Henry Billings Brown

“ It is very evident that the circuit court, in striking out these pleas, took the view that the supreme court had, upon the first hearing, settled the law to be that no valid contract of exemption existed, and that if such contract existed in favor of the Louisville, New Orleans, & Texas Railway Company (hereinafter styled the Louisville Company) it had been lost by the consolidation of October 24, 1892, and that the only effect of the special pleas was to inject a claim under the Federal Constitution as an argument for reversing its ruling. ”

“ It is true that in the act of March 9, 1882, authorizing the Baton Rouge Company to consolidate, in the act of March 3, 1892, authorizing the Memphis & Vicksburg Company to consolidate, and in the act of February 17, 1882, authorizing consolidations by the Yazoo Company, there were provisions that the consolidated companies should be entitled to the rights, privileges, franchises, property grants and immunities belonging to constituent companies, among which, under the name of immunities, might pass an exemption from taxation, as has been sometimes held by this court ”

“ Great stress is laid by the railroad companies upon the fact that at the time these companies were incorporated the state was without credit, the treasury without money, the issue of state bonds in aid of public improvements forbidden by the Constitution, the levy of general taxes to assist in the building of the roads fruitless, the resources of the state having been exhausted by the civil war, which had left the community so poor that it was with difficulty the inhabitants could raise the taxes necessary for carrying on the government ”

“ In view of the terms of the consolidating agreement, to which reference has already been made, and of the several acts of the general assembly of Mississippi authorizing these consolidations, we are of opinion that a new corporation was contemplated, and that, taken together, these several documents should be read as if they had expressly provided, with legislative sanction, for the formation of a new association. Exemptions from taxation are not favored by law, and will not be sustained unless such clearly appears to have been the intent of the legislature. ”

“ The legislature is the proper guardian of the public faith, and in its action with respect to its own obligations we are bound to assume that it will be guided, not only by its present necessity for revenue, but by consideration of its possible future needs. ”

“ Public policy in all the states has almost necessarily exempted from the scope of the taxing power large amounts of property used for religious, educational, and municipal purposes; but this list ought not to be extended except for very substantial reasons; and while, as we have held in many cases, legislatures may, in the interest of the public, contract for the exemption of other property, such contract should receive a strict interpretation, and every reasonable doubt be resolved in favor of the taxing power. ”

“ Second, that the action of the defendants in withdrawing their pleas and permitting a judgment nil dicit to go against them, because the circuit court had struck from the files their additional pleas attempting to set up a Federal question, was an admission that they had no defense upon the facts of the case, and deprived them of any right to insist upon a Federal question. ”

“ The supreme court reversed the judgment of the court below, and remanded the case for a new trial. 77 Miss. 194, 24 So. 200. The court June 20, 1898, filed a summary of its holdings to the effect, first, that the case of the Natchez, J. & C. R. Co. ”