duty may be remitted on pictures, books, and works of art of historical or scientific value bequeathed to the public (sect. 15); and, by the Finance Act, 1896 (c) s. 20, pictures, works of art, and other like things not yielding income are to form an estate by themselves, and are not to be aggregated with the general estate; and while they are enjoyed in kind by a person not capable of disposing of them, they are to be exempt from estate duty, but otherwise they are liable to the duty.

The parties required to pay the estate duty are as follows:-First, the executor is required to pay the estate duty on all the personal estate of the deceased of which the deceased was competent to dispose, and may pay it upon other property of which he has control by virtue of the will, or, in the case of property not under his control, at the request of the persons accountable for the duty (sect. 6). He must also pay interest thereon at the rate of 3 per cent. from the death, down to the delivery of the Inland Revenue affidavit (d). If such affidavit is not delivered within six months from the death, then the estate duty (this proportion of it) with interest thereon at 3 per cent. from the death up to the expiration of these six months becomes duty in arrear (sect. 6, sub-sect. 6), and thereafter carries interest at 4 per cent. (sect. 8, sub-sect. 10), that being the rate of interest payable, under the Inland Revenue Act, 1868, s. 9, on arrears of legacy duty. Second, as regards all the other parts of the aggregate estate, the estate duty thereon is required to be paid by the person to whom the property passed for a beneficial interest or, to the extent of the property actually received by him, by every trustee, guardian, committee or other person in whom any interest in the property passing or the management thereof is at any time vested (sect. 8, sub-sect. 4). In all this second group of cases, equally as in the first (c) 59 & 60 Vict. c. 28. (d) Ibid. s. 18.

group of cases, interest at 3 per cent. from the death, and, after the expiration of six months from the death, at 4 per cent., is payable. But, as regards real estate, the party accountable may, at his option, pay the duty thereon by eight equal yearly instalments or sixteen halfyearly instalments, with interest at 3 per cent. from the expiration of twelve months from the death, at which last-mentioned date the first instalment of the duty becomes in that case due (sect. 6, sub-sect. 8) (e), any instalment not paid on the due date becoming instantly duty in arrear, and carrying 4 per cent. until payment. By sect. 18 this mode of paying the estate duty on real estate by instalments is made applicable also, for the future, to the payment of the succession duty properly so called of which we treated above. And whereas the executor pays the estate duty on his delivery of the Inland Revenue affidavit, the accountable party (where he and not the executor is liable to pay it, and pays it) pays it on delivery of an account setting forth the necessary particulars, which account is to be delivered, like the Inland Revenue affidavit, within, at the latest, six months from the death of the deceased. Any alienee of an accountable party's interest, equally with the accountable party himself, is liable for the estate duty (sect. 8, subsect. 4); and a rateable part of the estate duty, as regards all those parts of the aggregate estate which did not vest in the executor virtute officii as aforesaid, is made a first charge on the property in respect of which it is leviable (sect. 9, sub-sect. 1). Presumably, therefore, this charge, if remaining unsatisfied at the date of any sale, will be paid out of the purchase money (sect. 6, sub-sect. 8), just as the ordinary practice has been with unpaid succession duty; and a purchaser or mortgagee will experience some difficulty in satisfying the Inland Revenue Commissioners that he is entitled (within sect. 8, sub-sect. 18) to exemption from liability to the

(e) And see Finance Act, 1896, s. 18.

estate duty, by reason of his being a bonâ fide purchaser or mortgagee without notice.

The Finance Act, 1894, contains also divers provisions of an extremely useful and practical character for raising the estate duty, and for giving limited owners and others who pay the whole duty the benefit of the charge for duty which (if the duty were unpaid) would continue to subsist against the property itself (sect. 9). These provisions apply, of course, only to the estate duty, which is payable by the accountable party as contradistinguished from the executor; but the executor paying any estate duty which he is not (by the Act) required as such to pay, is equally entitled to the benefit of such a charge (sect. 9, sub-sect. 4). The Act contains also provisions for the return of estate duty when too much has been paid, and for the payment of further duty when too little has been paid in the first instance; and provisions for postponing payment on terms, in cases in which the whole duty cannot, without a great sacrifice or hardship to the estate, be paid at once. It likewise provides for the commutation of the duties on remainders, reversions, and other future interests (all of which are, in the Act, called interests in expectancy) (sect. 12), and for the payment of one lump composition duty where the interests are complicated (sect. 13); and for the granting of certificates by the commissioners, to the effect that the duty in respect of any property has been paid (sect. 11).

As regards property vesting in the executor virtute officii, it is to be remembered, that much of the real estate to which the deceased was solely entitled in fee simple. now vests in him, by virtue of the Land Transfer Act, 1897, s. 1; but whether the executor becomes therefore bound to pay the estate duty in respect of such real estate, appears to be, at the least, doubtful. And most probably, having regard to sect. 5 of that Act, he is not bound to pay that duty, but in due course will transmit the real

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estate to the heir or devisee thereof, subject to the duty (sect. 3).

Besides the estate duty, the Finance Act, 1894, by sect. 5, imposes a further estate duty, in the Act called settlement estate duty; and (by sect. 17) fixes one uniform rate of 11. per cent. for this further estate duty. This settlement estate duty is payable on property in respect of which estate duty is leviable, and which is settled by the will of the deceased (ƒ), or, having been settled by some other disposition, passes to some person not competent to dispose of the property, except where the only life estate in the property after the death of the deceased is that of the husband or wife of the deceased. This duty is payable only once during the continuance of the settlement, and once estate duty is paid on settled property, no more is leviable until the property vests in one competent to dispose of it and sui juris (sect. 5 as amended by sect. 13 of the Finance Act, 1898). And now by sect. 12, sub-sect. 2, of the Finance Act, 1900, the estate duty payable on settled property passing on deaths after 9th April, 1900, is not, by an aggregation of the deceased's estate, to be increased more than one half per cent. in excess of the rate which would be payable if the settled property had been a separate estate.

In respect of property settled by Act of Parliament or royal grant, in such manner as that the beneficiary cannot aliene it, the estate duty is payable, but not the further estate duty; and such settled property is, for the purpose of such estate duty, to be an estate by itself, and is not to be aggregated with any other property passing on the death of the deceased (sect. 5, sub-sect. 5). Also, by the Finance Act, 1896, s. 19, the settlement estate duty, when payable in respect of a settled legacy, is payable out of that legacy; and when payable in respect of personal property settled (g) by the will of the deceased, is payable

(f) Re Campbell, [1902] 1 K. B.

113.

(g) Re Lewis, Lewis v. Smith [1900] 2 Ch. 176.

out of that property. But otherwise it is payable out of the property generally (h). And, by the Finance Act, 1898, s. 14, any settlement estate duty payable in respect of any property which is only contingently settled, if actually paid, is to be refunded on the contingency failing to happen (i).

Finally, it may be mentioned, that, in the case of small estates, where the property on which the estate duty is payable does not exceed 1,000l. in value, it is made to form (for the purposes of the estate duty) an estate by itself, and is not aggregated with the other property (if any) passing on the death of the deceased; and the estate duty, being paid on such estate by itself, supersedes not merely the settlement estate duty, but the legacy and succession duties also (sect. 16, sub-sect. 3). Estates not exceeding 300l. go free of all duty on payment of 30s. only; and estates not exceeding 500l. go free of all duty on payment of 50s. only (sect. 16, sub-sect. 1).

(h) Gribble v. Webber, [1896] 1 Ch. 914; Cook v. Culverhouse, [1896] 2 Ch. 251; Wade v. Wade, [1898] 2 Ch. 276.

(i) Smith V. Lord Advocate, (1902) W. N. 167.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.