LOCAL TAXES 81 



In time, however, the exception entirely 

 ousted the principle. It became more and 

 more the custom to measure ability solely by 

 the value of the lands and houses occupied. 

 And in the end, as a result of these confusions 

 between persons and things, what had been 

 intended to be a local income tax on all 

 inhabitants, levied according to ability and 

 substance, degenerated into a rate levied only 

 on the occupiers of certain forms of property. 

 At first it is probable that stock-in-trade was 

 assessed just as in the case of the national 

 taxes already noticed. In a few places, 

 indeed, the system of rating in respect of 



limited to the case of visible and tangible property easily 

 cognisable. The courts were against the wider interpreta- 

 tion, and they laid down generally that non-residents could 

 not be rated in respect of personal property in the parish. 

 The distinction between residents and non-residents had 

 been the point in dispute in Jeffrey's case before the 

 Queen's Bench in 1589. It was decided that Jeffrey was 

 liable for the repair of the Parish Church in respect of the 

 lands occupied although he himself was non-resident. 



