John McLean

“ That many of the proprietors are non-residents, and that any proportion of them, being desirous of paying their part of the tax, would not be discharged by doing so; as a part of the entire tract, involving their interests, would be liable to be sold for any balance of the tax which remained unpaid.
Whether partition was made of the land, when the directors assessed the tax, does not appear, nor is it considered a fact of much importance in the case. No argument drawn from convenience, can enlarge the powers of the corporation. ”

“ It enacts, that when any tract of land charged with tax, is owned by two or more persons, the collector shall receive from any person tendering the same, his or her proportion of the tax due thereon.
Under this provision of the act, any one of the proprietors might, by paying his proportion of the tax, discharge the lien of the state upon his estate. And his interest could no more be affected by the sale of the right of his companion for non-payment, than if that right were conveyed away by the companion himself, or sold to pay a judgment at law. ”

“ The power of the state to collect its own taxes by its own agents, cannot be denied.
If, therefore, we find the state did create its own agents for the collection of this tax, and put into their hands all the necessary means to discharge this duty, every presumption in favour of collecting it by the agents of the corporation is excluded. On looking into the tax law of Ohio, we find the tax covered all the lands in the state, the company's lands included; that agents were appointed to collect all the tax without any exception ”

“ It has been further contended, that the suit now pending is predicated from the partition made by the directors under the Ohio act of incorporation, and consequently affirms their proceedings, and estops the defendants in error from denying the fact of their assent. No principle of law is better settled, than that one tenant in common may bring an ejectment against his companion to be let into possession. Every such tenant has a right to the common enjoyment of the whole and every part of the premises ”

“ No authorities have been adduced in support of our positions. They are supposed to rest on principles familiar to the profession. Their application to the case before the court cannot be tested by precedent, for the whole case is one sui generis. ”