Succession Duty

A duty payable, in England, upon succession to property. An excise or duty upon the right of a person to receive property by devise or inheritance from another under the regulations of the state. State v. Switzler, 143 Mo. 287, 45 S. W. 245, 40 L. R. A. 280, 65 Am. St. Rep. 653. A tax placed on the gratuitous disposition of property which passes on the death of any person by means of a transfer (called either a disposition or a devolution) from one person, called the predecessor, to another person, called the successor. Property chargeable with this tax is called a succession. Knowlton v. Moore, 178 U. S. 48, 20 Sup. Ct. 747, 44 L. Ed. 969.