'Mr, Bryan submitted that plaintiffs were estopped from claiming custom, adding "Because the failure to enforce consistently the tax on fan-tan' Jand is due not to the fault of the defendant, but in part due to the difeulties raised by the plaintiffs themselves. In other words "the plaintiffs do not come into court with. clean hands and are, therefore, not eniltled to the equitable remedy of mandamus prayed for."
After asserting that fangtay' land. cannot be exempted from. taxation and reviewing a consideration of the Land Regulations, Mfr. Bryan went on to say:
"Before doubts can arise as to the construction of the powers conferred by the Land Regulations, such doubts must arise in the minds of the political departments of either the foreign' powers or the Chinese Government. As far as T know, no doubts have fever been expressed by the political departments of either the foreign powers or the Chinese Government. The political department of the Chinese Government has not, as far as I know, ever filed any protest, In this case there can be no doubt that the Council by virtue of the proclamation of Taotai Lan and the Land Regulations, is clearly entitled ty tax tang tan' land, 'The fact that plaintltts refuse to comply with the law and pay their taxes, does not in any way' indicate that there is any doubt as to the proper construction. If the: Jaw is as plaintiffs contend, it would be possible to make every egal case arising out of the Land Regulations political matter, and this is probably exactly what the plaintiffs are endeavouring to do.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.