122 P. 279 | Mont. | 1912
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal by the plaintiff from a judgment on the pleadings, rendered by the district court of Silver Bow county, in favor of the defendant, dismissing the complaint.
The facts disclosed by the various pleadings are: That in July, 1904, the assessor of Silver Bow county assessed to the estate of George H. Tong, deceased, “the sum of $98,975 for pretended not proceeds of the Goldsmith quartz lode mining claim for the year ending May 31, 1904." A tax of $2,683.22 was levied pursuant to said assessment. Prior to January 14, 1904, the legal title to the mining claim was held by the State Savings Bank of Butte, as security for the payment of a debt of $67,692.24 incurred by Tong in his lifetime. Of the said $98,975, the sum of $31,282.76 was paid to the plaintiff as executrix, and the balance of $67,-692.24 was paid to the savings bank while it was the owner of the mining claim, to take up certain notes held by it as evidences of the indebtedness aforesaid, and the estate then took over the title to the property. These sums were paid by one Ellingwood, who was working the mine under an arrangement with George H. Tong, now deceased, by which he was to pay twenty-five per cent of the net proceeds to Tong as a royalty. The plaintiff
It is contended for the appellant that the pleadings raised a question of fact as to whether Tong, or his estate, was “engaged in mining” within the meaning of section 2563 of the Revised Codes, and therefore the court erred in rendering judgment on the pleadings. The section referred to reads as follows: “Every person, corporation or association engaged in mining upon any quartz vein or lode, or placer mining claim, containing gold, silver, copper, coal, lead or other valuable mineral deposits, must, between the first and tenth days of June in each year, make out a statement of the gross yield of the above-named metals or minerals from each mine owned or worked by such person, corporation or association during the year preceding the first day of June, and the value thereof. Such statement must be verified by the oath of such person, or the superintendent or managing agent of such corporation or association, who must deliver the same to the assessor of the county in which such mine or mines are situated.”
Section 3 of Article XII of the Constitution of the state reads, in part, as follows: ‘ ‘ The annual net proceeds of all mines and mining claims shall be taxed as provided by law. ’ ’
Section 2500, Revised Codes, provides that the annual net proceeds of all mines and mining claims shall be taxed as other per
An analysis of these Code provisions renders the method of
We find in this case an admission on the part of the plaintiff that the sum of $98,975, mentioned in the complaint, was in fact a portion of the net proceeds of the Goldsmith mining claim. The
.The judgment is affirmed.
’Affirmed.