Office-holder exclusion under estate duty law can apply even where property also falls within the general charging provision.

An express exclusion in section 2(1)(b) of the Finance Act, 1894, remains operative according to its terms even where the same property may also fall within the general charging provision in section 1. The text explains that the deeming and exclusion scheme is not mutually exclusive, so the office-holder exclusion can still apply if the deceased had only an interest as holder of office. It also states that a trustee's remuneration attached to executorship and trusteeship is an interest held in that office, not merely as an individual beneficiary, with the result that the corresponding estate duty claim failed.

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Issues: (i) Whether the exclusion in section 2(1)(b) of the Finance Act, 1894, applies where the property would also be chargeable under section 1; (ii) Whether the deceased's remunerative interest in the trust income was only an interest as holder of an office.

Issue (i): Whether the exclusion in section 2(1)(b) of the Finance Act, 1894, applies where the property would also be chargeable under section 1.

Analysis: Section 1 imposes the charge of estate duty on property passing on death, while section 2(1) deems specified classes of property to be included within that charge and also contains express exclusions. The text of section 2(1)(b) is not confined to property that would otherwise fall outside section 1, and the general scheme of the Act does not require the two provisions to be treated as mutually exclusive. The exclusion for property in which the deceased had only an interest as holder of an office remains operative even if the property also answers the description of property passing on death under section 1.

Conclusion: The exclusion in section 2(1)(b) can apply notwithstanding that the property also falls within section 1.

Issue (ii): Whether the deceased's remunerative interest in the trust income was only an interest as holder of an office.

Analysis: Trusteeship of a will is an office, and the deceased's entitlement to a share of the income was attached to his acting as executor and trustee and was expressed to be remuneration for doing so. That entitlement was therefore enjoyed by him in his capacity as holder of the office and not merely as an individual beneficiary. The statutory exclusion for an interest held only as office-holder was satisfied.

Conclusion: The deceased's interest was only an interest as holder of an office.

Final Conclusion: The claim to estate duty on the corresponding share of capital failed, and the appeal succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: An express exclusion in a deeming provision remains operative according to its terms even where the property may also be within the general charging provision, and a remunerative right attached to trusteeship is an interest held only as holder of an office.

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