Estate of Damon

The appeal is from an order of the superior court of the city and county of San Francisco directing the widow, sole devisee under the will of said James E. Damon, deceased, to pay $1172, “inheritance tax,” under the act of the legislature approved March 20, 1905.

Appellant’s only contention seems to be that said law is repugnant to the constitution of the state and especially to the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States. The argument is based principally upon the theory that there is a discrimination between the citizens of this state and those of other states, but it would be a sufficient answer to say that it does not appear to which class appellant belongs and hence—granting such discrimination—it cannot be determined that appellant is an aggrieved party. What was said in Estate of Johnson, 139 Cal. 534 , [ 96 Am. St. Rep. 161 , 73 Pac. 425 ], might well, therefore, be invoked: “A court will not decide a constitutional question unless such construction is absolutely necessary; and in the Mahoney case, since the appellants were aliens and claimed no protective rights as citizens, no constitutional question was involved. It would have been sufficient in…