interest as soon after my death as the trustees in their sole discretion may find convenient." Among these legacies was a legacy of £12,000 to his brother in liferent and to the latter's children in fee. The residue of the trust estate was to be divided among such charitable institutions in Great Britain as the trustees in their sole discretion should select. Held that the estate duty falling to be paid under section 14 of the Finance Act 1914 on the liferented sum of £12,000, upon the death of the liferenter, was a charge against the residue of the trust estate, and did not fall to be paid out of the corpus of the legacy. Dunn's Trustees v. Dunn, p. 411. -- ... Succession Intermediate Vesting subject to Defeasance or Postponed Vesting. Direction to Hold for A's Liferent Alimentary Use and that of his Wife in Case she shall Survive him, and thereafter" for behoof of A's Lawful Issue, or the Survivors of them in Fee, whom failing his Nearest Heirs and Assignees in Fee-Period at which Heirs of A Ascertained. A testator directed his trustees, instead of paying over to his son the balance of his share, " to hold and retain the same in trust for his liferent alimentary use and for behoof of his present wife, in case she shall survive him, for her liferent alimentary use, . . . and thereafter for behoof of his lawful issue or the survivors of them equally among them in fee, whom failing his nearest lawful heirs and assignees in fee." The son, who survived his father, died intestate in 1884 leaving a widow and a son. The latter died in 1898 leaving no issue but survived by his wife, to whom he had bequeathed his whole estate. On the death of the son's widow in 1922 claims to succeed to the said share were made (1) by the grandson's widow, and (2) by the son's nearest lawful heirs as ascertained at that date, viz., 1922. Held (diss. Lord Hunter) that the fee of the son's share of his father's estate did not vest till the death of the son's widow in 1922, and that accordingly the claim of the son's nearest lawful heirs as at that date fell to be sustained. Wilson's Trustees v. Mackenzie and Others, p. 423. Testament - Revocation Special Destination-Destinations in Stock Certificates--Government Stock Administered in England Purchased by Scottish Testator in Names of Himself and WifeLaw Regulating Succession thereto-Law of England or Law of Testator's Domicile. A Scottish testator by trust-disposition and settlement conveyed to his trustees his whole estate for behoof of his widow in liferent and his children in fee. He subsequently effected three investments in War Stock, the certificates of which were taken in the names of himself and his wife. Upon his decease his widow maintained that the purchase of the War Stock constituted a contract with the Bank of England, that the succession to the War Stock fell to be regulated by the law of England, and that accordingly she was entitled in terms of the certificates, interpreted by English law, to succeed to the entire amount thereof. Held (1) that the special destinations in these investments had not been evacuated by the trust-disposition and settlement, and (2) that the destinations in the certificates fell to be interpreted according to the law of Scotland. Cunningham's Trustees v. Cunningbam, p. 441. Succession Testament-Revocation-Special Destinations Followed by General Disposition Clause in Disposition Irreconcilable with Special Destinations. A testator, who was survived by his wife, left as part of his estate certain stocks and shares, some of which stood in the joint names of himself and his wife, and others in the joint names of himself and his wife and the survivor. All these investments had been made out of the testator's own means, and the titles thereto were found in his repositories after his death, there having been no gift or delivery of them to his wife during his lifetime. The testamentary writings, which consisted of a trust-disposition and several codicils, did not contain any express revocation of prior special destinations. The last codicil, however, which was subsequent in date to the investments to which this appeal related, was practically a new settlement, and contained a general conveyance of the testator's whole estate and a clause which gave to his niece an option to purchase after the death of his wife any shares held by him at the time of his death, or held by his wife at the time of her death, at a valuation not greater than the cost price and specified as shares which she might so acquire, certain shares among which were included some of the shares standing in the names of himself and his wife, and of himself and his wife and the survivor. The enumeration was followed by the words "or others if preferable.' Held (aff. judgment of the First Division) that as the right of purchase conferred on the niece by the last codicil was irreconcilable with the special destinations in the share certificates, the destinations contained therein were revoked by the general conveyance. Dennis's Trustees v. Dennis and Others, p. 484. Vesting-Object of Gift-Direction to Convey Estate on Expiry of Liferent to "the Parties Legally Entitled_thereto " -Period at which Parties to be Ascertained Collatio inter hæredes-Testate Succession. - Heir-at-Law Taking Heritage under Bequest "to the Parties Legally Entitled thereto"-Collation of Ancestor's Heritage by General Disponee of Heir-atlaw-Whether Heritage Remains Heritable in Heir's Succession. A testator directed his trustees, on the death of his wife to whom he had left the liferent of his whole estate, to "hold, manage, realise, divide, or convey over to the parties legally entitled thereto" the whole free rent and residue of his estate. He left no issue but was survived by his wife and by a brother and sister, who were his next-of-kin, the brother being his heir-at-law. The brother predeceased the widow, leaving a will by which he conveyed to his eldest son his whole estate, heritable and moveable, possessed by or due to him at the time of his death. He was survived by his eldest son and by five other children, by whom or by whose representatives legitim was claimed. The testator's estate was partly heritable and partly moveable. The testator's sister survived his widow and was at the date of the widow's death the testator's sole next-of-kin. Held (1) that the testator's brother took a vested interest in the brother's estate a morte testatoris; (2) that the testator's estate fell to be distributed in the same manner as if he had died intestate, the brother having a right to demand a share of the moveables on condition of collating the heritage; (3) (the Lord President dissenting) that in the absence of election by the brother to collate or not to collate, his eldest son was entitled as his general disponee to demand a share of the testator's moveable estate on collating the testator's herit age; and (4) (per Lords Skerrington, Cullen, and Sands) that in a question between the brother's eldest son and his other children, if the eldest son collated the testator's heritage, one-half of it would remain heritable in the brother's succession. Waddell's Judicial Factor v. Waddell and Others, p. 675. Succession -Will-Construction -Residue or Intestacy-Lapsed Bequest out of Residue-Net Residue. Atestator after providing for payment of certain legacies, and for payment of the free income of the "residue and remainder" of his estate to his wife during her lifetime, directed his trustees in the event which happened of his dying without issue, on the termination of the wife's liferent, to pay out of the residue" a legacy of £10,000 free of death duties to his niece or her issue, and to pay the "net residue " to his brother or his issue. Vesting of the £10,000 in the niece and of the "net residue" was expressly postponed until the termination of the liferent. The legacy lapsed owing to the niece predeceasing the testator without issue. The wife and the brother survived the testator, the brother predeceasing the wife and leaving issue. The testator was also survived by sisters and children of a predeceasing sister. Held that on the terms of the deed there was an ultimate residuary gift to the brother which was intended to be affected by the additional legacy of £10,000 in the same way as it was affected by the other legacies, and that therefore the legacy of £10,000 did not fall into intestacy, but fell to be included in the "net residue" payable to the brother. Stewart's Trustees v. Lawrence and Others, p. 691. Succession Arising under a Disposition. See Revenue, Succession Duty. See Revenue. Summary Complaint. See Justiciary Cases. Summary Procedure. See Justiciary Cases. Summing-Up by Sheriff. See Justiciary Cases. Super Tax. See Revenue. Superior Seeking Reconveyance. See Company. Suspension. See Administration of Justice. Suspension and Interdict. See Process. Suspension and Liberation. See Justiciary Cases. Taxation. See Expenses. Tenant's Share of Profits. See Valuation Testament. See Succession. Justice. Title to Sue. See Administration of See Justiciary Cases-Reparation-Process-Interdict. Trade Profits. See Revenue. Tramway-Statutory Cars for Workmen at Reduced Fares-Right to Exclude Other Passengers from Statutory Car - Postman Using Car Provided for "Artisans, Mechanics," and "Daily Labourers". Hamilton, Motherwell, and Wishaw Tramways Act 1900 (63 and 64 Vict. cap. cxxi), sec. 75-Statute - ConstructionTramway Act-Obligation to Run Certain Cars for Specified Classes of Persons -Right to Exclude Other Members of Travelling Public. A tramway company was required by the provision of its private Act to "run a reasonable number of carriages" at such times within certain hours as the company should think most convenient for "artisans, mechanics, daily labourers, clerks, and shop assistants" at charges not exceeding one-halfpenny per mile. Held (1) that the company was entitled to fulfil the statutory obligations by providing cars to be used only by the classes specified in the section, and (2) that a postman, not being included within the classes specified in the section, was not entitled to travel on a car so provided. The Lanarkshire Tramway Company v. M'Naughton, p. 62. Transfer of Trust Funds. See Charitable Trust. Trespass. See Interdict. Trust-Tutor-at-Law-Power to Sell Heritage-Trusts (Scotland) Act 1921 (11 and 12 Geo. V, cap. 58), sec. 4 (1). The Trusts (Scotland) Act 1921, which provides (section 4 (1)) that in all trusts the trustees shall have power, inter alia, to sell heritage, also provides--Section 2—“Trust shall mean and include (b) the appointment of any tutor by deed, decree, or otherwise. "Trust deed' shall mean and include (b) any decree, deed, or other writing appointing a 'Trustee' shall mean and include . any tutor. . . Held that the Trusts (Scotland) Act 1921 does not include within its ambit the case of a "tutor-at-law," in respect that he owes his position to the operation of the common law and not to any appointment. Shearer (Shearer's Tutor), Petitioner, p. 309, tutor. - See Succession-Charitable Trust. Tutor-at-Law. See Trust. Tutor-Dative. See Judicial Factor. Unemployment during Period of Strike. Unsuccessful Attempt to Let Deer Forest Validity. See Workmen's Compensation -Contract-Justiciary Cases. Valuation -Value-Grass Parks-Arable Land Converted into Grass Parks Valuation as Ordinary Agricultural Land Farm Valued as a Single Agricultural Subject-"Fair Annual Value." Land which had been let as grass parks and had been thereafter broken up for a course of cropping, was subsequently again laid out in grass parks in such a way that in the year in question the subjects had come to consist of first, second, and third years' grass and old grass in various proportions. The parks were let for the season at a certain rent per annum. The Valuation Committee valued the whole farm at a sum for which it might be expected to let from year to year as a single agricultural subject. Held on appeal that the Valuation Committee were wrong, and that the value ought to have been assessed at the rents actually received for the grass parks in the condition in which they were when they were let, subject of course to the recognised deductions. Duffus v. Assessor for Aberdeenshire (1919 S.C. 484, 56 S.L.R. 115) followed. Assessor for Morayshire v. Bruce, p. 233. Value Salmon Fishings Deductions Purchase of Net Fishings by Upper Proprietors in Order to Improve Rod Fishing Cost of Purchase to be Taken into Account in Assessing Value of Rod Fishings. Held that where the proprietors of the salmon fishings of the upper reaches of a river had bought up the net fishings at its mouth in order that the rod fishing on the river might be improved, the expense of the purchase was an element to be taken into account in assessing the value of the river fishings. M'Corquodale v. Assessor for Sutherlandlandshire, p. 235. Value-Contractor's Principle -Engineering and Shipbuilding Works Conditions of Industry-Over-all Abatement in view of Prolonged Trade Depression. Certain engineering and shipbuilding firms on the Clyde appealed against the assessor's valuation of their works, determined upon the contractor's principle, on the ground of the depression of trade and the declining condition of the industries, which they alleged to be of a quasi permanent character. It was maintained that the circumstances were analogous to those of the steel and iron industries, in which a percentage reduction in the valuations had been sanc tioned. The Valuation Committee authorised upon this ground an overhead reduction of 12 per cent. on the valuation. Held on appeal that no evidence had been led proving the existence of special conditions affecting the engineering and shipbuilding industries differentiating them from other industries suffering from the existing general trade depression, and that accordingly the overhead reduction which the Valuation Committee had sanctioned ought not to be sustained. Colville & Sons, Limited v. Assessor for Lanarkshire, 1922 S.C. 460, 59 S.L. R. 348, and Merry & Cuninghame, Limited v. Assessor for Lanarkshire, 1923 S. C. 687, 60 S. L. R. 305, commented on. G. & J. Weir, Limited, and Others v. Assessor for Glasgow; Assessor for Glasgow v. G. & J. Weir, Limited, and Others, p. 384. Valuation Cases-Value-Salmon Fishings -Deductions-Expenses to be Taken into Account in Assessing Value of Rod Fishings on River - Expense of Watchers Expense of Attendance at Sluices. Held that the expense of the services of river watchers, so far as they were rendered on behalf of the tenant of the fishings, and also the expense of attendance at sluices on the river in order to regulate the flow of water, formed a proper deduction in estimating the value of the salmon fishings on a river for the purpose of assessment. M'Corquodale v. Assessor for Sutherlandshire, p. 235. Value - Shootings - Grouse Moor in Occupation of Proprietor-Evidence of Value-General Increase in Letting Value of Similar Subjects - Extract Produced by Assessor from Valuation Roll-No Evidence Given by Assessor-Onus of Proof. A grouse moor the valuation of which previous to the war had been £425 was during the war entered in the roll at £100. The valuation was afterwards increased to £130, and subsequently to £200. In the year in question, the moor being in the occupation of the proprietor, the assessor proposed to increase its valuation to £365. In an appeal by the proprietor to the Valuation Committee no evidence was led on either side. The Valuation Committee having before them a statement prepared by the assessor of the rents actually obtained for other neighbouring shootings as stated in the valuation roll, and taking into account the relative annual value of the shooting in prewar years as well as the increased cost of upkeep, fixed the valuation at £300. Held that in the circumstances the Valuation Committee were justified in arriving at their determination. Observed (per Lord Sands) that where the assessor in claiming an increase of valuation founded upon a list of similar subjects selected from the valuation roll, it was generally desirable that he should explain in the witness-box how the list was made up and the inferences which he drew from it. Viscountess Cowdray v. Assessor for Aberdeenshire, p. 238. Value-Shootings-Deer Forest and Shootings in Occupation of Proprietor -Subjects Let for Season Basis of Valuation-Valuation of Lands (Scotland) Act 1856 (17 and 18 Vict. cap. 91), sec. 6. A deer forest and grouse moor in the proprietor's hands had been valued for the years 1910-14 at an average amount of £1248 and £455 respectively. For the years 1919-23 the forest had been valued at £440 and the shootings at from £100 to £125. In 1923 the deer forest and moor were let together for three months at a rent of £3500. The Valuation Committee, proceeding on the ground that the rent received for the season afforded the best evidence of the annual value of the subjects, and taking into account expenses of upkeep, fixed the valuation of the subjects for the year 1923-24 at £1350 and £455 respectively. In an appeal by the proprietor it was contended by the appellant that the rent received for the season could not be taken as determining the proper valuation for the whole year, and that the sum to be taken was the average rent for the years 1910-14, subject to a reduction of one-sixth in respect of increased expenses. Held that the Valuation Committee were entitled to take the amount of the rent obtained for the season as affording the best evidence of the annual value of the subjects, and valuation upheld. M'Kenzie v. Assessor for Aberdeenshire, p. 243. Valuation Cases-Gas Company-Expenses of Management-Directors and Auditors' Fees-Whether Allowable in toto as Expenses of the Company. In estimating the expenditure of a gas company, who were the owners and occupiers of the gas works, to be deducted from the gross receipts, in order to ascertain the net revenue for the purpose of assessment, held that the amount of directors and auditors' fees due in respect of services rendered in connection with the production and distribution of gas was properly included as a deduction. Cowdenbeath Gas Company, Limited v. Assessor for Fifeshire, et e contra, p. 246. Value Tenant's Capital Rates and Taxes-Proportion - Whether Included in Tenant's Capital. Held that in estimating the net receipts of a gas company for the purpose of valuation, and looking to the other allowances sanctioned as tenant's capital, a claim to deduct 10 per cent. of revenue as an allowance for rates and taxes had been rightly disallowed. Cowdenbeath Gas Company, Limited v. Assessor for Fifeshire, et e contra, p. 246. Value - Tenant's Capital - Interest - Consideration of Security - Rate of Interest to be Allowed on Capital before Earnings Treated as Profit. In determining the rate of interest to be allowed to a gas company on tenant's capital a rate of 7 per cent. was fixed by the Valuation Committee on the ground that as the security offered consisted of the company's credit only, a rate higher than that to be obtained on the best ordinary security was required. Held on appeal that an ordinary fair rate of interest only ought to be allowed before earnings were to be treated as profit, and rate fixed as 5 per cent. Cowdenbeath Gas Company, Limited v. Assessor for Fifeshire, et e contra, p. 246. Valuation Cases-Gas Works-Gas Cookers and Meters Provided Free by Gas Company-Whether Receipts therefrom and Costs of Maintenance Fell to be Included in Stating Company's Accounts for Valuation on Revenue Principle. In estimating for valuation purposes on the revenue principle the value of gas works belonging to and in the occupation of a private gas company which supplied on hire gas cookers and meters to its customers, the assessor excluded from his estimate both the receipts from the hire of the meters and cookers and the expense of maintaining them, on the ground that the supplying of these articles constituted an independent industry unconnected with the company's normal business. The assessor on the same ground excluded the value of the gas cookers from his computation of tenant's capital. Held on appeal that the provision of gas cookers was under present circumstances, like the supply of gas meters, an ordinary part of a gas company's industry, and that accordingly the hire of the cookers and meters as well as the cost of their maintenance fell to be taken into account. Held further that the value of the gas cookers ought to be included as part of the tenant's capital. Observed that the ratio of the decision in Kirkcaldy GasLight Company, Limited v. Assessor for Kirkcaldy (1905, 7 F. 430, 42 S. L.R. 510) was not applicable to present conditions. Stranraer Gas Company, Limited v. Assessor for Stranraer, p. 253. Value-Gas Works-Tenant's Capital Interest Rate of Interest to be Allowed before Earnings Treated as Profit. Held (following Cowdenbeath Gas Company, Limited v. Assessor for Fifeshire, ante, p. 246) that for the purpose of valuation of a gas company's undertaking according to the revenue principle the rate of interest on tenant's capital fell to be fixed at 5 per cent. Stranraer Gas Company, Limited v. Assessor for Stranraer, p. 253. Value-Deer Forest in Occupation of Owner-Evidence of Value-Unsuccessful Attempt to Let-General Reduction in Letting Values-Sufficiency of Proof-Recent Sale of Subjects as Evidence of Value. A sporting estate, comprising a deer forest and fishings, after having been let on lease from 1902 to 1918, was purchased by the lessee in 1919, who three years later let part of it for the season. In the following year (1923) he endeavoured without success to secure a tenant at the same or a somewhat lower rent, and the whole estate remained for the season in the owner's hands. The assessor estimated the annual value of the estate for the year 1923-24 at the amount for which it had been let while on lease, that figure having remained in the roll since the purchase of the estate. The owner claimed that the amount for which a portion of the estate had been let in 1922 should be adopted as the proportional basis of valuation of the whole estate. Held that the fact of an unsuccessful attempt having been made to let the estate was not in itself sufficient evidence of a general reduction in the letting value of deer forests and fishings. Held further that the price recently paid for an estate in the owner's occupation was a consideration which the assessor was entitled to take into account in estimating its annual value for the purpose of assessment, and valuation upheld. Duke of Westminster v. Assessor for Sutherlandshire, p. 256. Valuation Cases-Competency--Appeal on Question other than Value-Lease - Renunciation-Notice of Correction of Entry in Valuation Roll-Refusal of Assessor to Accept Notice-Value-Lease for Ninetynine Years Yearly Rent or Value Valuation of Lands (Scotland) Act 1854 (17 and 18 Vict. cap. 91), sec. 6. A firm of grain merchants contracted with a harbour trust to erect a grain mill to the value of £50,000 upon a piece of ground belonging to the trust. They entered upon a ninety-nine years' lease of the ground, in which they undertook to pay a rent for the ground of £125 until the mill was completed, and thereafter, or at latest after the expiry of three years, the rent was to be £750. It was also provided that the lessees were to relieve the harbour trustees of all public and parochial burdens and assessments. Under a minute of agreement dated 24th July and 2nd August 1923, and before the mill had been erected, the trust in consideration of a sum of £20,000 accepted a renunciation of the lease as from Whitsunday 1923. The assessor made up the valuation roll in terms of the Valuation Acts on 15th August 1923, entering the former lessees as proprietors in respect of their lease being for more than twenty-one years, and also as tenants and occupiers, no intimation having at that date been received by him of the lease having been cancelled. The ex-lessees intimated to the assessor on 7th September 1923 that the lease had been cancelled, and requested him to remove their names from the the valuation roll, which he declined to do, on the ground that notice of the cancellation had not been given to him until after the roll had been made up. The Valuation Committee on appeal confirmed the assessor's decision. On an appeal, held (1) (following British Linen Company v. Assessor for Aberdeen, 1906, 8 F. 508, 43 S.L.R. 442) that no appeal was competent to the Valuation Appeal Court to alter the description of the lessees as proprietors and tenants and occupiers of the subjects; (2) further, that in view of the fact that the lease was one for more than twenty-one years the proper rent of the subjects was not necessarily the rent under the lease, but the rent at which the subjects in their actual state might be reasonably expected to let, and that in the circumstances of the present case this should be £125 plus the amount of public and parochial burdens and assessments. W. Vernon & Sons, Limited v. Assessor for Greenock, p. 322. Valuation Cases Machinery Fixed or Attached Engineering and Shipbuilding Works Mechanical Appliances Weighbridges Whether Heritable or Moveable Lands Valuation (Scotland) Amendment Act 1902 (2 Edw. VII, eap. 25), sec. 1. In connection with engineering and shipbuilding industries certain machines known as weighbridges were used for weighing railway trucks. These machines were placed upon concrete foundations and fixed in an excavation in the ground, into which the frame of the machine was put and brickwork built in to conform thereto, the machine itself being super-imposed upon the frame without being bolted to the foundation in any way. The Valuation Committee were of opinion that the brick-lined excavation into which the weighing machine was placed might be regarded as a building, and therefore that the weighbridge being within a building occupied for trade ought to be regarded as moveable in terms of the Lands Valuation (Scotland) Amendment Act 1902. Held on appeal that the foundation of the machine was not a building in the sense of the Act, and that the weighbridge ought to be regarded as heritable. G. & J. Weir, Limited, and Others v. Assessor for Glasgow, p. 384. -Subjects--Machinery Fixed or Attached Mechanical Appliances-Tower Cranes -Gantries for Travelling Cranes- Whether Heritable or Moveable. Tower cranes used in engineering and shipbuilding works were erected upon a concrete foundation, to which the towers were attached by means of bolts. The jib or rotating portion rested on the top of the tower without being bolted to it, but could not be removed from the tower except by taking it or the tower or both to pieces. In the same works steel gantries were also erected for carrying moveable travelling cranes. These consisted of a double row of latticed columns bolted to foundations, and connected both lengthways and crossways by girders, along which ran a line of rails on which the cranes moved. Held that the gantries, and also the lower part of the tower cranes, were heritable, and that the jib portion of the tower cranes being an essential part of the crane could not be treated separately, and that the crane as a whole was heritable. G. & J. Weir, Limited, and Others v. Assessor for Glas gow, p. 384. Subjects Machinery Fixed or Attached Mechanical Appliances Hydraulic Cranes-Hydraulic Accumu lators - Whether Heritable or Moveable. Hydraulic cranes used in certain engineering and shipbuilding works were so erected that the concrete foundation required for their use was constructed partly above and partly below the ground level. The post of the crane was inserted in a casting embedded in this foundation. |