6 A. 484 | N.H. | 1886
The common-law methods of winding up the affairs of extinct corporations are not abolished by the statutes allowing *85
a limited continuance of some of their powers for special purposes. G. L., c. 147, s. 17; c. 86, s. 28; Laws 1885, c. 43, s. 7. In this case it does not appear that the survival of any of the powers of district No. 3 will be necessary or convenient for the settlement of its business. As a private corporation holds its property in trust for the benefit of its stockholders, so a municipality holds its property in trust for beneficiaries whose equitable rights in the trust estate are not created by the incorporation, nor lost by the dissolution, of the imaginary holder of the legal title. The common law transfers the legal title to a provisional trustee if the employment of such an agent is necessary, settles the business of the defunct corporation, and so disposes of the trust property as to maintain the rights of the equitable owners. Ashuelot Railroad v. Elliot,
The general rule of equalization, applied to abolished school-districts by s. 2, c. 43, Laws 1885, is an affirmance of the rights of all parties concerned. The union of several districts necessarily involves a process of marshalling the benefits of their assets and the burdens of their debts. The statute provides the simple method of assessment and remission. Sargent v. School-District,
The tax assessed on No. 3 in 1885 was properly collected, and should not be reimbursed. Any part of it, collected and remaining unexpended, vests in the town district, to be accounted for, like other property of No. 3, in the assessment and remission of the equalizing tax. The $800 tax of 1886 was unnecessarily assessed, and should not be collected.
A mandamus will be issued for action consistent with the principles of this decision. The case is recommitted to the justice by whom it was reserved for further proceedings, and for interlocutory and final orders to be made as of last March trial term.
SMITH, J., did not sit: the others concurred.