Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ Miller died on October 14, 1916. The statute imposes a tax upon the transfer of all property which shall pass in trust or otherwise by will or by statutes of inheritance or by deed or gift made without valuable and adequate consideration in contemplation of the death of the grantor or donor, or to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after such death.
The plaintiffs in error admit that if the statute had been in operation at the time of the transfer the tax would have been due, so that it is not necessary to go into further particulars about the act. ”

“ The first of these suits was brought by the Controller of Nevada to collect a transfer tax alleged to be due under a statute of Nevada approved on March 26, 1913, to take effect thirty days from that date. Nevada Stats. of 1913, c. 266, p. 411. The second suit was brought to quiet title to the shares of stock in respect of which the tax was assessed-to establish that there was no lien upon or claim against them for the tax. The two cases were heard together in the state courts and here upon the same facts. The Supreme Court of Nevada held that the tax was due and decided in favor of the State. ”

“ Henry Miller, a resident of California, was the owner of 119,875.75 shares of the stock of Miller & Lux, Incorporated, a Nevada corporation. Miller & Lux, Incorporated, owned the stock of the Pacific Live Stock Company, a California corporation, and the latter owned real estate and personal property in Nevada appraised at $1,431,236.86. ”