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WILLIAMS' CASE. 261
The laws for laying taxes passed by the succeeding General
Assembly declared, that land under lease should be assessed to the
lessor, proper allowance being made for leases for life, or lives,
or for term of years outstanding, (o) In addition to which it was
the next year declared, that the interest of tenant for life, or lives,
or of lessees for term of years should be assessed according to their
respective interests, due regard being had to all circumstances, and
the value of the land; and that upon the same scale of proportion
a distinct assessment should be made of the estate of tenant in
dower, or by jointure on marriage, or by devise for life, or during
widowhood, and of the reversion or remainder, (p) In the year
following, it was declared, that where divers persons had particular
estates in the same land, every such person should be assessed in
proportion to his particular interest, so that the whole together
should amount to the value of the land; but where a full rent was
reserved, so that the interest of the tenant could not be considered
as valuable, the whole tax should be assessed upon the landlord, (q)
It was the year after declared, that the interest of tenant by the
courtesy, or tenant for life without impeachment of waste, who
paid no rent, should be charged with the whole tax. (r) Again it
was enacted, that a tenant by the courtesy, a tenant in dower, and
a tenant for life, without any contigency and impeachment of waste,
who paid no rent, should be charged with the whole tax; but that
where divers persons had particular estates carved out of the same
inheritance, as for years with reversion or remainder for life or in
fee, a just computation thereof should be made in proportion to the
value of their particular interests, so that together they should
amount to the full value of the land; in which computation the
length of the term for years, the age and health of the tenant for life,
and the chance of the reversion should be considered. And it was
further enacted, in the same law, that the lessors of ground rent,
in Annapolis and other towns, to the amount of six pounds, should
be assessed as for one hundred pounds capital, and so in proportion;
and the lessees should be assessed on the actual worth of the im-
provements made since the lease, and the present value of the land,
after deducting therefrom the value thereof, at the time of the lease,
which value should be estimated at one hundred pounds for every
six pounds of the ground rent, and so in proportion, (s) This last
(0) March, 1778, ch. 7, s. 23; October, 1778, ch. 7, s. 27.—(p) November, 1779,
ch. 35, s. 30 and 32,—-(a) October, 1780, ch. 25, s. 25.—(r) November, 1781, ch. 4,
s. 27.—(s) November, 1782, ch. 6, s. 24; Brockman v. Honywood, 1 P. Will. 828,
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