New York Biscuit Co. v. City of Cambridge

The question in this case is whether the debts due to the plaintiff in connection with its business at Cambridge from various persons, firms, and corporations are taxable there as goods, wares, merchandise, and other stock in trade, under Pub. Sts. c. 11, § 20, cl. 1. Debts due to a person are certainly not goods, wares, or merchandise. The latter words occur in the statute of frauds, (Pub. Sts', c. 78, § 5,) and though it is held in this State that shares in corporations are goods, wares, and merchandise within the meaning of that statute, it is said that “ the words of the statute have…