Coleman, Auditor v. Inland Gas Corporation

Dissenting Opinion by

Judge Clay.

At an early day the courts were so imbued with the theory that the common law was the perfection of reason that it was difficult to get them to give any effect to a statute enacted for the sole purpose of changing the common law. Animated by this spirit of reluctance, the court gave two constructions to what is now section 162, Kentucky Statutes—one to the effect that it did not apply to taxes voluntarily paid, and the other that it applied only to public officers and not to taxpayers. It is true that after the two constructions the Legislature re-enacted the…