The Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestrymen, of Christ Church, In the City of Philadelphia, In Trust For Christ Church Hospital, Plaintiffs In Error v. the County of Philadelphia

• Decision Date: 01 December 1860
• Citation: 65 U.S. 300,16 L.Ed. 602,24 How. 300
• Parties: THE RECTOR, CHURCH WARDENS, AND VESTRYMEN, OF CHRIST CHURCH, IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, IN TRUST FOR CHRIST CHURCH HOSPITAL, PLAINTIFFS IN ERROR, v. THE COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

65 U.S. 300

24 How. 300

16 L.Ed. 602

THE RECTOR, CHURCH WARDENS, AND VESTRYMEN, OF CHRIST

CHURCH, IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, IN TRUST FOR

CHRIST CHURCH HOSPITAL, PLAINTIFFS IN ERROR,

v. THE COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA.

December Term, 1860

THIS case was brought up from the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania by a writ of error issued under the 25th section of the Judiciary act.

The facts of the case are stated in the opinion of the court, and also the decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which was alleged to be in conflict with the Constitution of the United States.

It was argued by Mr. McCall and Mr. Reverdy Johnson for the plaintiffs in error, and submitted on a printed argument by Mr. King for the defendants.

The first point of the counsel for the plaintiffs in error, viz: that a Legislature had power to exempt property permanently from taxation, was not contested by the other side; but the argument was, whether the reason given for exempting the property was a legal consideration of a contract or only a motive alleged for passing the laws. Upon this question many authorities were cited on both sides.

Mr. Justice CAMPBELL delivered the opinion of the court.

This cause comes before this court upon a writ of error to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, under the 25th section of the act of Congress of the 24th September, 1789. In the year 1833 the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed an act which recited 'that Christ Church Hospital, in the city of Philadelphia, had for many years afforded an asylum to numerous poor and distressed widows, who would probably else have become a public charge; and it being represented that in consequence of the decay of the buildings of the hospital estate, and the increasing burden of taxes, its means are curtailed, and its usefulness limited,' they enacted, 'that the real property, including ground rents, now belonging and payable to Christ Church Hospital, in the city of Philadelphia, so long as the same shall continue to belong to the said hospital, shall be and remain free from taxes.'

In the year 1851 the same authority enacted 'that all property, real and personal, belonging to any association or incorporated company which is now by law exempt from taxation, other than that which is in the actual use and occupation of such association or incorporated company, and from which an income or revenue is derived by the owners thereof, shall hereafter be subject to taxation in the same manner and for the same purposes as other property is now by law taxable, and so much of any law as is hereby altered and supplied be and the same is hereby repealed.' It was decided in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, that the exemption conferred upon these plaintiffs by the act of 1833 was partially repealed by the act of 1851, and that an...