Lott R. Herrick

The case involved defendant Corydon A. Black's conviction for the murder by poisoning of his divorced wife, with his punishment fixed at death by a jury in Cook County criminal court; he appealed, raising claims of insanity as a defense. The court reversed the judgment and remanded the cause, holding that prejudicial errors occurred at trial. The core reasoning was that a prosecution medical expert improperly formed and offered an opinion on the defendant's sanity based in part on hearsay reports from others without a hypothetical question, invading the jury's role, and that evidence of the defendant's unrelated prior criminal offenses and an accusation was erroneously admitted, which could have improperly influenced the jury's decisions on guilt and the death penalty in this capital case.

criminal lawprocedure

The case concerned whether a $7,000 promissory note returned by William B. Polhemus to his nephew Joseph B. Polhemus in January 1934, less than two years before the uncle's death, was subject to Illinois inheritance tax as a transfer made in contemplation of death. The county court assessed a $420 tax on the transfer under the Inheritance Tax Act, which creates a prima facie presumption that gifts without consideration within two years of death are made in contemplation of death, and the nephew appealed. The Illinois Supreme Court upheld the tax, ruling that the statutory presumption is constitutional because it is rebuttable rather than conclusive and merely establishes a rule of evidence. The court further found that the evidence, including the donor's declining health and the timing of a revised will that treated the note as still part of the estate, supported the conclusion that the gift occurred in contemplation of death and not at an earlier date as the appellant claimed.

taxesproperty

The case concerned whether two parcels of real estate owned by Lake Forest University but rented to tenants rather than used for school purposes were exempt from 1933 general property taxes under the terms of the university's charter. The county court entered a judgment and sale order against the parcels for nonpayment. The supreme court reversed, reasoning that the 1869 charter amendment broadly exempted all property belonging to the corporate entity Lake Forest University, that this exemption formed a contract protected under the 1848 constitution, and that the charter language plainly covered the rented tracts without ambiguity or limitation to academic premises.

taxesproperty

The case concerned whether Rose Hunt Taylor, a stockholder in the insolvent Peoples State Bank of Ramsey, faced additional liability under the Illinois Constitution for holding six shares of bank stock from 1922 to 1930 and then a separate six shares from March 1930 until the bank's closure in 1931, as opposed to only one continuous holding of six shares. Creditors sued to enforce the constitutional super-added liability on stockholders for unpaid deposits incurred during their ownership periods, and the trial court imposed liability only on the later holding while the Appellate Court reversed to include both. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the two holdings involved distinct portions of the bank's capital stock, even though the number of shares was identical, because the transfers were recorded and the constitutional liability attaches to each period of ownership separately. The court reasoned that the temporary transfer to her husband for director qualification purposes did not preserve identity of the stock for liability purposes, and her later acquisition from another shareholder created a new ownership interest subject to its own liabilities.

business & regulatoryprocedure

The case involved the county collector of Cook County seeking a judgment against property for 1934 delinquent taxes, with the property owner objecting to the validity of the county highway corporate tax levy of $1.7 million. The county court had sustained objections to $1,441,550.24 of the levy, finding issues with items for interest on prior tax anticipation warrants and notes and an excessive tax deficiency fund. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed, holding that the appropriation and levy ordinances sufficiently itemized purposes, distinguished amounts payable from the levy versus other sources, and complied with the Counties Act and Revenue Act requirements for detailing assets, liabilities, and estimates. The court reasoned that the levy for estimated interest on 1934 warrants was authorized, the ordinances provided adequate notice to taxpayers, and the tax deficiency fund objection was controlled by precedent in a related case, making the full levy valid.

taxes

The case concerned an action by the People of Illinois to recover an alleged unpaid balance of over $1.7 million in personal property taxes from Commonwealth Edison Co. for 1931 after the company paid a portion of the assessed amount. The county court entered judgment for the state, which included an additional sum for unpaid capital stock tax. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the judgment, reasoning that the assessor improperly failed to classify and itemize the company's tangible personal property into the statutorily required classes and instead lumped all valuations into a single "all other personal property" category, and that the county court exceeded its authority by adjusting the capital stock tax assessment, a function reserved to the State Tax Commission, which violated the company's due process rights.

taxesbusiness & regulatoryproperty