Christ Church in the City of Philadelphia v. County of Philadelphia/Opinion of the Court

by John Archibald Campbell

United States Supreme Court

61 U.S. 26

Christ Church in the City of Philadelphia  v.  County of Philadelphia

This is a writ of error to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, under the 25th section of the judiciary act of the 24th September, 1789.

These parties, without any pleadings, stated a case, in the nature of a special verdict to the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, upon which a final judgment was rendered. It appears from the case, that in April, 1833, the Legislature of Pennsylvania enacted: 'That Christ Church Hospital, having for many years afforded an asylum to numerous poor and distressed widows, who would probably else have become a public charge, and that, in consequence of the decay of the buildings of the hospital estate, and the increasing burden of the taxes, its means are curtailed and its usefulness limited; therefore, 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 hospital, shall be and remain free from taxes.'

That in April, 1851, the Legislature of the same State 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property is now by law taxable; and so much of any law as is hereby altered and supplied be, and the same is hereby, repealed: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt cemetery companies from taxation.'

It further appears, in the case stated, that the county of Philadelphia, in the year 1852, caused certain real estate and ground rents of the plaintiffs in the city of Philadelphia, and which were possessed by the plaintiffs before the date of the act first mentioned, to be valued and assessed for taxes, and that the taxes were subsequently paid to the officers of the county, under protest, by them. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania determined that the plaintiffs were entitled to recover only for so much of the taxes assessed and paid which were levied for property in the actual occupancy of the plaintiff for hospital purposes.

It does not appear, either by express averment or by a necessary intendment from any matter stated in the case, nor does any entry on the record of the cause in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania show, that any of the questions of which this court is entitled to take cognizance, under the terms of the 25th section of the judiciary act, arose in the cause, and were actually decided by that court. Therefore, in conformity with the established doctrine of this court, (Armstrong v. The Treasurer of Athens county, 16 Pet., 282; Smith v. Hunter, 7 How. S.C.. R., 738,) the writ of error must be dismissed.

Notes