AN Act for repealing certain Duties on Legacies and Shares of The first and second sections repeal the duties imposed by 20 • Two or three cases have occurred as to these duties attaching on wills of testator's residing abroad. Where a man in India made his will there, giving all his real and personal estate in trust for his natural children to be paid them on attaining the age of twenty-one; and died in that country, and one of the executors proved the will there, possessed himself of the property, and came over to England, and died before any of the legatees were of age; and the co-executor then proved the will in England, and the property was thereupon paid over to him, and the legatees were also all resident here: it was held that the duty attached. So where one of the residuary legatees of a testator in the East Indies took out administration here, and executed a power to A. and B. to settle all accounts, and receive all monies due to him as such administrator, and the balance was remitted from India to A. and B. accordingly; it was held that this money was subject to the duty. In a late case a testator in India bequeathed the residue of his estate and effects to his brother A. and his sister B. in Scotland, but in case his sister should die before him leaving children, her children to have the share she would have been entitled to; and the testator's sister died before him, and after his death the executor remitted to his agents in England part of the estate with directions to pay one moiety of it to A., and the other to B. or her children; and the children instituted a suit against the agents for their moiety, which was accordingly paid into court. Sir J. Leach observed, that if a testator died in India, and his personal estate was wholly in India, and his executor was resident there, and the will was proved there, and the executor remitted to a legatee in England, or to some other person in England, for the specific use of the legatee, the amount of his legacy, he was of opinion that the legacy duty was not payable upon such remittance, inasmuch as the whole estate was administered in in the hands of the agent of such executor, without any specific appropriation, and a -ia bequeat India, and the remittance was in respect of a demand which was to be considered ast & Pesten eV established there. But if a part of the assets of the testator was found in England, -ide. Duties to be under the management of the commissioners for stamps. Commissioners in respect of which the du ties have been paid, by the Tast act were repealed by 48 Geo. III. 149, and new duties III. And be it further enacted, That the said Duties shall be under IV. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall, to appoint re by writing under their hands and seals, or the hands and seals of the duties, and to major part of them, appoint proper persons in the several counties, keep accounts, shires, stewartries, ridings, and divisions, in Great Britain, as occasion shewing the personal estates shall require, to collect and receive the duties hereby imposed, and to keep proper accounts thereof, to be transmitted to the head office of the said commissioners; and upon payment of any such duty, if paid at the head office of the said commissioners, the said commissioners shall cause the same to be duly entered in their books, and to be set down therein to the account of the personal estate in respect whereof the said duty shall be paid, and shall make like entries in their books, upon transmission of the proper accounts for that purpose from the several officers to be appointed by the said commissioners in the different counties, shires, stewartries, ridings, and divisions, aforesaid, to whom they shall from time to time give proper orders for such purpose; and the accounts of such payments shall be kept, with Benefit " acerfondent in the purpose of being paid to B., the residuary legatee; and if B. had been the resilondon for duary legatee, and the payment had been made to her accordingly, the legacy duty would not have been payable here. But B. had died in the lifetime of the testator, gater wie hat and the gift of the residue to her had lapsed, and her children, the plaintiffs, were the come to my residuary legatees; and their bill was filed, not upon the ground of a specific appropriation of this sum to them by the executor, for no such appropriation had been but is large made, but upon the ground of their title under the will as residuary legatees, and S.. into lost because the sum in question was admitted to be part of the testator's residuary MyC estate. This sum, therefore, was estate of the testator administered here, and the legacy duty was, for that reason, payable. Logan v. Fairlie, 2 Sim. & St. 284. M proper references, in alphabetical order, according to the surname of the testator, testatrix, or intestate, in respect of whose personal estate such payments shall have been made respectively, so that it may at all times appear upon the books of the said commissioners, what payments have been made in respect of the personal estate of any testator, testatrix, or intestate. Commissioners V. And, in order that all persons may be enabled to take receipts may provide and discharges on the payment or satisfaction of any legacy, or residue printed reof any personal estate, or any part thereof, according to the directions ceipts, which may be used, prescribed by this act be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful or others of the for the said commissioners of stamp duties, from time to time, to pro- like forms. vide sufficient quantities of paper adapted for such receipts or discharges as aforesaid, and to cause to be printed thereon the form of words in the schedule hereunto annexed; and it shall also be lawful for any of his Majesty's subjects, requiring such receipts or discharges, to cause the same to be duly filled up with sums, names, and date, according to the provisions before-mentioned, and also upon any vellum or parchment, or upon any other paper not provided by the said commissioners, to use the like form whenever there shall be occasion. Duties to be paid by executors or admi nistrators on retaining or VI. And be it further enacted, That the duties hereby imposed shall, in all cases in which it is not hereby otherwise provided, be accounted for, answered, and paid, by the person or persons having or taking the burthen of the execution of the will or other testamentary paying legacies. instrument, or the administration of the personal estate of any person deceased, upon retainer for his, her, or their own benefit, or for the benefit of any other person or persons, of any legacy, or any part of any legacy, or of the residue of any personal estate, or any part of such residue, which he, she, or they shall be entitled so to retain, either in his, her, or their own right, or in the right or for the benefit of any other person or persons; and also upon delivery, payment, or other satisfaction or discharge whatsoever, of any legacy, or any part of any legacy, or of the residue of any personal estate, or any part of such residue, to which any other person or persons shall be entitled; and in case any person or persons having or taking the burthen of If duty be not paid before le such execution or administration as aforesaid, shall retain for his, her, gacies are re amount to be a or their own benefit, or for the benefit of any other person or persons, tained by exeany legacy, or any part of any legacy, or the residue of any personal cutors, or discharged, they estate, or any part of such residue, which such person or persons shall having deductbe entitled so to retain, either in his, her, or their own right, or in the ed it, the right or for the benefit of any other person or persons, and upon which any duty shall be chargeable by virtue of this act, not having first paid such duty, or shall deliver, pay, or otherwise howsoever satisfy or discharge any legacy, or any part of any legacy, or the deducting the debt from them to his Majesty; and if they pay legacies without a debt from both parties. duty, it shall be residue of any personal estate, or any part thereof, to which any other person or persons shall be entitled, and upon which any duty shall be chargeable by virtue of this act, having received or deducted the duty so chargeable, then and in every of such cases, the duty which shall be due and payable upon every such legacy, and part of legacy and residue, and part of residue respectively, and which shall not have been duly paid and satisfied to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, according to the provisions of this act, shall be a debt of such person or persons having or taking the burthen of such execution or administration as aforesaid, to his Majesty, his heirs and successors; and in case any such person or persons so having or taking the burthen of such execution or administration as aforesaid, shall deliver, pay, or otherwise howsoever satisfy or discharge any such legacy or residue, or any part of any such legacy or residue, to or for the benefit of any person or persons entitled thereto, without having received or deducted the duty chargeable thereon, (such duty not having been first duly paid to his Majesty, his heirs or successors, according to the provisions herein contained), then and in every such case such duty shall be a debt to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, both of the person or persons who shall make such delivery, payment, satisfaction, or discharge, and of the person or persons to whom the same shall be made. What shall be ric.c. deemed legacies within the 76 intent of this act.-See also VII. And be it further enacted, That any gift by any will or testamentary instrument of any person dying after the passing of this act, which shall, by virtue of such will or testamentary instrument, have effect, or be satisfied out of the personal estate of such person so dying, or out of any personal estate which such person shall have In be Cubenon. power to dispose of as he or she shall think fit, shall be deemed and thy I beat bee ing Platt & Routh & wer wol 7543 Bew. 259. 45 Geo. III. a An important case in respect of the possibility of evading the legacy duty has been decided in the Exchequer. By indentures dated the 25th of March, 1815, W. F. in consideration of 10s. bargained, sold, &c. to A. & B. a leasehold house, a sum of 75007, in the funds, and all other the personal estate which should belong to him at the time of his decease, in trust for himself for life, and after his decease to apply the produce for the maintenance and education of H. F. until twenty-one or marriage, and then in trust for H. F., her executors, &c., with a proviso for W. F. by deed or will to revoke or alter all or any of the trusts. Afterwards W. F. made his will, by which he confirmed the deed, except where it was altered by his will, and after giving some legacies appointed A. and B. his executors. At the death of W. F. the house remained in his possession; the stock was standing in his name, never having been transferred to the trustees; and he retained the entire possession of all the other property mentioned in the deed, as well as the custody of the deed itself. It was held (dissentiente Wood B.) that the deed itself was to be considered as a testamentary instrument, or that, in all events, the deed and the will together were testamentary; and that the duty therefore attached upon the property that H. F. took under them. Att. Gen. v. Jones, 3 Pri. 362. taken to be a legacy within the intent and meaning of this act, whether the same shall be given by way of annuity or in any other form, and whether the same shall be charged only on such personal estate, or charged also on real estate of the testator or testatrix who fackson shall give the same; except so far as the same shall be paid or satisfied out of such real estate, in a due execution of the will or testamentary Fes. 1. annuities, instalments, &c. VIII. And be it further enacted, That the value of any legacy The value of given by way of annuity, whether payable annually or otherwise, for and the duty, any life or lives, or for years determinable on any life or lives, or for to be calculated according to years or other period of time, shall be calculated, and the duty charge- the annexed able thereon shall be charged, according to the tables in the schedule tables, and the hereunto annexed; and the duty chargeable on such annuity shall be duty paid by paid by four equal payments, the first of which payments of duty shall be made before or on completing the payment of the first year's annuity, and the three others of such payments of duty shall be made in like manner successively, before or on completing the respective payments of the three succeeding years' annuity respectively; and the value of any such annuity, if determinable upon any contingency besides the death of any person or persons, shall be calculated without regard to such contingency: provided always, that if any such annuity shall determine by the death of any person, before four years payment of such annuity shall become due and payable, then and in such case the duty shall be payable in proportion only to so many of the payments of the said annuity as actually accrued and became due and payable; and in case any such annuity shall at any time determine upon any other contingency than the death of any person or persons, then and in such case, not only all payments of duty which would otherwise become due after the happening of such contingency, if any such would become due, shall cease; but it shall be lawful for the person or persons who shall have paid any duties which shall have previously become due, to apply for and obtain a return of so much of the duty so paid, as will reduce the same to the like duty as would have been payable by such person or persons for such annuity, calculated according to the term for which the same shall have endured ; which abatement the said commissioners for management of the stamp duties shall settle and determine according to the tables in the schedule hereunto annexed, and shall cause the amount of such abatement to be paid to the person or persons entitled to the same, out of any monies in their hands arising from the duties imposed by this act. IX. And be it further enacted, That the value of any legacy given The value of annuitie |