§ MR. M. HEALYI beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the system of valuing licensed premises by the Inland Revenue Department for the purposes of Probate and Succession Duties, set forth in the Return just distributed to Members, has ever received the sanction of any legal tribunal, or has ever been questioned in a Court of law; and whether, if it simply represents the views of the Department, those views have been in any way modified by the decision in "Sharp v. Wakefield?"
§ MR. GOSCHENThe practice of the Inland Revenue is based on the well-settled rule of law that goodwill forms part of the estate of deceased persons, and that the goodwill of a public house passes with the public house. This practice has never been questioned in a Court of Law. I must remind the hon. Member that it is the executors or other accountable persons who bring in the capital and annual values into the affidavit and Succession Duty accounts, and that the business of the Department is to check what is thus brought in. The practice has been to assume that the licence will continue. No question on the subject has been raised since the decision in the case of"Sharp v. Wakefield."