177 N.E. 312 | NY | 1931
The Tax Law (Cons. Laws, ch. 60, § 2) defines "land," "real estate" and "real property" to include "all buildings and other articles and structures," as well as "all wharves and piers" erected upon land above or under water. In cases involving tax assessments, therefore, it matters not that, at the common law, a building erected upon the lands of another, pursuant to an agreement with the landowner that at the end of a term the builder may remove it, is sometimes classed as personal property belonging to the builder. (Smith Britton v. Benson Peck,
1 Hill, 176.) The building is real estate assessable as such to the builder as its owner, while the land upon which it stands remains subject to assessment against the landowner. (People exrel. Abrams v. Commrs. of Taxes,
The order of the Appellate Division and that of the Special Term should be reversed, and the assessment annulled, with costs in all courts.
CARDOZO, Ch. J., CRANE, O'BRIEN and HUBBS, JJ., concur; POUND and LEHMAN, JJ., dissent.
Orders reversed, etc. *73