Hylton v. United States

SCOTUSCase
Litigants=Hylton v. United States
ArgueDate=February 23
ArgueYear=1796
DecideDate=March 8
DecideYear=1796
FullName=Daniel Hylton, Plaintiff in Error v. The United States
USVol=3
USPage=171
Citation=3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 171; 1 L. Ed. 556; 1796 U.S. LEXIS 397; 2 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 2155
Prior=Defendant convicted, Circuit Court for the District of Virginia
Subsequent=None
Holding=A tax on the possession of goods is not a "direct" tax, which must be apportioned under Article I of the Constitution.
SCOTUS=1796-1798
Seriatim=Chase
Seriatim2=Paterson
Seriatim3=Iredell
Seriatim4=Wilson
NotParticipating=Ellsworth and Cushing
LawsApplied=U.S. Const. art. I

"Hylton v. United States", 3 U.S. 171 (1796), was an early United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a tax on carriages did not violate the direct tax clause by defining the carriage tax as an "excise" instead of a "direct tax" that would have had to be apportioned among the states by population. This interpretation of the federal tax power lasted until modified in "Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co." (1895), in which the Supreme Court held an unapportioned 1894 federal income tax on interest, dividends and rents to be unconstitutional because the tax was a "direct tax" that had to be apportioned. The "Pollock" decision was overturned by the Sixteenth Amendment (1913), which allows the Congress to impose a tax on incomes from "whatever source derived" without any requirement for apportionment.

The Justices at the time, rather than issue an opinion of the Court, instead issued seriatim opinions, with each writing separately and reading their own analysis in turn. This case was the first time Judicial Review came up in the United States Supreme Court. The Court heard the case about upholding the federal carriage tax, and found it constitutional. The power of Judicial Review was not controversial until "Marbury v. Madison" in 1803.

ee also

*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 3

References

* cite journal | last = Frankel | first = Robert P., Jr. | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2003 | month = | title = Before "Marbury": "Hylton v. United States" and the Origins of Judicial Review | journal = Journal of Supreme Court History | volume = 28 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–13 | doi = 10.1111/1540-5818.00052 | url = | accessdate = | quote =| doi_brokendate = 2008-06-23
*cite book |title=John Marshall: Definer Of A Nation |last=Smith |first=Jean Edward |authorlink=Jean Edward Smith |coauthors= |year=1996 |publisher=Henry Holt & Company |location=New York |isbn=080501389X |pages=