38 RATES AND TAXES 



and if a divergence exists on what is or is not 

 according to reason, we may expect similar 

 differences when the reason is applied to par- 

 ticular cases. The result is, that if, as the 

 lawyers say, it is never safe to apply common- 

 sense directly to any case of law, in the same 

 way, it is never safe to apply a legal maxim 

 to a case of common-sense. These reflections 

 are suggested by the separate report of his 

 honour, Judge O'Connor, K.C., in the Final 

 Report of the Royal Commission on Taxation. 

 "On this point," he says, "the law of 

 England is in accord with common-sense ; 

 and according to that law, land is not the 

 subject of absolute property. No man is 

 in law the absolute owner of the lands. He 

 can only hold an estate in them, and that 

 estate he holds only under the Crown, as 

 representative of the community." In the 

 sentences which follow, the position is still 

 more emphatically laid down that "collec- 



