Enochs v. City of Jackson

• Decision Date: 01 November 1926
• Docket Number: 25892
• Citation: 144 Miss. 360,109 So. 864
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: ENOCHS et al. v. CITY or JACKSON. [*]

109 So. 864

144 Miss. 360

ENOCHS et al. v. CITY or JACKSON. ^[*]

No. 25892

Supreme Court of Mississippi

November 1, 1926

Division A

TAXATION. Unused church lot held not exempt from taxation (Hemingway's Code, section 6878).

Church lot adjoining that on which church house was situated and not used, except that plank walk for entrance to church annex is maintained thereon, held not exempt from taxation, under Code 1906, section 4251 (Hemingway's Code, section 6878).

HON. W H. POTTER, Judge.

APPEAL from circuit court of Hinds county, First district, HON. W H. POTTER, Judge.

Proceeding by the city of Jackson for the assessment of municipal taxes against J. L. Enochs and others, trustees of the Capitol Street Methodist Church. Judgment approving the assessment and defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Affirmed.

D. C. Enochs, for appellant.

By subsection (d), section 6878, Hemingway's Code, all property real or personal, belonging to any religious society and used exclusively for the purposes of such society and not for profit, is exempt from taxation. And by subsections (a) and (d), section 4110, Hemingway's Code, a religious society may hold and own, at any one place, a house for a place of worship, and a proper and reasonable quantity of ground thereto attached.

This court in Adams County v. Catholic Diocese of Natchez, 110 Miss. 890, 71 So. 17, while conceding that statutes exempting persons and property from taxation must be strictly construed, has stated that it is also true that there is a relaxation of the rule in the case of statutes of exemption applicable to religious institutions, and it would seem that if the land here sought to be taxed is not an improper and unreasonable quantity of ground for this church to own at that place, that the same should be exempt from taxation the same as the church building itself.

The city should have exempted the rest of said property not only as the yard and approach to said cottages, but as the yard and a part of the church. It will be noted that section 4110 expressly provides that in addition to a house for worship, a religious society may hold and own, at one place, a proper and reasonable quantity of ground thereto attached. Now in determining the propriety and reasonableness of this church's ownership of this land, its needs not only for the present but for the future should be considered.

What might be a proper and reasonable quantity of ground for one church in one place might not be a proper and reasonable quantity of ground for that church in some other place. If a yard makes the house of a person more attractive and pleasant to dwell in, then does not a yard to the Lord's house make it more attractive and pleasant to worship in?

I am familiar with the case of Central Methodist Church v. City of Meridian et al., 126 Miss. 780, 89 So. 650, wherein this court construed the statute providing what property may be held and owned by a religious society, but I submit that the facts in that case and the facts in the instant case are totally different.

This case should be reversed and a judgment rendered in this court exempting the said property from taxation.

Morse & Bryan, for the appellee.

Sections 6878 and 4110, Hemingway's Code (sections 4251 and 934, Code of 1906) govern here. This court in Central Methodist Church v. City of Meridian, 125 Miss. 780, 89 So. 650; and Gunter v. City of Jackson, 94 So. 842, held that property owned by a religious society in excess of the amount of property authorized by laws was not exempt from taxation, but was taxable as other property is taxed. These cases are applicable to the facts here existing. When a religious society holds property in excess of a "proper and reasonable quantity of ground" attached to the church, such excess is taxable.

Adams County v. Catholic Diocese of Natchez, 110 Miss. 890, 71 So. 17, cited by counsel, is in derogation of the universal rule that he who claims exemption of taxation must show affirmatively an exemption expressly declared, and that the claimant is clearly embraced within its terms.

The general exemption statutes of the various states vary in phraseology but they are easily divisible into the following classes: Those making ownership of property the basis of a claim for exemption; (2) those making use the basis; and (3) those making ownership and use the basis. The Mississippi statute falls under the last classification. Where property is devoted to no actual, substantial use, as in the present case, it is subject to taxation just as other taxable property.

The law does not contemplate that religious societies shall accumulate a surplus of property and hold it idle. The history and the very tenor of the law itself is diametrically opposed to this. The policy of the law as now written is to allow religious organizations to own and use a "reasonable and proper quantity of ground" contiguous to the church, and to exempt such ground and building from taxation. But it was never contemplated by the lawmakers that a church could purchase an un-unreasonable amount of adjacent, unimproved property and devote it to no practical use, but to hold it idle until such time as it saw fit to erect a building thereon or to dispose of it.

The land here assessed is in excess of a "proper and reasonable quantity of ground" attached to the church and, therefore, it is taxable. Pulaski County v. First Baptist Church, 110 S.W. 1034, 86 Ark. 205; Ramsey County v. Macalaster College, 18 L. R. A. (Minn.) 278; Redemptionist Fathers v. City of Boston, 129 Mass. 178; All Saints Parish v. Brookline, 178 Mass. 404, 59 N.E. 1003, 52 L. R. A. 778.

It is our contention that it is necessary for appellant to establish the fact that this entire property is reasonable and proper for church users. On the other hand, as a matter of fact, this record shows that the property has been held by the church since October, 1921, and so far as new...