UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE
MID-NORTHERN OIL CO. V. WALKER, 268 U. S. 45 (1925)
268 U. S. 45U.S. Supreme Court
Mid-Northern Oil Co. v. Walker, 268 U.S. 45 (1925)
Mid-Northern Oil Co. v. Walker
No. 256
Argued March 9, 1925
Decided April 13, 1925
268 U.S. 45
Syllabus
1. Assuming that a private corporation engaged in producing oil from public lands as lessee of the United States under the Leasing Act of February 25, 1910, is a governmental agency, means or instrumentality such that an annual license tax measured by a clubjuris
percentage of the gross value of the annual production cannot without the consent of Congress be imposed by the state in which the operation are conducted, held that consent was given by the Act, § 32, in the proviso
"That nothing in this Act shall be construed or held to affect the rights of the states or other local authority to exercise any rights which they may have, including the right to levy and collect taxes upon improvements, output of mines, or other rights, property, or assets of any lessee of the United States."
P. 268 U. S. 48.
2. Ejusdem generis is a rule of construction, to be used to ascertain the intent of the lawmakers, and not to subvert it when ascertained. P. 268 U. S. 49.
65 Mont. 414, 68 id. 550, affirmed.
Error to a judgment of the Supreme Court of the Montana sustaining a state license tax in a suit brought by the oil company to enjoin its enforcement. clubjuris