The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1889-04-16

to say that in this connection the
word "belonging" is limited to
- sites" and grounds" for school
buildings, when the statute does
limit it with reference to religious
societies. That the maxim well
applies, erpreSsio 1nliuS est ercl,tsio
GlterjuS. That the intention seems
to be clear, that all real property
used for school purposes shall be
exempt; that it is so used when its
income is applied solely to these
purposes.
In view of the provisions of the
will it cannot be question whether
the real estate which has been as
sessed " belongs to-" in the sense
of being the property of, the schools
/ which the trustees are directed to
establish and maintain, or to the
trustees to whom it is devised.
And it cannot be a question that
the word " belonging" has the
meaning of being the property
Of" the King or Queen, the Gov
eminent, the Board of Education,
and of each other mentioned ex-
empt person or body, except only
private schools, and these only be-
cause a private school is not an en-
tity capable of the ownership of
property. Only persons or corpo-
rations can have property "belong-
ing to-" that is, owned by them.
Yet private schools are in two places
in this Act exempted from taxes on
property belonging" to them.
In Green as. Wood, Q. B. Rep.
us, Lord Denman said: " We
are bound to give to the Acts of
the Legislature all possible mean
ing which is consistent with the
clear language used. But if we
find language used which is inca
pable of a meaning we cannot sup
ply one. 1t is true that the words
as they stand are useless "a case
perhaps not infrequen0. We can
do no more than give such a mean
ing as the words authorize"
Nosciter a socius, the meaning of
word may be ascertained by refer
ence to the meaning of words asso-
ciated with it, and the rule of Lord
Bacon, that copuJatiO Uer6OrIm IN
dicot acceptationen IN eOdene SenSeat,
the coupling of words together
shows that they are to be under
stood in the same sense, are appli-
cable rules here. By the latter of
these the population of {" belong
ing" with each of several items
without discrimination shows that
it has the same sense as to each, by
the former the association of " be-
longing" with something which
cannot be the owner of anything,
allows that it be given another
meaning consistent and possible
with this case, a certain favorable
construction, vt res neagiS UaLeGt
guam l1ereat. But a tax exemption
must be strictly construed. Taxa
ton is the rule, the exception of
exemption must appear clearly in
the statute. Cooley on Taxation,
p. 146. alt is familiar principle
that no exemption from taxation
can be allowed except upon its be-
ing fairly shown that it was intend
ed by the terms of the statute.n
Third Cong. Ch. Us. Springfield,
Mass, Oct, 9, 1888, reported in the
Northeastern Reporter.
The assessor has given the build
ings and the curtilage used and occu-
pied by the school, and not used as
a source of revenue for the school, |
the benefit of certain construction
Of the word belonging" and has
exempted them from taxation.
If this should be considered sound |
in a case raising the question of the |
exemption of such premises, the
statute would not be useless as to |
private schools.
Upon the only question before us, |
whether the other real estate held
by the trustees is exempt, every
case adduced by counsel for the
plaintiffs, as well as the defendant,
fails of being quite applicable, in
this, that they are cases of corpo-
rate bodies, such as incorporated
charitable institutions
and schools, being bodies capable of
holding property. The exemptions
ire under statute. The cases hold
strict construction of them.
In 50. A7drew's Hospital Us.
ShedrSmtth, 10 @. B. 624, July,
1887, where a profit was made by
he treatment of wealthy pay pa
tents in charity hospital, which
vas applied in part to the maiR4en-
nee and treatment of poor patients
md the remainder to making i'm
on the hOspital-Held
hat the profits were not, by reason
# such application of them to the
purposes of the hospital payments,
applied to charitable purposes
My" SO as to exempt the institu-
ion from payment of income tax"
In First A E. Church Us. CHI
ago, % Ill. 4S2, the statute ex-
mDtino aUarv huil6iDo nrnota6 for