People ex rel. Throop v. Auditor General

Campbell J.:

In this case a mandamus is asked for to compel the *135Auditor General to reject the taxes upon certain lands, which were patented to the relator in 1859, on the ground that they are military bounty lands granted for services rendered during the war of 1812. By the compact under which Michigan was admitted into the Union, it was agreed that such lands, “ while they continue to be held by the patentees or their heirs,” shall be exempt from taxes “for the term of three years from and after the date of the patents respectively.” — Comp. L. p. 40.

The construction put upon this act by the…