House of Refuge v. Smith

Citations

• 140 Pa. 387
• 21 A. 353
• 1891 Pa. LEXIS 852

Syllabus

<p>(a) The House of Refuge of Philadelphia was incorporated by the act of March 23, 1826, P. L. 133, for the purpose of establishing and conducting an institution for the confinement and reformation of youthful delinquents, and was conceded to be an institution of purely public charity.</p> <p>(5) Under the authority of the act of May 13, 1889, P. L. 209, the managers purchased 884 acres of land in Delaware county, and removed the male dopartmentthereto. Said land is cultivated by inmates, to tlio end that they may be trained to agricultural labor; and the sale of the products of the farm defrays a part of the expenses of the institution:</p> <p>1. The land so used is not income-producing in any proper sense; and being in the actual use of the managers and devoted absolutely to the purposes of the institution, as a part of the plant on and by means of which its reformatory work is carried on, it is exempt from taxation, under the act of May 14, 1874, P. L. 158: Wagner Institute’s App., 116 Pa. 555, distinguished.</p>