Third Congregational Society v. City of Springfield
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract to recover the amount of a tax assessed upon the real estate of the plaintiff, on May 1, 1887, and paid under protest. The case was submitted to the Superior Court, and, after judgment for the defendant, to this court, on appeal, on an agreed statement of facts, in substance as follows. The plaintiff is a duly incorporated religious society, and is the owner of land and a church edifice thereon in Springfield.
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Contract to recover the amount of a tax assessed upon the real estate of the plaintiff, on May 1, 1887, and paid under protest. The case was submitted to the Superior Court, and, after judgment for the defendant, to this court, on appeal, on an agreed statement of facts, in substance as follows. The plaintiff is a duly incorporated religious society, and is the owner of land and a church edifice thereon in Springfield. In 1886 another building was erected upon the land, and within a few feet of the church edifice, and was given to the society for use as a parsonage. No land was devoted to the…
1Opinion of the CourtDevens, J.
The Pub. Sts. c. 11, § 5, cl. 3, provide that “ the personal property of literary, benevolent, charitable, and scientific institutions, incorporated within this Commonwealth, and the real estate belonging to such institutions, occupied by them or their officers for the purposes for which they were incorporated,” shall be exempt from taxation. The seventh clause exempts from taxation “houses of religious worship owned by a religious society, or held in trust for the use of religious organizations, and the pews and furniture (except for parochial purposes); but portions of such houses…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Boston Society of Redemptorist Fathers v. City of BostonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880
- Massachusetts General Hospital v. Inhabitants of SomervilleMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1869
- County of Hennepin v. GraceSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1881
- St. Peter's Church v. Board of Co. CommissionersSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1867
3Cited by13 opinions
- Massachusetts General Hospital v. Inhabitants of BelmontMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1919
- Hibernian Benevolent Society v. KellyOregon Supreme Court · 1895
- President & Fellows of Harvard College v. Assessors of CambridgeMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1900
- State ex rel. Eveland v. EricksonSouth Dakota Supreme Court · 1921
- Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church v. City of San AntonioCourt of Appeals of Texas · 1918
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