62 N.H. 485 | N.H. | 1883
The fourth method of gaining a settlement prescribed by the statutes is, that “ Any person of the age of twenty-one years, having real estate of the value of one hundred and fifty dollars, or personal estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, in the town where lie dwells and has his home, and paying all taxes duly assessed on him and his estate for four years in succession, shall thereby gain a settlement in said town.” Gen. St., c. 73, s. 1, clause IV; Gen. Laws, c. 81, s. 1, clause IV. For four successive years David Corning dwelt and had his home in Derry, was the owner of real estate therein of more than four times the prescribed value, and paid all taxes assessed on him and his estate. He thus acquired a settlement in that town, to which his children became entitled under clause II.
The appraisal of David’s real estate at $100 only by the plaintiff’s assessors is not of controlling importance, and, at most, is but an evidentiary fact on the question of the true value of the property. If admissible at all in this suit as evidence on the question, the appraisal is nothing more than a record of the assessor’s opinions, and is prima facie evidence only. The value intended by the statute is the actual market money value, to be ascertained in the ordinary way by an impartial tribunal. Neither in terms nor by implication does the statute make the valuation of town officials conclusive; but its literal as well as its fair reading is to the contrary. And so is the established rule of practice in cases of this kind which has uniformly obtained in this state from the earliest period of its judicial history. The question of the value of the pauper’s estate in cases arising under the fourth mode has always been determined by the jury or by some other impartial tribunal; and to such a tribunal the parties are entitled in an action between municipalities in which value is a litigated question. Selectmen being directly interested in pauper settlements are not such a tribunal. In our view, this consideration of itself affords a sufficient reason why the construction heretofore given to the statute should not be changed. But, however this may be, such a reason is afforded by the fact that, with full knowledge of this construction, the legislature have permitted the statute to stand unchanged since its original adoption in 1796, and thereby have unmistakably signified their approval of the interpretation which it has ever since received.
But other reasons suggest themselves, and especially if the consequences of the plaintiff’s construction are considered. It would not only enable them to take advantage of the selectmen’s wrong in assessing the real estate in question at less than one sixth of its value, and thereby unjustly shift upon the defendants the burden of these paupers’ support, without notice and with no opportunity to be heard, but it would greatly facilitate and make more common the illegal and prevalent practice of undervaluing real estate for purposes of taxation (Cocheco Co. v. Strafford, 51 N. H.
Case discharged.