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The only successful reliance on the obligation-of-contracts clause was in Central of Georgia Ry. Co. v. Wright 107 which found that an attempt to tax the lessees of a railroad on their leasehold interests. vated the original contract in the charter of the lessor railroad prescribing the exclusive mode of taxation. It had previously been held that the property itself could not be taxed to the lessees, and the Trent tax was said to be an attempt to accomplish by a change of form what had already been held forbidden. In this case it was the constitution of the state which constituted the law impairing the obligation of the contract.

The cases remaining for consideration involve objections to congressional legislation which are predicated upon the due-process clause of the Fifth Amendment. Fink v. County Commissioners108 allowed Indian lands which when allotted were declared nontaxable and inanable for a term of years to be made alienable and taxable in the huds of an alienee. For all that appears the original exemption was garded as contractual, though the question is not considered. The case is disposed of on the ground that "it invades no right of the Ithan .... to make the alienation of the land a surrender of the exemption from taxation." While the opinion specifically left udecided the question "whether a grantee of an Indian could avail hmself of the Indian's right, if he had any, to assert the unconstitutotality of an act of Congress," it expressed approval of the de son of the state court that the alienee who acquired the opportunity to purchase the land only through the removal of the pror restriction on alienation, cannot repudiate the conditions on which the restriction is removed. On the economics of the legislation so far as it affects the interests of the Indian, Mr. Justice McKenna observed: “It is an error to suppose that this takes anything of value from the Indian. We may here invoke the commonplace, for it is a e-mmonplace to say that we only know the value of a thing by that which makes its worth. Under the restriction against the alienation the land had no worth but in its uses; the restriction removed, it had the added worth of exchangeability for other things a power of sale was conferred. To say there was no value in that power is to contradict the examples and estimations of the world."

*** 1919 248 U 8-525-39 Sup Ct 181 ** 1919–248 U S-399-39 Sap Ct 128

Constitutional Law

in 1919-1920

BY

THOMAS REED POWELL

[REPRINTED FROM THE MICHIGAN LAW RETTEW, Ye XIX

No. 1, 2 and 3)

Copyright 1921

BY THE MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW ASSOCIATION

ANN ARBOR

THE MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW ASSOCIATION

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW IN 1919-1920*

A REVIEW OF THE DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES ON CONSTITUIONAL QUESTIONS DURING THE OCTOBER TERM, 1919

THIS

HIS review aims to include all the decisions on constitutional questions rendered by the Supreme Court of the United States during the October Term of court which began in October, 1919, and ended in June, 1920.1 The treatment for the most part contents itself

*This is the first of a series of three papers on this topic. The others will appear in succeeding issues.

1

1 Similar reviews of decisions from 1914 to 1919 have appeared in the AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW, XII, 17-49, 427-457, 640-666, XIII, 47-77, 229-250, 607-633, and XIV, 53-73. That journal plans to continue to review each year the more important decisions of the Supreme Court. It also publishes in nearly every issue a review called "Judicial Decisions on Public Law." Recent ones by Robert E. Cushman will be found in volume XI, pp. 545-555, 720-730, volume XII, pp. 95-105, 272-287, 475-488, 685-694, volume XIII, pp. 100-107, 281-292, 451-459, and volume XIV, pp. 303-316, 461-470. In the Record of Political Events published as a supplement to each September issue of the POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY is a section called "The Federal Judiciary" which summarizes briefly the important decisions of the Supreme Court during the preceding year. In 35 POL. SCI. QUART. 411, is an article called "The Supreme Court and the Constitution, 1919-1920," which reviews the important decisions of the past year. The QUARTERLY plans to publish similar articles in each September issue. In the AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION JOURNAL, volume VI, pp. 22-33, is a "Review of Recent Supreme Court Decisions" by S. S. Gregory, dealing with selected decisions. It is announced that similar reviews will be contained in the succeeding issues. Each issue of the BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL TAX ASSOCIATION Contains a department called "Decisions and Rulings" which reviews a large number of decisions on taxation. This is not confined to decisions of the Supreme Court.

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