Board of Home Missions & Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church v. Philadelphia

Citations

• 266 Pa. 405
• 109 A. 664
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 582
• 4 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 4766

Syllabus

<p>Taxation — Charities—Purely public charity — Exemption—Use of real estate — Exempting portion of building — Constitution—Acts of May lit, 181 It, P. L. IBS; May 29,1901, P. L. 819, and June 18, 1911, P. L. 898.</p> <p>1. A purely public charity within, the meaning of Article IX, Section 1, of the Constitution, is not necessarily one golely controlled by the State, but extends to private charitable institutions which are not administered for any individual gain.</p> <p>2. The mere fact of a public charity being under the control of those belonging to a particular religious denomination, does not prevent it from being a purely public charity, so long as its ultimate object is to help an indefinite number of persons, without regard to their religious beliefs.</p> <p>3. The action of the court below in dividing a building according to the relative rental values of the floor space rented and allotted to others and that occupied by a charity, and exempting from taxation the space occupied by the charity for its purposes, will be sustained where it appears that such division is equitable, and does the city no injustice.</p> <p>4. The Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a Pennsylvania corporation, not for profit, is “a purely public charity,” within the meaning of Article IX, Section 1, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, where it appears that the purpose of the corporation 'is the spread of the Christian religion for the benefit of mankind, “throughout the United States and territories,” by establishing and extending the “Christian influence” of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and more specifically by aiding, wherever necessary, in the purchase and erection of “suitable houses of public worship and other church property, and the prosecution of the [home] mission work of the Methodist Episcopal Church,” and that the work of such board was not carried on for the benefit of the clergymen and others of -the Methodist Episcopal Chu