Warde v. Manchester

• Decision Date: 21 March 1876
• Citation: 56 N.H. 508
• Parties: Warde v. Manchester.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

56 N.H. 508

Warde v. Manchester.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

March 21, 1876

Lands and buildings used exclusively for the purposes of an academy or seminary for the instruction of females, agreeably to the faith and practice of the Roman Catholic church, and for dormitories and convenient out-buildings in connection therewith, are exempted from taxation by the provisions of Gen. Stats., ch. 49, sec. 2

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY

PETITION for abatement of taxes. The case was referred to a commissioner to report the facts, who subsequently made report as follows:

"I find the following to be the material facts involved in said cause; that is to say, I find and report, that, in the assessment of the public taxes by the city authorities of Manchester for the year 1873, a tax of sixty-two dollars and fifty cents was assessed upon a lot of land, on the corner of Beach and Laurel streets, in said city, known as lot 1306 and a tax of fifty dollars upon the lot adjoining, known as lot 1307, it being stated in the record-book of assessments that the owners of said lots were unknown, and the ownership of said lots being, in fact, unknown to the assessors at the time of the assessment; that said lot 1306 was purchased in 1870 by the Rev. Wm. McDonald, then and ever since pastor of St. Anne's church in said Manchester, and a conveyance taken to the petitioner by the name of Maria Theresa F. X Warde, and the purchase-money for said conveyance paid from funds belonging to a religious order or association connected with said church, of which the petitioner was and has ever since been the recognized lady superior or head; that neither said church nor religious order or association is organized as a corporation under the laws of this state, or of the United States, but according to the forms and methods of the Catholic church, for the purposes of religious worship, and of maintaining religious institutions, agreeably to the faith and practice of that church; that said lot 1307 was purchased in 1869, and paid for in like manner, and a conveyance thereof taken to said Warde by the name of Frances T. Ward that, prior to said purchase in 1869, an academy or seminary for the instruction and education of females had been established, and was and has ever since been maintained upon a lot adjoining said lots 1306 and 1307, under the particular supervision of the petitioner as the 'Mother Superior' of said order or association designated the 'Sisters of Mercy,' the funds for the support of said establishment being derived mainly from the tuition fees and charges for the board of pupils educated at said institution that the educational course in said academy comprises all the branches of instruction, useful and ornamental, usually included in the academic course of the higher seminaries for the finished education of young ladies; that, in addition thereto, the pupils are carefully instructed in moral and relig-

ious principles, as understood by the adherents of the...