United States v. Hazard
1881 U.S. App. LEXIS 2355
U.S. Cir. Ct.
1881
Check Treatment
Butler, D. J.

Judgment must be entered for the defendant on the special verdict. The testator having died in 1865, the claim of the government rests on the act of 1864, as modified in 1866. By this act, thus modified, no tax was imposed until the beneficiaries under the will, or intestate laws, came to the possession or enjoyment of their property. The provisions, in this respect, touching legacies and successions, were substantially the same, — if not identical; and the decision in Clapp v. Mason, 94 U. S. 589, therefore, leaves nothing open to discussion. What is said in that case applies with equal force here. This act — differing from that of 1862 — created no lien or charge until the government was authorized to demand the tax. No right accrued until that time. The legacies here involved did not vest in possession or enjoyment until 1874, — four years subsequently to the repeal of the statute. This view renders an examination of other questions discussed by counsel unnecessary. What is, or is not, a vested legacy or devise, under the decisions in this state, is often a very difficult question. Here we need not consider it.