Assam Railways and Trading Co Ltd v Commissioners of Inland Revenue: HL 1935

Parties questioned the admissibility before the House of recommendations of a Royal Commission on Income Tax which had preceded an Act and which counsel for the appellants sought to cite as part of the context of intention of Parliament in relation to a particular section of the Act.
Held: Counsel could not make that reference. Lord Wright: ‘It is clear that the language of a Minister of the Crown in proposing in Parliament a measure which eventually becomes law is inadmissible and the Report of Commissioners is even more removed from value as evidence of intention, because it does not follow that their recommendations were accepted.’

Judges:

Lord Wright

Citations:

[1935] AC 445

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedPepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart HL 26-Nov-1992
Reference to Parliamentary Papers behind Statute
The inspector sought to tax the benefits in kind received by teachers at a private school in having their children educated at the school for free. Having agreed this was a taxable emolument, it was argued as to whether the taxable benefit was the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice

Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.180559