Fowler v. Town of Springfield

• Decision Date: 30 July 1886
• Citation: 64 N.H. 108,5 A. 770
• Parties: FOWLER v. TOWN OF SPRINGFIELD.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

5 A. 770

64 N.H. 108

FOWLER

v. TOWN OF SPRINGFIELD.¹

Supreme Court of New Hampshire.

July 30, 1886.

Reserved case from Sullivan county.

Petition for an abatement of taxes assessed in 1884. Facts found by a referee:

The land taxed is situated in Springfield, and was of the value of $250, for which sum it was taxed. It was in fact owned by a non-resident, but had been taxed for several years to the plaintiff by agreement of the owner. In 1884 the plaintiff gave it in to be taxed at $200, at the suggestion of the owner.

Shirley & Stone, for plaintiff.

A. L. Bowers, for defendant.

BINGHAM, J. Real estate must be taxed in the town in which it is situate. Gen. Laws, c. 54, § 11; Weeks v. Gilmanton, 60 N. H. 500, 503. On a petition for the abatement of a tax, such order is made as justice requires. Gen. Laws, c. 57, §§ 11, 12. Justice requires that there should be paid on this estate a tax equal, according to its value, to that paid on other estates in the town where it is situate. Perley v. Dolloff, 60 N. H. 504. In this proceeding only so much of a tax is abated as in equity ought not to be paid, however erroneous, in law or fact, the assessment may be. Edes v. Boardman, 58 N. H. 580, 586. This estate was taxed in the right town, for the right sum, and justice requires that the owner pay it. The fact that the tax was assessed to a person that did not own the land does not furnish a reason for abating it, if he is the owner's agent, and the petition is brought for the owner's benefit. The tax must be paid, or he must take the chance of losing the land by a sale for non-payment. Carpenter v. Dalton, 58 N. H. 615, 617.

Petition dismissed.

BLODGETT, J., did not sit. The others concurred.

1 Reported by R. E. Walker, Esq., of the Concord bar.