|
flict with Chapter 700, and that the lan-
guage of 8. 01 (b) was to be limited in the
way provided in 7.00, and then leave to the
Committee on Style the actual choice of
words to accomplish the purpose.
DELEGATE CASE: I will adopt the
Chair's statement on that.
DELEGATE MOSER: I would, too. And
I would like to comment that I like your
language very well, too, except for the fail-
ure to exclude municipalities from the
power to vary the taxes. I think we are
now in agreement.
DELEGATE CASE: I am sure that we
will work it out.
THE CHAIRMAN: So there will not be
any misunderstanding, as the Chair under-
stands the statement of Vice-Chairman
Case of the Committee, it is not intended
by section 8.01 (b) to conflict with sections
7.07, 7.08, and 7.09 heretofore approved by
the Committee of the Whole; but rather
that section 8. 01 (b) is to be deemed limited
by section 7.07, 7.08 and 7.09, and that the
Committee on Style will, by appropriate use
of the language of either section, carry
out that purpose.
Is that a correct statement?
DELEGATE CASE: That is a correct
statement.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does that satisfy
you, Delegate Moser?
DELEGATE MOSER: Yes, Mr. Chair-
man.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Clagett.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Mr. Chairman,
I commend Delegate Case and the Chaii
for a graceful way of handling a very im-
portant question, but my question, Dele-
gate Case, goes back to section 8.02 and
8.02-1 and -2. Yesterday I asked you to
give us a definition of what was meant
by classification of events, and I would like
to ask you this question: In Article 43 of
the present Constitution, the legislature
may provide that land actively devoted to
farm or agricultural use shall be assessed
in a certain way, and not as a subdivision.
Is that the event, within your definition?
DELEGATE CASE: No, sir. As I said
last evening, that would be property.
Now, let me carry it a little further, if I
may. If this is strictly from the basic laws,
and we hope it will be, and the provision
which we now have before us comes for-
ward, then the nineteen or so criteria that
|
are found in Regulation 9 would come into
play, and some of these are events, so that
you can have under the recommendation
that we are making, a combination of prop-
erty and events.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Clagett.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Then the
words "actively devoted" would not consti-
tute an event?
DELEGATE CASE: Not according to
the Court of Appeals. The Court of Ap-
peals said it was an objective test, what
was happening to the land, not what some-
body might be doing or not doing. This was
the fight, you see, in the Court of Appeals,
in the Alsop case.
The property owner claimed he was en-
titled to an objection because an objective
examination of the land indicated that it
was being farmed, and that is all you need.
The State, on the other hand, contended
that this fellow was not a farmer, and
therefore you had to determine subjectively
what he was before you could find that the
law implementing Article 43 of the Decla-
ration of Rights was ample. The Court of
Appeals held the former.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Clagett.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Well, possibly
my understanding can be clarified if I use
an extreme situation. Assuming for the mo-
ment that there exists 100 acres of ground
which has been plowed and planted, and
from which crops are being harvested and
all of the agricultural uses that we nor-
mally understand to be such are applicable
to that piece of ground, but it happens to
be owned by somebody who is living in the
City of Baltimore or someplace like that,
and is engaged in a profession of some
kind, does that mean, or does this language
mean that the relationship of the owner to
the land can be such that it would deny
the classification of that land as agricul-
tural use?
DELEGATE CASE: What it means is
that the administrative agency which is
vested with the power to control the regu-
lation and ultimately the courts could take
that fact into consideration, along with a
great many other facts, to determine
whether or not the farm exemption was
available to that particular land owner.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: And in the
process of taking that fact into considera-
tion, could they deny the classification of
that land as agricultural? Is that correct?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Case.
|
