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282 U.S. 118

Goodell v. Koch

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued October 22, 1930.

Decided November 24, 1930.

Supreme Court of the United States · decided 1930-11-24

2 counsel of record

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“The Arizona supreme court has likened the community to a partnership. Forsythe v. Paschal, 34 Ariz. 380 , 271 P. 865 . The husband as agent may not act in fraud of his wife's rights, and if he attempts to do so, she has a remedy in the courts. Gristy v. Hudgens, 23 Ariz. 339 , 203 P. 569 . "Enough has been said to show that our conclusion in No. 15 (Poe v. Seaborn, 282 U.S. 101 , 51 S.Ct. 58 , 75 L.Ed. 239 ) holds here, and that the wife has such equal interest in community income as to entitle her to treat one-half thereof as her income, and file a separate return therefor * * *.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including In Re Monaghan's Estate

Relies on Poe v. Seaborn · United States v. Robbins · State of Oklahoma v. State of Texas

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · 7–0 · Decided 1930-11-24

How this case has been cited

Cited by 247 later decisions (19 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2010 · most notably Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo (1979), United States v. Mitchell (1971)

120 federal appellate · 4 district · 22 state decisions

620193019401950196019701980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Solicitor General Thacker, with whom Assistant Attorney General Youngquist, Mr. Sewall Key, Miss Helen R. Carloss, Special Assistants to the Attorney General, Mr. Erwin N. Griswold, and Messrs. Clarence M. Charest, *119General Counsel, and T. H. Lewis, Jr., Special Attorney, Bureau of Internal Revenue, were on the brief, for Goodell, Collector of Internal Revenue.

¶2Messrs. Clifton Mathews and Rhodes 3. Baker argued the cause, and Messrs. Samuel L. Pattee, James R. Moore, Blaine B. Shimmel, and K. Berry Peterson, Attorney General of Arizona, were on the brief, for Koch.

¶3*120Mk. Justice Roberts

¶4delivered the opinion of the Court.

¶5This cause presents the same question as respects the return for taxation of. community income of a husband and wife, citizens of Arizona, as was presented in Poe v. Seaborn, ante, p. 101, affecting spouses who are citizens of the State of Washington.

¶6Here Koch and his wife filed separate returns for 1927 each returning one-half of the community income; the Commissioner of Internal Revenue assessed a deficiency on the theory that Koch alone should have returned the entire income; Koch paid under protest, and brought suit against the Collector in the District Court to recover the sum so paid. . The Collector demurred. Judgment went for plaintiff. The Collector appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals, which certified questions to us. This Court ordered the entire record sent up.

¶7. What we said in Poe v. Seaborn, supra, applies here, if under the law of Arizona, the wife’s interest in community property is, in legal effect, the same as ill Washington.

¶8*121The collector asserts that the Arizona law of community property closely resembles that of California (cf. U. S. v. Robbins, 269 U. S. 315); but concedes that in many respects its provisions are similar to those of the law of Washington.-

¶9We have examined the statutes* and authorities cited, and have concluded that they present no significant differences from the Washington system. In La Tourette v. La Tourette, 15 Ariz. 200, 205, it was said: “The law makes no distinction between the husband and wife in respect to the right each has in the community property. It gives the husband no higher or better title than it gives the wife. It recognizes a marital community wherein both are equal.” As in Washington, each spouse has unlimited .testamentary power over his or her interest in the community, and upon failure to exercise it, such interest passes to the descendants of the decedent.

¶10The Arizona Supreme Court has likened the community to a partnership. Forsythe v. Paschal, 34 Ariz. 380. The husband as agent .may not act in fraud of his wife’s rights, and if he atempts to do so, she has a remedy in the courts. Gristy v. Hudgens, 23 Ariz, 339.

¶11Enough has been said to show 'that our conclusion in Poe v. Seaborn, supra, holds here, and that the wife has such equal interest in community income as to entitle her to treat one-half thereof as her income, and file a separate return therefor under sections 210 (a) and 211 (a) of the •Revenue Act of 1926.

¶12Perhaps we ought also to note that what is said in Poe v. Seaborn with respect to executive construction and legislative history applies in this case.

¶13*122For the reasons above given, and more fully stated in the opinion in Poe v. Seaborn, dhe judgment of the District Court is

¶14Affirmed.

¶15The Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Stone took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.

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