Foster v. Farrand

The legislature of 1923 enacted in substance that all property passing by will or inheritance to a spouse, ancestor or descendant should be subject to a tax of two per cent, that passing to near collateral relatives to a tax of six per cent, and when passing to others to a tax of ten per cent. Laws 1923, c. 62. Acting under this statute, the state treasurer assessed taxes at each of the higher rates. The executor’s appeal to the probate court, and from thence to the superior court, presents the question of the constitutionality of the statute under which the tax was laid.

In Williams v. State,…