9 N.Y.S. 182 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1890
• The real question presented by this appeal is whether an act of the legislature which specifies that it shall take effect “immediately” so takes effect upon its passage by both houses, or upon its approval by the governor. The appellant’s contention is that, although it only became a law upon the governor’s approval, yet upon such approval it took effect, by legal relation, from the date of its passage; and he cites Latless v. Holmes, 4 Term R. 660, in support of this contention. In that case it was held, reaffirming
This conclusion is decisive of the present appeal. Mrs. Kemeys died on the 6th of November, 1885. Under her will, her residuary estate plainly vested in Walter T. Kemeys. As the law stood at the time of Mrs. Kemeys’ death, Walter T. Kemeys was not exempt from the collateral inheritance tax. Laws 1885, c. 483. The law exempting persons who, like Mr. Kemeys, stood to the deceased, for not less than 10 years prior to her death, in the mutually acknowledged relation of child, was not passed until 1887, (chapter 713,) and it has been decisively held that this latter law was not retroactive. In re Miller, 110 N. Y. 217, 18 N. E. Rep. 139. There have been differences of opinion, however, as to whether, in a case of this acknowledged relation, the legal machinery for the assessment of the tax could be set in motion,' or, if set in motion, the assessment ordered, after the act of 1887 went into effect. In Re Cager, 46 Hun, 659, it was held that it could not, while in Re Arnett's Estate, 2 N. Y. Supp. 428, it was held that it could. And see Kissam v. People, 6 Dem. Sur. 171,
3 N. Y. Supp. 135.