impose such a tax, and if the people are dissatis-
fied, it will give them an opportunity to carry the
question of the constitutionality of the law to the
competent legal tribunal.
Mr. JOHN NEWCOMER desired the gentleman
from Prince George's, (Mr. Tuck.) to answer
one question. It was this; whether the gentle.
man considered stocks or certificates of stocks
of other States, held here as personal property
within the State?
Mr. TUCK said, he did not.
Mr. JOHN NEWCOMER, If I hold a private se-
curity of a gentleman in Virginia or Pennsylva-
nia, is that personal property within the State?
Mr. TUCK. I do not so consider it—nor re-
gard it as subject to taxation,
Mr. WELLS, of Anne Arundel, asked the indul-
gence of the Convention for a few minutes, as he
was of opinion that difficulties, not belonging to
the subject had surrounded it, and that members
might be embarrassed in their vote by a misappre-
hension of the question. Some gentlemen seemed
to think that we were about to introduce a novel
mode of taxation; but this was altogether a mis-
take. So far as the stocks of other States, bonds,
notes &c., were concerned, the effect of the arti-
cle, as reported, being merely to continue the
system, now in existence, in relation to the right
of the State to tax the stocks, &c., of other States,
which is now done, and from which the State de-
rives considerable revenue, the whole of which
will be lost, and much more, if the amendment
should prevail, because it will necessarily drive
a large amount of capital from our State; for it
cannot be expected, and will not, he thought, he
contended, that capitalists will invest their money
in our stocks, which are burthened with a con-
siderable tax, when they can purchase good
stocks in other States, free from taxation. And,
therefore, the deficiency produced in the receipts
into the treasury, will be materially increased by
adding to the loss occasioned by releasing from
taxation the stocks which are now taxed, the loss
of tax on the amount of capital which by this
course of proceeding will seek investment else-
where. And he desired to impress upon the con-
sideration of the Convention, the fact, that all
this loss may have to be supplied by an addition-
al tax on the landed interest, and the amount was
much more considerable than gentlemen seemed
to suppose, for he had known upwards of one
hundred thousand dollars invested by citizens of
Annapolis in foreign stocks; and, therefore, gen-
tlemen could estimate for themselves the proba-
ble total amount throughout the State, thus in-
vested.
As to the right of the State to tax this descrip-
tion of property he had no doubt, for in contem-
plation of law, it is attached to the person of the
owner, and when he dies, his executor or admin-
istrator returns it to the Orphan's court as a part
of his assets, and it is distributed to his repre-
sentatives, not according to the laws of the State
from which the stock issued, but in conformity
with the laws of the State of which the owner
died a resident; and so, also, with regard to bonds
and notes and other evidences of debt due by citi-
zens of other States to citizens of this State.
30

Mr. TUCK asked if it would not be necessary
to take out letters of administration in (he State
from which the stock issued, in order to transfer
it to the representatives of the deceased, or to
collect it.
Mr. WELLS resumed, and said that it would be
necessary, but that in such cases, letters, he be-
lieved, were always granted to the person charged
with the administration of the estate in the coun-
ty of that State of which the owner died a resi-
dent, and this was only necessary in some cases,
for it did not apply at all, as he conceived, to
that class of stocks of which bonds with coupons
attached was the evidence, for as no record of
them was kept, no transfer was necessary, and
passing as they did by delivery, possession con-
ferred the power on the executor or administra-
tor to sell them and to distribute them, and a
large portion were of this description, they being
invented and used expressly with a view to pre-
vent the residence of the owner being known, and
in order that the laws might be evaded.
But it has been urged that you should not tax
this description of property, because our laws
could not protect the citizen in the enjoyment of
it; but this he denied, because if your certificate
of stock or bond, or other evidence of debt, was
stolen, the courts were open to redress as much
so as if yon were robbed of any other species of
personal property that might be in your house, or
upon any part of your premises. And if a forgery
was committed, the protection afforded by the
laws did not distinguish between the rights be-
longing to you as the owner of stocks, or other
private securities due from other States, or corpo-
rations or citizens of other States, or of this
State.
In conclusion, he repeated, that the effect of
the article was not to introduce a novel mode
of taxation and unsettle the present system, but
quite the reverse; for if the amendment was
adopted, a change would indeed follow, for ad-
ditional revenue laws would have to be passed to
supply the deficiency which would be produced
in the receipts of the treasury by this change, and
the landed interest would have to betaxed to meet
the deficit.
Mr. BOWIE said, it seemed to him that we
ought to adopt this amendment. If he under-
stood the matter, the Court of Appeals has deci-
ded that, under the Bill of Rights, the Legislature
had the power to impose these taxes. It would
be competent for the Legislature, under this Bill
of Rights to tax the real estate of a citizen of Maryland,
lying out of the limits of the State. The
fact of its being out of the State would not affect
this power of the Legislature; and the Legisla-
ture might prescribe a mode in which the value
of such property could be ascertained. Now
he never could consent to such a proposition
with such a result. He thought stocks or bonds
might be taxed, but that bonds out of the
State ought not. Foreign stocks are now tax-
ed under the old Bill of Rights. The consti-
tutionality of the law has never been tested.
If the gentleman would include the idea that
land and negroes should not be taxed out of the
State, but that property in stocks and bonds