370 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



personal property which has a visible and tangible existence, has now 

 taken a further step forward, and in the second clause of the opinion 

 above quoted asserts that " the same thing is true of public securi- 

 ties consisting of State bonds, and bonds of municipal bodies, and 

 circulating notes of banking institutions " ; namely, that their situs 

 for assessment and taxation is wholly irrespective and apart from any 

 whereabouts of the owner or his domicile, but is where the securi- 

 ties actually are. So much, then, is so clear that even the most 

 obstinate of assessors under the present arbitrary system will find 

 it difficult, in respect to the items specified, to interpret the law 

 and rule of action otherwise. But it is to be observed that nego- 

 tiable railroad bonds are not, in the opinion quoted, specifically 

 mentioned. 



That they, however, follow the same law as municipal and State 

 bonds, and were intended by the court to be included in the same 

 category, is, however, obvious, for the following reasons : 



1. The subject-matter of the case and of the decision was a rail- 

 road bond. 



2. The character of a railroad bond as a negotiable instrument is 

 in all respects the same as a State or municipal bond. 



3. The reason which undoubtedly led the court (as it must every 

 unprejudiced reader who thinks upon the subject) to the conclusion 

 that State, municipal, and railroad bonds and bank notes follow the 

 same rule, in respect to their situs for taxation, as other personal 

 property of acknowledged visible and tangible character is that the 

 property of all such instruments runs with the instrument, wholly 

 irrespective of the residence of the owner, and consequently, in 

 respect to title, passes by delivery. By public securities, also, the 

 court undoubtedly meant all negotiable securities which are payable 

 to the public — that is, to bearer wherever he may be; or, in other 

 words, a public security, from its very nature, is subject to no pre- 

 vious equities between the original parties creating or issuing it, and 

 the sum agreed to be paid is a liquidated and adjusted sum which 

 must be paid to the public — that is, the holder; and the situs of 

 such property from necessity follows the instrument to the public, 

 and can be nowhere else than where the instrument actually is. On 

 the other hand, if the instrument was subject to equities, the prop- 

 erty might be where the parties creating it or owning it resided. 

 And if this position is not correct, dealings in all such securities" or 

 upon the stock exchange, or in open market would be impracticable; 

 inasmuch as the purchaser would be obliged to institute an investiga- 

 tion as to whether the title for each specific bond vested in the 

 vendor or some other person; and as there is no registration of the 

 transfer of such property, as there is in the case of real estate, the 



