Montana Catholic Missions v. Missoula County

Statement by Mr. Justice Peckham:

The plaintiff in error commenced this action in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Montana, to recover from the defendant the amount of certain back taxes, which it alleged had been illegally assessed, and which it had been compelled to pay in order to prevent the seizure and sale of the property owned by it, and upon which the taxes were levied. Both parties to the action were residents of the state of Montana at the time it was commenced. The defendant demurred to the complaint upon the ground, among others, that the court had no jurisdiction of the person of the defendant or of the subjectmatter of the action. The demurrer was sustained by the court, and the complaint dismissed on the sole ground that it had no jurisdiction, and the court has certified the question of jurisdiction directly to this court, as provided for in the 5th section of the act of 1891. 26 Stat. at L. 827, chap. 517, U.S.C.omp. Stat. 1901, p. 549.

The following is the complaint:

The plaintiff above-named complains to the court, and alleges:

I. That it is, and since prior to the year 1890 has been, a corporation organized and existing under the provisions of chapter 34, fifth division of the Compiled Statutes of the state of Montana, relating to the incorporation of religious, benevolent, and other like societies, and that its purposes are set forth in its articles of incorporation as follows:

The particular business or object of said corporation shall be to hold the legal title to real estate in the territory of Montana, for the use and in trust for the Society of Jesus, also to hold and in trust for said society all funds, property, and effects of said society, or any members thereof, or any person or persons, corporation or corporations, conveyed, transferred, delivered, or assigned to the said corporation, for the use and benefit of said society; to conduct, erect, govern, and maintain churches, colleges, schools, and libraries, and all other such necessary and useful enterprises as may be properly connected with the society and corporation. The general business and object of said corporation shall be to inculcate and further the interests of Christian education among the inhabitants of the territory of Montana, including the Indians and other residents on reservations within the said territory, and also to advance the interests of the Christian religion through the erection and maintenance of churches, colleges, and schools, and the preaching of the Gospel.

II. The Society of Jesus referred to in the said articles of incorporation is an association or order of ministers of the Gospel, none of the members of which can, under the rules of the said order, hold, or does hold, any property in his own right.

III. Plaintiff further avers that about the year 1854 the said Society of Jesus established a mission among the Flathead Indians, then residing in the western portion of what is now the state of Montana, and stationed among them members of the said order, with directions to teach, educate, enlighten, and care for the said Indians. That the said mission being so established, members of the said order so deputed went among the said Indians, and from about the year 1854 to the present time have continued in the work of teaching, educating, and enlightening the said Flathead Indians.

IV. The plaintiff further avers that since the creation of the Flathead Indian reservation in the state of Montana, members of the said order, commonly known as Jesuit Fathers, have, by the direction of said order and by permission of the Indians living and entitled to live within the same, and the government of the United States, been permitted to reside within the said reservation for the purpose of teaching and educating the Indians residing thereon, and that they have been, during all of said period, continuously engaged in the work of teaching and educating the said Indians.

V. That with the permission of the Indians inhabiting and entitled to inhabit the said reservation and the government of the United States, the said Jesuit Fathers have constructed on the said reservation, at great expense, extensive school buildings, with dormitories, and in connection therewith, for the purpose of teaching the said Indians the manual arts, a blacksmith shop, wagon shop, printing office, saddlery shop, shoe shops, bakeries, and other shops of like character, and, with the same purpose, cultivate fields and gardens.

VI. That for the more successful conduct of the training and education of the Indians, the said Jesuit Fathers take into their care and custody at tender ages the children of the said Indians, and keep them at the said schools, and clothe, feed, and house them until they arrive at mature years, and that they now have, and for more than ten years last past have had, in their charge and care, upwards of two hundred and fifty of the children of the Indians residing on, and entitled to reside on, the said reservation.

VII. That for many years the government of the United States, in recognition of the value of the work of the said Jesuit Fathers in the training and education of the said Indians, appropriated and paid to them large sums of money for the purpose of carrying on the said work of educating the said Indians and caring for their children, but that such contributions are no longer made by the government.

VIII. That with a view to provide means for the carrying on of the said work of educating the said Indians the said Jesuit Fathers have acquired a large band of neat cattle, which roam over and feed upon the said reservation. That the right to keep and graze the said cattle upon the lands included within the said reservation was, long prior to the year 1895, granted to the Jesuit Fathers by the Indians residing upon the said reservation and entitled to reside thereon, which right was confirmed by the acquiescence and permission of the government of the United States, and that the cattle now owned by them or by the plaintiff herein, as hereinafter set out, now graze upon the lands included within the said reservation by the express permission of the Indians residing and entitled to reside thereon, and of the government of the United States.

IX. That a large number of the said cattle are annually killed and consumed as food by the children of the Indians so residing on and entitled to reside on the said reservation, and who are under the care of the said Jesuit Fathers, as aforesaid, and by the fathers in charge of the said children, and assistants employed by them in the work of educating the said Indians, and that others of said cattle are annually shipped to Eastern markets, and the income derived from the sale of the same is devoted to, and used exclusively for, the work carried on by the said fathers on the said reservation, of educating the said Indians, as hereinbefore set out, and that all the said income is consumed in the said work.

X. That a large portion of the work of rounding up the said cattle, branding, and otherwise caring for them, slaughtering and shipping the same, is done by the Indians residing on the said reservation, under the direction of the said fathers, and that the said Indians are enabled by this employment to earn in part a livelihood, and are instructed and gain experience in the business and occupation of cattle raising, and are encouraged themselves to engage in it,-a business for the conduct of which the said reservation is particularly adapted.

XI. That prior to the year 1895 all property so as aforesaid acquired by the said Jesuit Fathers was conveyeed to the plaintiff herein, to hold the same in trust for the said Jesuit Fathers, and that by such conveyance it now has the legal title to all of the cattle acquired by the said Jesuit Fathers on the said reservation, and the increases thereof. And plaintiff avers that it is, and at all times since its organization has been, an institution of purely public charity, and that all of the cattle now owned by it, or which have been owned by it since the year 1895, or at any time, have been and are used exclusively for educational purposes, as hereinbefore set forth.

XII. And plaintiff further avers that it is its purpose in the further to devote all cattle now on the said reservation, or which it may acquire thereon, and any income derived from the sale of the same, to the same purposes to which they have heretofore been devoted, as hereinbefore set out, and that it has no purpose now, nor has it had at any time any purpose, to devote any portion of said cattle or any income derived from the sale of the same to any purpose other than the education and training of the Indians residing or entitled to reside on the said reservation, and that it never has made, and does not contemplate making, any profit out of the raising of the said cattle, with the intent to devote the same to any other purpose.

XIII. And plaintiff avers that, notwithstanding the facts aforesaid, the defendant, county of Missoula, which is one of the counties of the state of Montana, through its treasurer, annually, since the year 1897, has demanded of the plaintiff that it pay to the said county taxes upon all cattle owned by it and being upon the said reservation, and threatened to seize and sell the said cattle or so much thereof as might be necessary to satisfy the taxes demanded unless the same should be paid.

XIV. That pursuant to such demand, and to prevent the seizure and sale of the said cattle, or so many thereof as might be necessary, the plaintiff, under protest, on or about November 23, 1898, paid to the said county and to its treasurer, who turned the same over to the said county as taxes claimed by it to be due on account of cattle owned by the said plaintiff on the said reservation for the years 1897 and 1898, the sum of $1,257.48; that the plaintiff, under protest, on or about November 22, 1899, paid to the said county and to its treasurer, who turned the same over to the said county, as taxes claimed by it to be due on account of cattle owned by the said plaintiff on said reservation for the year 1899, the sum of $867.82; that the plaintiff, under protest, on or about November 26, 1900, paid to the said county and its treasurer, who turned the same over to the said county, as taxes claimed by it to be due on account of cattle owned by the said plaintiff, on the said reservation for the year 1900, the sum of $661.20; and that plaintiff, under protest, on or about November 26, 1901, paid to the said county and to its treasurer, who turned the same over to said county, as taxes claimed by it to be due on account of cattle owned by the said plaintiff on the said reservation for the year 1901, the sum of $321.95; and plaintiff avers that it neither had nor owned any cattle 'at any time since 1895,' in the county of Missoula, state of Montana, except such cattle as it held on the said reservation as hereinbefore set out, and that the said taxes were exacted of it upon the said cattle. 'All of which were reared on the said reservation, and fed on grasses and herbage grown thereon.'

XV. And now plaintiff avers that the defendant is indebted to it on account of said payments, by it made, as hereinbefore set out, in the sum of three thousand one hundred and eight and 45/100 dollars ($3,108.45), with interest on the sum of $1,257.48 from the 23d day of November, 1898, amounting to $345.66; for interest on $867.82 from the 22d day of November, 1899, amounting to $169.35; for interest on the sum of $661.20 from the 26th day of November, 1900, amounting to $75.55; and for interest on the sum of $321.95 from the 26th day of November, 1901, amounting to the sum of $11.03.

Wherefore plaintiff demands judgment for said amounts, together with interest as above set forth, and for its costs.

Mr. Thomas J. Walsh for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 124-126 intentionally omitted]

No counsel for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Peckham, after making the foregoing statement, delivered the opinion of the court: