Corcoran v. City of Boston

• Decision Date: 31 March 1904
• Citation: 70 N.E. 197,185 Mass. 325
• Parties: CORCORAN v. CITY OF BOSTON.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

185 Mass. 325

70 N.E. 197

CORCORAN v. CITY OF BOSTON.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

March 31, 1904

COUNSEL

Chas E. Hellier, for petitioner.

Samuel M. Child, for respondent.

OPINION

MORTON, J.

This is a petition, under Rev. Laws, c. 12, § 78, for the abatement of a tax assessed to the petitioner as of May 1, 1902, by the assessors of Boston, for a parcel of land in South Boston for which the petitioner had a bond for a deed from the commonwealth, and on which prior to May 1, 1902, he had erected buildings, and was carrying on business as a box manufacturer. The petitioner paid the tax under protest. The case was heard by the court upon agreed facts with power to draw inferences; it being agreed that, if the petitioner was not liable to be taxed for the land, judgment should be entered for him for the amount of the tax, with interest. The court found and ordered judgment for the petitioner, and the case is here on exceptions by the respondent to the refusal of the court to give certain rulings that were requested, and to the rulings and findings that were made.

We think that the rulings and the refusals to rule were right. The statute expressly provides that 'the property of the commonwealth, except real estate of which the commonwealth is in possession under a mortgage for condition broken,' shall be exempt from taxation. Rev. Laws, c. 12, § 5, subd 2. The language could not be plainer. The words 'the property of the commonwealth' mean the same as 'all the property of the commonwealth.' And the fact that only one exception is made shows that no other exception could have been intended, and that a construction such as contended for by the respondent, namely, that the exception extends only to property held by the commonwealth for governmental purposes, would be unwarranted. The property that was taxed is the property of the commonwealth, notwithstanding the commonwealth has contracted to sell it to the petitioner, and the petitioner is in possession, and the exemption attaches to it so long as it continues to be the property of the commonwealth. The question now presented does not appear to have been passed upon in this state, but the plain implication of the language of the court in Inhabitants of Essex Co. v. Salem, 153 Mass. 141, 26 N.E. 431, is that if there had been an exemption from taxation in the case of counties, like that in the case of the property of the...