as sound policy that in every well regulated and enlightened state or government, certain descriptions of property, and also certain institutions, such as churches, hospitals, academies, cemeteries, and the like, are exempt from taxation; but these exemptions have never been regarded as disturbing the rates of taxation, even where the fundamental law had ordained that it should be uniform."
as a part of that moneyed capital which it required to be taxed by the states at a rate equal to that imposed by the latter upon the shares held by individuals of national bank stock.
"The answer is that this clause does not refer to the rate of assessments upon insurance companies as a test by which to prevent discrimination against the shares; that is confined to the rate of assessments upon moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens. These institutions are not within the words or the contemplation of Congress; but even if they were, the answer we have already given to the deduction of these securities in the assessment of the property of individual citizens is equally applicable to them."
In Lionberger v. Rouse, 9 Wall. 468, it was held that the proviso originally contained in the act of 1864, and omitted from the act of 1868, expressly referring to state banks was limited to state banks of issue. The court said (p. 76 U. S. 474): "There was nothing to fear from banks of discount and deposit merely, for in no event could they work any displacement of national bank circulation." Of course, so far as investments in such banks are moneyed capital in the hands of individuals, they are included in the clause as it now stands.
on the two grounds: 1st, that the exemption was founded upon the just reason of preventing a double burden by the taxation both of property and of the debts secured upon it, and 2d, because it was partial only, not operating as a discrimination against investments in national bank shares. The Court said: "It could not have been the intention of Congress to exempt bank shares from taxation because some moneyed capital was exempt."
"The act of Congress was not intended to curtail the state power on the subject of taxation. It simply required that capital invested in national banks should not be taxed at a greater rate than like property similarly invested. It was not intended to cut off the power to exempt particular kinds of property if the legislature chose to do so. Homesteads to a specified value, a certain amount of household furniture (the six plates, six knives and forks, six teacups and saucers of the old statutes), the property of clergymen to some extent, schoolhouses, academies, and libraries, are generally exempt from taxation. The discretionary power of the legislatures of the states over all these subjects remains as it was before the Act of Congress of June, 1864. The plain intention of that statute was to protect the corporations formed under its authority from unfriendly discrimination by the states in the exercise of their taxing power."
the assessed value of their personal property and moneyed capital subject to taxation, the owners of shares of national banks were entitled to the same deduction. The cases of Supervisors v. Stanley, 105 U. S. 305; Hills v. Exchange Bank, 105 U. S. 319; Evansville Bank v. Britton, 105 U. S. 322, and Cummings v. National Bank, 101 U. S. 153, are applications of the same principle.
state to tax, could not be considered an unwarranted exemption in that case. It was also held that the language of the act of Congress which fixed the rate of taxation upon national bank shares by reference to that imposed by the state "upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens" excluded from the comparison moneyed capital in the hands of corporations, unless the corporations were of that character, such as state banks, were held to be in the case of Van Allen v. Assessors, that shares of stock in them fell within the description of "moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens." In that way, a distinction was established between shares of stock held in banking corporations and those held in insurance companies and other business, trading, manufacturing, and miscellaneous corporations, whose business and operations were unlike those of banking institutions.
that the shares of stock in the corporations themselves must necessarily be within the same description. Such is the case of insurance companies, in respect to which it was held in People v. Commissioners that shares of stock in them were not taxable as "moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens," and that the language of the act of Congress does not include moneyed capital in the hands of corporations. The true test of the distinction therefore can only be found in the nature of the business in which the corporation is engaged.
invested and employed by individual citizens in many single and separate operations forming substantial parts of the business of banking. A tax upon the money of individuals invested in the form of shares of stock in national banks would diminish their value as an investment, and drive the capital so invested from this employment if at the same time similar investments and similar employments under the authority of state laws were exempt from an equal burden. The main purpose, therefore, of Congress in fixing limits to state taxation on investments in the shares of national banks was to render it impossible for the state, in levying such a tax, to create and foster an unequal and unfriendly competition by favoring institutions or individuals carrying on a similar business and operations and investments of a like character. The language of the act of Congress is to be read in the light of this policy.
Applying this rule of construction, we are led in the first place to consider the meaning of the words "other moneyed capital" as used in the statute. Of course it includes shares in national banks -- the use of the word "other" requires that. If bank shares were not moneyed capital, the word "other" in this connection would be without significance. But "moneyed capital" does not mean all capital the value of which is measured in terms of money. In this sense, all kinds of real and personal property would be embraced by it, for they all have an estimated value as the subjects of sale. Neither does it necessarily include all forms of investment in which the interest of the owner is expressed in money. Shares of stock in railroad companies, mining companies, manufacturing companies, and other corporations are represented by certificates showing that the owner is entitled to an interest, expressed in money value, in the entire capital and property of the corporation; but the property of the corporation which constitutes its invested capital may consist mainly of real and personal property which, in the hands of individuals, no one would think of calling moneyed capital, and its business may not consist in any kind of dealing in money or commercial representatives of money.
So far as the policy of the government in reference to national banks is concerned, it is indifferent how the states may choose to tax such corporations as those just mentioned or the interest of individuals in them, or whether they should be taxed at all. Whether property interests in railroads, in manufacturing enterprises, in mining investments, and others of that description are taxed or exempt from taxation in the contemplation of the law would have no effect upon the success of national banks. There is no reason, therefore, to suppose that Congress intended in respect to these matters to interfere with the power and policy of the states. The business of banking, as defined by law and custom, consists in the issue of notes payable on demand, intended to circulate as money where the banks are banks of issue; in receiving deposits payable on demand; in discounting commercial paper; making loans of money on collateral security; buying and selling bills of exchange; negotiating loans, and dealing in negotiable securities issued by the government, state and national, and municipal and other corporations. These are the operations in which the capital invested in national banks is employed, and it is the nature of that employment which constitutes it, in the eye of this statute, "moneyed capital." Corporations and individuals carrying on these operations do come into competition with the business of national banks, and capital in the hands of individuals thus employed is what is intended to be described by the act of Congress. That the words of the law must be so limited appears from another consideration. They do not embrace any moneyed capital in the sense just defined, except that in the hands of individual citizens. This excludes moneyed capital in the hands of corporations, although the business of some corporations may be such as to make the shares therein belonging to individuals moneyed capital in their hands, as in the case of banks. A railroad company, a mining company, an insurance company, or any other corporation of that description, may have a large part of its capital invested in securities payable in money, and so may be the owners of moneyed capital; but, as we have already seen, the shares of stock in such companies held by individuals are not moneyed capital.
"The act of Congress does not make the tax on personal property the measure of the tax on the bank shares in the state, but the tax on moneyed capital in the hands of the individual citizens. Credits, money loaned at interest, and demands against persons or corporations, are more purely representative of moneyed capital than personal property, so far as they can be said to differ. Undoubtedly there may be said to be much personal property exempt from taxation without giving bank shares a right to similar exemption, because personal property is not necessarily moneyed capital. But the rights, credits, demands, and money at interest mentioned in the Indiana statute, from which bona fide debts may be deducted, all mean moneyed capital invested in that way."
This definition of moneyed capital in the hands of individuals seems to us to be the idea of the law, and ample enough to embrace and secure its whole purpose and policy.
From this view it follows that the mode of taxation adopted by the State of New York in reference to its corporations, excluding for the present trust companies and savings banks, does not operate in such a way as to make the tax assessed upon shares of national banks at a greater rate than that imposed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens.
"Our system of laws with reference to the taxation of incorporated companies and capital invested therein has been carefully framed with a view of reaching all taxable property and subjecting it to equality of burden so far as that object is attainable in a matter so complex. In view of the wide variation in the employable value of such investments and the frequent mutations in their conditions, it is by no means certain that this object has not been attained with reasonable accuracy. It is quite clear from even this cursory review of the statutes that if any discrimination is made by our laws in taxing capital invested, it is not to the prejudice of that employed in banking corporations. Even if this were not the result of the statute, we are of opinion that investments in the shares of companies named do not come within the meaning of that clause in the federal statutes referring to other moneyed capital in the hands of individuals. That phrase, as generally employed, distinguishes such capital from other personal property and investments in the various manufacturing and industrial enterprises. And this is the sense in which it is used in our tax laws, as appears by reference to the statutes."
evident intent to discriminate in favor of the latter, as between them and banks, including national banks, and it is argued that, considering the nature of the business in which trust companies are engaged, it is a material and unfriendly discrimination in favor of state institutions engaged to some extent in a competing business with that of national banks. Trust companies, however, in New York, according to the powers conferred upon them by their charters and habitually exercised, are not in any proper sense of the work banking institutions. They have the following powers: to receive moneys in trust, and to accumulate the same at an agreed rate of interest; to accept and execute all trusts of every description committed to them by any person or corporation, or by any court of record; to receive the title to real or personal estate on trusts created in accordance with the laws of the state, and to execute such trusts; to act as agent for corporations in reference to issuing, registering, and transferring certificates of stock and bonds and other evidences of debt; to accept and execute trusts for married women in respect to their separate property, and to act as guardian for the estates of infants. It is required that their capital shall be invested in bonds and mortgages on unencumbered real estate in the State of New York worth double the amount loaned thereon, or in stocks of the United States or of the State of New York or of the incorporated cities of that state.
It is evident from this enumeration of powers that trust companies are not banks in the commercial sense of that word, and do not perform the functions of banks in carrying on the exchanges of commerce. They receive money on deposit, it is true, and invest it in loans, and so deal therefore in money, and securities for money, in such a way as properly to bring the shares of stock held by individuals therein within the definition of moneyed capital in the hands of individuals, as used in the act of Congress. But we fail to find in the record any sufficient ground to believe that the rate of taxation, which in fact falls upon this form of investment of moneyed capital, is less than that imposed upon shares of stock in national banks.
It appears from the tax laws of New York applicable to the subject, as judicially construed by the Court of Appeals of that state, that the capital stock of such a corporation is to be assessed at its actual value. The actual value of the whole capital stock is ascertained by reference, among other standards, to the market price of its shares, so that the aggregate value of the entire capital may be the market price of one multiplied by the whole number of shares. Oswego Starch Factory v. Dolloway, 21 N.Y. 449; People v. Commissioners of Taxes, 95 N.Y. 554. From this are to be deducted, of course, the real estate of the corporation otherwise taxed, and the value of such part of the capital stock as is invested in non taxable property, such as securities of the United States. In addition to this, the corporation, as already stated, pays to the state, as a state tax, a tax upon its franchise based upon its income; the tax on the capital being for local purposes.
It is evident, we think, that taxation in this mode is at least equal to that upon the shares of individual stockholders, for if the same property was held for the same uses, and taxed by the same rule, in the hands of individuals, as moneyed capital, it would be subject to precisely the same deductions; in addition to which the individual would be entitled to make a further deduction of any debts he might owe. Upon these grounds, therefore, we are of opinion that this mode of taxing trust companies does not create the inequality which the appellant alleges.
"Deposits in any banks for savings, which are due to the depositors, . . . shall not be liable to taxation, other than the real estate and stocks which may be owned by such bank or company, and which are now liable to taxation under the laws of this state."
"the act of Congress was not intended to curtail the state power on the subject of taxation. It simply required that capital invested in national banks should not be taxed at a greater rate than like property similarly invested. It was not intended to cut off the power to exempt particular kinds of property, if the legislature chose to do so."
Adams v. Nashville, 95 U. S. 19. The only limitation, upon deliberate reflection, we now think it necessary to add, is that these exemptions should be founded upon just reason, and not operate as an unfriendly discrimination against investments in national bank shares. However large, therefore, may be the amount of moneyed capital in the hands of individuals in the shape of deposits in savings banks as now organized, which the policy of the state exempts from taxation for its own purposes, that exemption cannot affect the rule for the taxation of shares in national banks, provided they are taxed at a rate not greater than other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens otherwise subject to taxation.
also exempted from taxation. The amount of the exemption in this case is comparatively small, looking at the whole amount of personal property and credits which are the subjects of taxation -- not large enough, we think, to make a material difference in the rate assessed upon national bank shares -- but, independently of that consideration, we think the exemption is immaterial. Bonds issued by the State of New York, or under its authority by its public municipal bodies, are means for carrying on the work of the government, and are not taxable even by the United States, and it is not a part of the policy of the government which issues them to subject them to taxation for its own purposes. Such securities undoubtedly represent moneyed capital, but, as from their nature they are not ordinarily the subjects of taxation, they are not within the reason of the rule established by Congress for the taxation of national bank shares.
The same considerations apply to what is called an exemption from taxation of shares of stock of corporations created by other states, and owned by citizens of New York, which it is agreed amount to at least the sum of $250,000,000. It is no pretended, however, that this exemption is based upon the mere will of the legislature of the state. The courts of New York hold that they are not the proper subjects of taxation in the State of New York, because they have no situs within its territory for that purpose. Hoyt v. Commissioners of Taxes, 23 N.Y. 224; People v. Commissioners of Taxes, 4 Hun. 595. The objection would be equally good if made to the nontaxation of real estate owned by citizens of New York, but not within its limits. Clearly, the property to be taxed under the rule prescribed for the taxation of national bank shares must be property which, according to the law of the state, is the subject of taxation within its jurisdiction.
Upon these grounds, substantially the same as those on which the circuit judge proceeded, 28 F. 776, we are of opinion that the appellant is not entitled to the relief prayed for.

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 § 6219
 § 312
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