United States v. W. H. Cocke

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

This case — involving questions of oil and gas depletion, depreciation, and intangible drilling and development costs 1 — provides a setting for our occasional departure from the doctrine of stare decisis. The taxpayer argues, and the government concedes, that the disposition of the present case depends upon whether the doctrine of Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. J. S. Abercrombie Co., 5 Cir. 1947, 162 F.2d 338, stands or falls. Because the Court believed the question to be one of exceptional importance to which uniformity of decision is vital, a hearing en banc…