38457-1914-Supplementary-Estate-Duty-Bill — Page 2

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For the purpose of this Ordinance,---

A person shall be deemed competent to dispose of property if he has such an estate or interest therein or such general power as would, if he were sui juris, enable him to dispose of the property; and the expression "general power" includes every power or authority enabling the donee or other holder thereof to appoint or dispose of property as he thinks fit, whether exercisable by instrument inter vivos or by will, or both, but exclusive of any power exercisable either in a fiduciary capacity under a disposition not made by himself or as mortgagee.

A disposition taking effect out of the interest of the deceased person shall be deemed to have been made by him, whether the concurrence of any other person was or was not required. Money which a person has a general power to charge on property shall be deemed to be property of which he has power to dispose.

4.-(1.) In the case of every deceased person there shall, Estate duty. save as bereinafter expressly provided, be levied and paid upon the principal value, ascertained as hereinafter provid- ed, of all property which passes on the death of such person, a stamp duty called "estate duty" at the graduated rates mentioned in the First Schedule. Provided that, where the principal value of an estate comprises a fraction of $100, such fraction shall, for the purpose of determining the amount of estate duty payable, be reckoned as $100.

(2.) In the case of any person dying before the com- mencement of this Ordinance the duties payable under the Stamp Ordinances, 1901 to 1911, shall continue to be pay- able in all respects as if this Ordinance had not been passed.

5-(1.) Property passing on the death of the deceased What shall be deemed to include the property following, that is property is to say :-

deemed to pass on

(a) property of which the deceased was at the death.

time of his death competent to dispose ;

(b.) property in which the deceased or any other person had an interest ceasing on the death of the deceased, to the extent to which a benefit accrues or arises by the cesser of such interest; but exclusive of property the interest in which of the deceased or other person was only an interest as holder of an office, or recipient of the benefits of a charity or as a corporation sole;

(c.) property taken as a donatio mortis causa made by the deceased or taken under à disposition made by him, purporting to operate as an immediate gift inter vivos, whether by way of transfer, delivery, declaration of trust, or other- wise, which shall not have been bonâ fide made twelve months before his death, or taken under any gift, whenever made, of which property bona fide possession and enjoyment shall not have been assumed by the donee immediately upon the gift and thenceforward retained to the entire exclusion of the donor or of any benefit to him by contract or otherwise; (d.) property to which the deceased has been absolutely entitled, and which he has caused to be transferred to or vested in himself and any other person jointly, whether by disposi- tion or otherwise (including also any pur- chase or investment effected by the deceased either by himself alone, or in concert, or by arrangement with any other person), so that the beneficial interest therein or in some part thereof passes or accrues by survivorship on his death to such other person;

(