Massachusetts Soc. for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals v. City of Boston

• Decision Date: 11 May 1886
• Citation: 6 N.E. 840,142 Mass. 24
• Parties: MASSACHUSETTS SOC. FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS v. CITY OF BOSTON.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

142 Mass. 24

6 N.E. 840

MASSACHUSETTS SOC. FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

v.CITY OF BOSTON.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

May 11, 1886.

This was an action to recover of the defendant certain sums paid as taxes assessed upon the real estate of the plaintiff. Hearing in the superior court, upon the following agreed facts:

That on May 1, 1884, the plaintiff corporation owned about an acre of land situated in Boston, which was acquired by it May 29, 1883, for the purpose of erecting and maintaining a free hospital or sheltering home for homeless, neglected, diseased, or abused animals, where they might be kindly cared for, or humanely disposed of; that with money given it for the same purpose, it commenced, later on in the same year, the erection of the building aforesaid; that on May 1, 1884, the work of erecting these buildings had been and was being diligently prosecuted by said corporation; that said real estate was worth about $10,000, and on May 1, 1884, was all the real estate owned by the said corporation, and was all for the use of said hospital, and necessary therefor, and intended for no other purpose; that on May 1, 1884, the defendant city assessed to said plaintiff, upon said real estate, a tax for the year 1884 of $193.80, which, with interest and costs, amounting to $3.48, the plaintiff paid to said defendant, after summons, upon written protest, and was all the tax assessed on said corporation by said defendant for that year; that said plaintiff corporation was incorporated by chapter 81 of the Acts of 1868; that its purpose, as set forth in its constitution, is “to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the commonwealth and elsewhere,” and that none of the members of the society derive any pecuniary benefit from their membership, but all the means of said society are expended in furthering the purpose aforesaid; that the plaintiff corporation employs agents who devote their time and attention to the prosecution of persons found treating animals contrary to the laws of the commonwealth, and particularly contrary to chapter 207, § 52 et seq., of the Public Statutes. Said plaintiff corporation prints and circulates gratuitously about 100,000 copies annually of a paper entitled “Our Dumb Animals,” devoted to setting forth proper treatment of animals, and inciting its readers, by illustration and argument, to such treatment. Said plaintiff corporation has printed and distributed gratuitously about 200,000 copies of essays upon different subjects treating of methods for the proper and humane treatment of animals under all conditions. Said plaintiff corporation has, by its officers and agents, delivered many free addresses and given much personal advice on subjects connected with the humane and proper treatment of animals. Said plaintiff corporation has awarded prizes for inventions for the relief of animals from suffering, and keeps specimens and models of such inventions on exhibition, but does not deal in or sell any such articles. Said plaintiff corporation, at the Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia, in 1876, secured a space in said exhibition, and exhibited a great number of models and specimens of the above inventions. Said plaintiff corporation has, by its officers, organized about 5,000 associations, which have about 300,000 members pledged to the prevention of cruelty to animals. That the said plaintiff corporation, on the twenty-seventh day of June, A.D.1884, duly filed with the assessors of said defendant city, in full accordance with the requirements of chapter 217, Acts 1882, a true list of all its real and personal estate held by it for literary, benevolent, charitable, or scientific purposes, on the first day of May, A.D.1884, and also a true statement of the amounts of all receipts and expenditures by it for said purposes during the year next preceding said first...