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.