Bd. Of Tr.S Of Gate City Guard v. Oity Of Atlanta

• Decision Date: 19 July 1901
• Citation: 113 Ga. 883,39 S.E. 394
• Parties: BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF GATE CITY GUARD. v. OITY OF ATLANTA.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

39 S.E. 394

113 Ga. 883

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF GATE CITY GUARD.

v.OITY OF ATLANTA.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

July 19, 1901.

TAXATION—EXEMPTIONS—PUBLIC PROPERTY-CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.

1. Public property, within the meaning of that clause of the constitution which authorizes the general assembly to exempt from taxation "all public property, " embraces only such property as is owned by the state, or some political division thereof, and title to which is vested directly in the state, or one of its subordinate political divisions, or in some person holding exclusively for the benefit of the state, or a subordinate public corporation.

2. It follows from the ruling stated in the preceding note that that portion of the act of the general assembly approved October 13, 1885, and now embodied in Pol. Code, § 1150, which declares that each armory "owned" and occupied by any command of the volunteer military forces of the state "shall be, to all intents and purposes, public property, * * * and as such public property * * * shall be exempt from any taxation, state, county or municipal, " is in violation of the constitution, and therefore null and void.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from superior court, Fulton county; A. W. Fife, Judge.

Action between the Board of Trustees of the Gate City Guard and the city of Atlanta. From the judgment the board of trustees brings error. Affirmed.

Jas. F. O'Neill, for plaintiff in error.

Jas. L. Mayson and W. P. Hill, for defendant in error.

COBB, J. On October 13, 1885, an act was approved which declared: "Each armory owned and occupied by any command of said volunteer forces shall be, to all intents and purposes, public property—that is to say, the state shall have the right to use the same for public purposes of a military character, to quarter troops therein in times of emergency, to be judged of by the commander-in-chief, and to otherwise use the same for military purposes, such use, however to be consistent with the occupation of the same by said command holding the legal title thereto, and so as not to oust the said command therefrom, and as such public property, each said armory, and the land upon which it is situated while it is used and occupied as such, shall be exempt from any taxation, state, county or municipal. The adjutant and inspector general shall see that all such armories are kept in serviceable condition, and shall report on the same to the commander-in-chief in his annual report. All rents or income of any portions of such armories shall be the property of the command owning the same. The state shall not appropriate any money for the repair of such buildings, but all repairs and other expenses incident to preserving and repairing such buildings shall be paid by the command owning the same." Acts 1884-85, p. 84, § 15 (Pol. Code, § 1156). Under the constitution "the general assembly may, by taw, exempt from taxation all public proper ty." Civ. Code, § 5884. The general assembly, under the authority thus granted, has declared that "all public property" shall be exempt from taxation. Pol. Code, § 762...