McKee v. United States, 164 U.S. 287 (1896)
U.S. Supreme Court
McKee v. United States, 164 U.S. 287 (1896)
McKee v. United States
No. 131
Argued November 3, 1896
Decided November 30, 1896
164 U.S. 287
Syllabus
The last clause of § 4 of the Act of March 2, 1891, c. 496, 26 Stat. 822, entitled
"An act to credit and pay to the several states and territories and the District of Columbia all moneys collected under the direct tax levied by the Act of Congress approved August 6, 1861,"
does not refer to or cover the cases of those owners who are mentioned in the first clause of the same section.
Brewer v. Blougher, 14 Pet. 178, affirmed to the point that it is the duty of the Court, in construing a statute, to ascertain the meaning of the legislature from the words used in it and from the subject matter to which it relates, and to restrain its meaning within narrower limits than its words import if satisfied that the literal meaning of its language would extend to cases which the legislature never designed to embrace in it.
The case is stated in the opinion.