Coleman

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This appeal is prosecuted from a pro forma decision of the District Court of Contra Costa County.

The suit was commenced in the nature of a prosecution, to recover the penalty for a violation of the Revenue Act of 1853.

The defendants demur, on the ground that the Act in question is repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California.

In approaching the consideration of this question, we cannot but regret that the public mind has been prepared for a different decision than the one we are compelled to make, after a careful consideration of the principles involved.

The exactions of Government, by way of tax or assessment, are always met with reluctance; and the citizen, too often *forgetting that they are the price of his [49] personal liberty, and the security of his property, is disposed to regard them as arbitrary impositions, from which he may properly escape by any defense or technicality.

To enable us to arrive at a correct determination of this ease, it may be well to lay down, in limine, a few principles, which, we believe, by long acceptation, have become universally recognized as…