153 Mass. 185 | Mass. | 1891
The following opinion was written by Mr. Justice Devens, and was adopted after his death as the opinion of the court by the Justices who sat with him at the argument.
We shall not have occasion to consider whether the plaintiff is one of the corporations properly described in the Pub. Sts. c. 11, § 5, cl. 3, so that its property, according to the provisions of that clause, is exempt from taxation. That its real estate should be thus exempt, it is necessary that it should be occupied by it, or its officers, for the literary, benevolent, charitable, or scientific purposes for which the corporation was formed. The first action is brought to recover the amount of the tax assessed to the plaintiff for the year 1888, on lots marked 1, 2, and 3 on a plan annexed to the report, which tax was paid by the plaintiff under protest. The second is brought to recover the amount of a tax assessed for 1887, upon the land and building, included
According to the evidence, a school was maintained in the rear portion of a church building on another lot not owned by the plaintiff. It had been so for some years previous to 1887. This school was not formally organized, but occupied eight school-rooms on the first and second floors of the rear part of the church building. It was under the instruction of eleven teachers, who resided as a family in the building upon lot No. 1, which is here in question. This school was known as the St. James Parish School, it was under the control of the clergymen of that parish, and was supported by contributions of the parishioners of the church. It was conducted in this manner before April 27, 1887, when the plaintiff received its deed, and no change in its management or control or support was then made, nor has any been made since. The building on lot No. 1 was then, and has been since, used as a home for teachers, although three rooms have been used for recitations, etc. The rear or northerly portion of the church building is really the schoolroom, and the school is really there; and this use of the building on lot No. 1, whether for teachers or scholars, was incidental thereto. The teachers have always been paid from money contributed by the parishioners of the church, although the use of the building on lot No. 1 as a dwelling-house was considered in such payment. Regular sessions of the school were held in the church building five days in the week, but some of the scholars recited from time to time in the building on lot No. 1, and religious instruction was sometimes given there in the evening to a few children who attended the day school, but the duties of the
Upon all the facts the judge was justified in holding that neither the plaintiff nor its officers were in occupation of these premises for the purposes of carrying on or managing a literary, benevolent, charitable, or scientific institution. It is not enough that they tacitly permitted another corporation to use their property. The corporation must itself, or by its officers, occupy it for the purposes for which they have been incorporated, if it is to be exempt from taxation. They cannot turn over to another corporation its use and management for the benefit of such other corporation, however laudable the objects of that may be. Chapel of the Good Shepherd v. Boston, 120 Mass. 212. As it was properly found that these premises were not occupied by the corpora
The plaintiff did not contend that this property was purchased with any view of removal thereto, in which case, by the statute, it might be exempt for the term of two years from taxation. It had no structure except' that which it had surrendered to the use of the parochial school, which, before the deed to the plaintiff, had always used the building as an incident to its own work. It carried on no business and conducted no institution; and no question on this point is presented by the report.
Judgment for the defendant.