(DOWNLOAD) "Middlesex County v. City Waltham" by Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Middlesex County v. City Waltham
- Author : Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
- Release Date : January 28, 1932
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 67 KB
Description
RUGG, C. J. These are actions of contract to recover money paid for taxes alleged to have been assessed contrary to law. The cases were referred to a commissioner and were heard upon his report supplemented by an agreed statement of facts. His findings of fact are prima facie true. G. L. c. 59, § 67; South Lancaster Academy v. Lancaster, 242 Mass. 553, 555, 556, 136 N.E. 626. The facts thus found, stated summarily, are these: The land on which the taxes were assessed was acquired by the plaintiff in conformity to the mandate of St. 1916, c. 286, for a tuberculosis hospital. Two purchases to that end were made, one in 1917 and one in 1918. By reason of the Great War and other circumstances not foreseen at the time of the purchases, the actual construction of the hospital was much delayed, although efforts were put forth to that end and investigations and studies were carried on. The mandatory requirement was continued until by the enactment of St. 1924, c. 500, the plaintiff was permitted, but not required, to make other arrangements for the care of tubercular patients. Other arrangements were made in June, 1925. Until about that time the county commissioners of the plaintiff intended to build the hospital and did not earlier reach a contrary determination or abandon their purpose to devote the land in question to the uses of a tuberculosis hospital. The land was never appropriated to any other use. The county commissioners, in 1925, undertook to sell the property and a sale was made in 1927. The property was rented from time to time to tenants at will upon agreement that such tenants were to vacate at any time upon notice. Hay and grass growing on the land was sold. All these uses tended to preserve the properties, were incidental to the dominant end for which the land had been acquired, and the comparatively trifling revenue therefrom tended to reduce the public cost of the enterprise. The trial Judge found that until June 1, 1925, the land was appropriated to a public purpose. This finding was plainly warranted, if not required. The establishment of a tuberculosis hospital was a public purpose. County of Essex v. Newburyport, 254 Mass. 232, 150 N.E. 234. It is manifest that it was the honest intention of the responsible public officers of the plaintiff to build a hospital upon the land in question until June, 1925, when, by virtue of a change in the statutes, another course seemed wise. Counties are territorial subdivisions of the Commonwealth bounded and organized by the General Court for the convenient administration of some parts of government. They are bodies politic and corporate. They exist solely for the public welfare. They own property for public uses. Land held by counties actually devoted, or designed to be devoted within a reasonable time, to public uses is exempt from taxation unless there is special statutory provision to the contrary. Collector of Taxes of Milton v. Boston (Mass.) 180 N.E. 116, and cases cited. Worcester County v. Worcester, 116 Mass. 193, 17 Am. Rep. 159; Connecticut Valley Street R. Co. v. Northampton, 213 Mass. 54, 56, 99 N.E. 516.
 "Middlesex County v. City Waltham" by Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}