**Class or Caste based Feudal System** The Fourteenth Amendment, to quote Thomas Cooley, never was intended to require “that every person in the land shall possess the same rights and privileges as every other person.” The amendment, he said, “contemplates classes of person, and the protection given by the law is to be deemed equal, if all persons in the same classes are treated alike under like circumstances and conditions both as to privileges conferred and liabilities imposed.” The whole structure of our income tax, for another example, rests upon class legislation. The class of individuals earning $100,000 a year fares far differently from the class earning $3,000, yet it is not contended that “equal protection” is violated in tax rates that vary from 20 per cent to 90 per cent. Thomas Cooley, The General Principles of Constitutional Law (Boston, 1880), p. 49. See Barbier vs. Connolly, 113 U.S. 27 (1885).
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 19:14:05 +0000
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