City of Norfolk v. Norfolk Landmark Publishing Co.
Supreme Court of Virginia
Appeal from a decree of the Circuit Court of the city of Norfolk, pronounced December 8, 1897, in a suit in chancery wherein the appellees were the complainants, and the appellant and others were the defendants.
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Appeal from a decree of the Circuit Court of the city of Norfolk, pronounced December 8, 1897, in a suit in chancery wherein the appellees were the complainants, and the appellant and others were the defendants. This was a suit in chancery instituted by the Landmark Publishing Company, The New Pilot Publishing Company, and M. Glen-nan, owner of the Norfolk Virginian, “suing on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated,” for the purpose of enjoining the city of Norfolk from enforcing the collection of a license tax of $100 a year imposed on daily morning newspapers. The Circuit…
1Opinion of the CourtHarrison, J.
The councils of the city of Norfolk, in April, 1897, adopted an ordinance imposing a license tax on every person, firm, or corporation in that city engaged in the publication of a newspaper.
This tax is resisted upon the ground, first, that the ordinance in question is in violation of the Constitution of Virginia and the Bill of Eights, in that the freedom of the press is thereby restrained.
A tax imposed upon the business of publishing a newspaper is not an abridgement of the freedom of the press. The guaranties of the Constitution and Bill of Eights in faAror of the freedom of the press,…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Commonwealth v. Moore & GoodsonsSupreme Court of Virginia · 1875
- Humphreys v. City of NorfolkSupreme Court of Virginia · 1874
3Cited by36 opinions
- Steinbeck v. GerosaNew York Court of Appeals · 1958
- Cox Cable Hampton Roads, Inc. v. City of NorfolkSupreme Court of Virginia · 1991
- New York Public Interest Research Group, Inc. v. New York State Department of InsuranceNew York Court of Appeals · 1985
- Fallon Florist, Inc. v. City of RoanokeSupreme Court of Virginia · 1950
- Bradley & Co. v. City of RichmondSupreme Court of Virginia · 1910
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