State v. Westervelt
| Decision Date | 26 February 1900 |
| Citation | 64 N.J.L. 510,45 A. 788 |
| Parties | STATE (SISTERS OF PEACE, Prosecutors) v. WESTERVELT, Collector. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Certiorari by the state, on the prosecution of the Sisters of Peace, against Benjamin Westervelt, collector, to review a tax assessment. Affirmed in part.
Argued November term, 1899, before DIXON, GUMMERE, and LUDLOW, JJ.
Charles J. Roe, for prosecutors.
William M. Sueffert, for defendant.
The prosecutors complain that certain of their property, in the borough of Englewood Cliffs, has been subjected to taxation by the borough assessors, in violation of the provision of the supplement to the general tax act, passed May 16, 1894 (3 Gen. St. p. 3320), which exempts "all buildings erected and used for religious worship and the land whereon the same are situate, necessary to the fair use and enjoyment thereof," and also "all buildings used exclusively for charitable purposes with the land whereon the same are erected, and which may be necessary for the fair enjoyment thereof." The land assessed in this case consists of two parcels, separated from each other by the steep, perpendicular wall of the Palisades. One tract fronts on the Hudson river, and extends to the foot of the Palisades, and the other fronts on top of the Palisades, and extends west to Hudson Terrace. These two plots are not connected. The lower one is entirely inaccessible from the upper, and, as appears from the testimony of the prosecutors themselves, is not used by them for any purpose whatever. The claim that this lower tract is exempt from taxation under the provisions of the act of 1894 is consequently entirely groundless. Upon the upper tract the prosecutors have erected a three-story frame building which they have designated as "St. Michael's Villa on the Palisades," and which is used as a summer boarding house. There are also a barn and chicken house upon the premises, for use in connection with the villa. Upon the tract the prosecutors have also erected a chapel which is used for religious worship. The people who patronize St. Michael's Villa, in general, pay for the accommodation afforded them; the income therefrom having amounted to about $6,000 in 1898, and to over $5,000 in 1897. The chapel and the curtilage upon which it stands are clearly exempt from taxation, by the very terms of the act of 1894; the building having been erected and the property being used for religious worship. The ground upon which...
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Paper Mill Playhouse v. Millburn Tp.
...118 A.2d 809 (1955) (exemption denied for residential houses occupied by ministers and their families), and Sisters of Peace v. Westervelt, 64 N.J.L. 510, 45 A. 788 (Sup.Ct.1900), aff'd, 65 N.J.L. 685, 48 A. 789 (E. & A.1901) (exemption for summer boarding house in which patrons paid for ac......
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Presbyterian Homes of Synod of N. J. v. Division of Tax Appeals
...A.2d 809 (1955); City of Asbury Park v. Div. of Tax Appeals, 41 N.J.Super. 504, 125 A.2d 411 (App.Div.1956); Sisters of Peace v. Westervelt, 64 N.J.L. 510, 45 A. 788 (Sup.Ct.1900); aff'd. 65 N.J.L. 685, 48 A. 789 (E. & A. 1901); Girls Friendly Soc'y. v. Cape May, 20 N.J.Misc. 65, 24 A.2d 41......
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Teaneck Tp. v. Lutheran Bible Institute
...based upon the charitable character of the plaintiff owner rather than the specific use of the property. In Sisters of Peace v. Westervelt, 64 N.J.L. 510, 45 A. 788 (Sup.Ct.1900), however, the former Supreme Court denied an exemption under the same statutory clause on property owned by a ch......
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Princeton University Press v. Borough of Princeton
...& A.1932). The statutory language 'exclusively used' has met with judicial scrutiny on numerous occasions. In Sisters of Peace v. Westervelt, 64 N.J.L. 510, 45 A. 788 (Sup.Ct.1900), affirmed, 65 N.J.L. 685, 48 A. 789 (E. & A.1901), plaintiff conducted a summer boarding house whose patrons p......