G. N. Railway Company v Commissioner of Valuation [Supreme Court.]

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 16 January 1940
• Date: 16 January 1940
• Court: Supreme Court

(S.C.),

Great Northern Railway Co. (Ir.)

and

Commissioner of Valuation: Great Southern Railways Co. v. Same

-Principle of assessment -Profits method - Railways (Valuation for Rating) Act, 1931 (No. 47 of 1931), s. 5.

On appeal to the Circuit Court Judge appointed under s. 11, sub-s. 2, of the Railways (Valuation for Rating) Act, 1931, by railway companies against the valuations of their railway hereditaments, made by the Commissioner of Valuation, the Circuit Court Judge stated a case for the Supreme Court. As regards estimating, by reference to the average net receipts ascertained in the manner provided by s. 5 of the said Act, the rent at which the railway hereditaments might reasonably be expected to let from year to year, and which annual rent, so estimated, is to be the net annual value of the railway undertaking, the first question submitted by the Circuit Court Judge was as to whether he "was right in law in considering as a hypothetical tenant the Company itself, already equipped with all the necessary chattels required properly to operate the undertaking,"and which question was answered by the Supreme Court (Sullivan C.J., Meredith and Johnston JJ.) as follows:—Sullivan C.J.: No. The Company is to be considered as a hypothetical tenant, but on the same basis as any other tenant entitled to a proper return on the capital a tenant would have to provide. Meredith J.: The Circuit Court Judge was right in law in considering as a hypothetical tenant the Company itself, and that it is already equipped with all the necessary chattels properly to operate the undertaking is a fact and is to be considered as such, but that fact is not to be considered as a reason for the capital value of those chattels being estimated otherwise than in accordance with the profits method. Johnston J.: No. The idea of regarding the Company itself as a hypothetical tenant is...