Case Name: CRESCENT BED CO., Limited, v. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS et al.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1903-12-14
Citations: 111 La. 124
Docket Number: No. 14,714
Parties: CRESCENT BED CO., Limited, v. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Reports
Volume: 111
Pages: 123–125

Head Matter:
(35 South. 484.)
No. 14,714.
CRESCENT BED CO., Limited, v. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS et al.
(Dec. 14, 1903.)
STATUTES—CONSTRUCTION—TAXATION-EXEMPTIONS.
1. When an act that has received judicial interpretation is re-enacted in the same terms, that construction must be considered to have the sanction of the legislative body, unless the-contrary appears.
2. The interpretation of the constitutional exemption from taxation as not extending to any other manufacturer of furniture than of wood is adhered to.
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Appeal from Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans; Walter Byers Sommerville, Judge.
Action by the Crescent Bed Company, Limited, against the city of New Orleans and others. Judgment for defendants, -and plaintiff appeals.
Affirmed.
William Sterling Parkerson, for appellant. Frank Bartlett Thomas, Asst. Oity Atty., for appellee city of New Orleans.

Opinion:
PROVOSTY, J.
Twelve years ago this court interpreted the constitutional exemption from taxation as not extending to any other manufacturer of furniture than of wood. Gast v. Board of Assessors, 43 La. Ann. 1104, 10 South. 184. From that time to this that interpretation has been acquiesced in and acted upon by the business community and by the revenue officers. In this interval the constitutional convention of 1898 has met, and re-enacted without change in word or punctuation the provision thus interpreted. Now at this late day the plaintiff asks this court to change this interpretation and extend the exemption to manufacturers of "iron furniture and wooden-frame springs." The rule is that when an act or part thereof that has received a judicial interpretation is re-enacted in the same terms, that construction must be considered to have the sanction of the legislative body, unless the contrary appears. Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law (1st Ed.) vol. 23, p. 370; State v. Brewer, 22 La. Ann. 273; Globe Lumber Co. v. Clement, 34 South. 595, 110 La. 438; State ex rel. Da Ponte v. Board of Assessors, 35 La. Ann. 655.
Judgment affirmed.