Loomis

Subdivision (c) of section 15110 of the Revenue and Taxation Code of California has never been judicially construed, although it has been a law (in its present habitation in the Revenue and Taxation Code and in its earlier domicile, the Gift Tax Act [Stats. 1939, ch. 652, p. 2082]) since 1939, and it is our present task to give the initial interpretation.

Subdivision (e) defines Class A donee as: “A donee to whom the donor for not less than 10 continuous years prior to the transfer stood in the mutually acknowledged relationship of a parent, if the relationship commenced on or before the donee’s fifteenth birthday. ’ ’

A Class A donee is the most preferred; he receives the highest exemption (Rev. & Tax. Code, §§ 15421, 15422, 15423, 15424) and the lowest rates of taxation (Rev. & Tax. Code, §§ 15205, 15206, 15207, 15208). The donee won this favored classification in the trial court, and was awarded judgment for $1,031.07 as an overpayment of gift tax, but the State ' Controller appeals from the judgment, and contends that the donee’s proper class is D, which is that of “stranger” to the donor.

The Facts

The facts, which are undisputed, were presented to the trial judge in…