Molly Varnum Chapter, D.A.R., v. City of Lowell

• Decision Date: 25 January 1910
• Parties: MOLLY VARNUM CHAPTER, D. A. R. v. CITY OF LOWELL.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

204 Mass. 487

90 N.E. 893

MOLLY VARNUM CHAPTER, D. A. R. v. CITY OF LOWELL.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Middlesex.

January 25, 1910

COUNSEL

Albert S. Howard, for appellant.

Wm. W Duncan, for appellee.

OPINION

BRALEY J.

The defendant city having levied and collected a tax upon the real estate owned by the plaintiff, this suit is brought to recover it back. It having been agreed that the omission to make the return required by Rev. Laws, c. 12, § 41, was not willful, the only question for decision is whether the plaintiff is within the class of corporations described in Rev. Laws, c. 12, § 5, cl. 3, as 'literary, benevolent charitable and scientific institutions' whose real property, when used and occupied for the purpose for which they are incorporated, is exempted from taxation.

The plaintiff is a corporation chartered under Rev. Laws, c. 125 'for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of the men and women who achieved American independence, of acquiring and protecting historic spots, encouraging historical research and the publication of its results, preserving documents and relics and individual records of Revolutionary soldiers and patriots, and promoting the celebration of patriotic anniversaries, or cherishing, maintaining and extending the institutions of American freedom, and fostering true patriotism and love of country; also for the purpose of holding real estate so far as may be necessary for its lawful ends.' In furtherance of these purposes it has purchased, with funds raised from dues assessed on its members and voluntary contributions by citizens, the estate known as the 'Spaulding House,' formerly owned and occupied by soldiers who served in the War of the Revolution. It may be assumed, in the absence of any affirmative statement in the agreed facts to the contrary, that the house is not only owned but occupied by the plaintiff, even if the occasional hiring of the premises by others provides an income which is exclusively devoted to the work of the corporation. Wesleyan Academy v. Wilbraham, 99 Mass. 599. The right to an exemption from taxation is claimed by the plaintiff because it is either a literary or a benevolent institution. The objects which the plaintiff was organized to promote having been defined by its charter, they cannot be enlarged by extraneous reference to the terms of incorporation of the national organization of which the plaintiff is a chapter or branch. Masonic Education & Charity Trust v. Boston, 201 Mass. 320, 87 N.E. 602. In New England Theosophical Corporation v. Boston, 172 Mass. 60, 51 N.E. 456, 42 L. R. A. 281, it was held by the whole court that the plaintiff, though instituted for the dissemination of theosophical ideas and the procurement of converts through the collection of books on the subject, with instructions and other literary work explanatory of the tenets of the society, was not a literary institution within the meaning of the statute. It was organized to procure converts to that belief, all other purposes of organization being made subordinate, and the element of general benefit to the public which is conferred where an institution of learning is founded for the promotion of education in the liberal arts, or in the sciences, or where a library is established for the general diffusion of knowledge, was wanting. A private corporation, conducted for the sole benefit of its members, although the general purpose in a popular sense may be of limited educational value, does not confer upon the public that advantage and aid which it is the purpose of the statute not only to recognize but to encourage. This distinction appears and was applied in favor of the exemption in Wesleyan Academy v. Wilbraham, 99 Mass. 599, and in Emerson v. Trustees of Milton Academy, 185 Mass. 414, 70 N.E. 442. See Minns v. Billings, 183 Mass. 126, 130, 66 N.E. 593, 5 L. R. A. (N. S.) 686, 97 Am. St. Rep. 420.

If the sole object of the plaintiff had been the gratuitous collection and publication of facts connected with our revolutionary history, this work would have been educational and of great value to the community. It would disseminate useful knowledge similar to that afforded by a free lectureship on such topics or by a library of historical works treating of the subject and opened free of charge for all those who wished to read or consult them, under such reasonable rules as might be prescribed. The foundation upon which such an institution rests would be in aid of letters and charitable by intendment of law. Yates v. University College, L. R. 7 H. L. 438. To encourage and promote historical research and the publication of the results in the form of books, pamphlets or periodicals without pecuniary profit or charge, which was one of the chartered purposes of the corporation, while not so extensive an aid in the diffusion of historical information as a library open to the public and composed of such works would be, nevertheless is within the statutory category, and property held and occupied for this purpose is exempt. Minns v. Billings, 183 Mass. 126, 66 N.E. 593, 5 L. R. A. (N. S.) 686, 97 Am. St Rep. 420; Drury v. Natick, 10 Allen, 169; Cary Library v. Bliss, 151 Mass. 364, 25 N.E. 92, 7 L. R. A. 765; Dexter v. Harvard College, 176 Mass. 192, 57 N.E. 371; Jones v. Habersham, 107 U.S. 174, 2 S.Ct. 336, 27 L.Ed. 401. If the word 'benevolent,' without qualifying words, may include acts springing from mere good will or a sense of moral duty, yet when used in connection with 'charitable' it is synonymous with it if such appears to have been the intention of the testator or settlor in making the gift. Saltonstall v. Sanders, 11 Allen, 446, 465, 470; Chamberlain v. Stearns, 111 Mass. 267, 268; Mass. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals v. Boston, 142 Mass. 24, 27, 6 N.E. 840; Minot v. Atty. Gen., 189 Mass. 176, 179, 75 N.E. 149; Fox v. Gibbs, 86 Me. 87, 29 A. 940. In Young Men's Protestant and Benevolent Society v. Fall River, 160 Mass. 409, 412, 36 N.E. 57, where an exemption was claimed under St. 1889, c. 465, re-enacted in Rev. Laws, c. 12, § 5, cl. 3, it...