Laugharn

This is an appeal by the defendants from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $1758 paid to the state under protest.

The plaintiff is the trustee of Commercial Rock Company, a bankrupt corporation. The corporation owned and operated twenty-three trucks on the public highways of this state prior to January 1, 1939, and from that date until March 6, 1939, at which time a petition in bankruptcy was filed in the United *455 States District Court for the Southern District of California. On March 28, 1939, the district court appointed receivers who continued to operate the trucks and conduct the trucking business until August 1, 1939, on which date the corporation was adjudicated a bankrupt and the plaintiff herein was appointed the trustee in bankruptcy. On January 1, 1939, the registration fees applicable to the trucks pursuant to section 378 of the Vehicle Code, and the vehicle license fees, or “in lieu” tax, as provided by section 6 of the Vehicle License Fee Act (Stats. 1935, p. 1312; Deering’s Gen. Laws, 1937, Act 5135) became delinquent. On February 5, 1939, the sum of $1758, called a penalty, was added to the amount required by the statute to be paid on the trucks…