Doty v. Evans
Doty v. Evans
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The action is to recover land which is owned by the plaintiff, Doty, unless he has been devested of title by a tax deed which had been of record for more than five years before the action was commenced and under which the defendant, Evans, held possession. The court held the tax deed void, and rendered judgment for the plaintiff for possession, giving the defendant a lien for taxes. The defendant appeals. The only question is whether the tax deed is void upon its face.
The deed was issued under the provisions of section 7672 of the General Statutes of 1901, providing for the issuance and assignment of a tax-sale certificate for less than the legal tax and interest thereon, when the sale has been made to the county and the land has remained unredeemed for three years and no person has offered to purchase it for the legal taxes, penalties and costs due thereon. The deed shows that the land was bid off by the treasurer at the tax sale of 1893 for the delinquent taxes of 1892, amounting to $7.73; that it had remained unredeemed for more than three years; that no person had offered to purchase the same for the
Several objections were made against the deed, but the only one argued is that the assignment was for too large a sum; that, as the land was bid off in September, 1893, for $7.73, and the assignment was made a little more than four years afterward, no intervening taxes being .mentioned, the sum' named . ($30) was much greater than the delinquent taxes, interest and charges then amounted to.
The deed having been of record more than five years, its recitals will be construed in connection with the presumptions of regularity, so as to uphold it if possible to do so without doing violence to the language used. (Robert v. Gibson, 79 Kan. 344.) Where a sale is made to the county, an assignment of the certificate need not give a separate statement of the taxes for each year which make up the consideration (Pierce v. Adams, 77 Kan. 46), and in the absence of recitals to the contrary it will be presumed that the amount stated is correct (Hahn v. Hill, 79 Kan. 693). That the land was bid in for the county in 1893 for $7.73, for the tax of 1892, and that the certificate was assigned in 1898 for $30, does not show that it was assigned for more than the “legal tax and interest thereon” ,(Gen. Stat. 1901, § 7672), for it is reasonable to presume that the intervening taxes of 1893, 1894, 1895 and 1896 then re
The granting clause in the deed under consideration was in the form approved in Steele v. Dye, supra, in a compromise tax deed. The tax deed was not void upon its face, and should have been received in evidence to show title.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings in accordance with these views.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Dennis D. Doty v. Horace J. Evans
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- 1 case
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- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. Compromise Tax Deed —■ Consideration for the Assignment — Presumptions. A tax deed issued on a compromise of delinquent taxes contained, among other recitals, statements showing that the land was bid in by the treasurer at the tax sale of 1893 for the taxes of 1892, amounting to $7.73; that the certificate was assigned in January, 1898, upon the authorization of the board of county commissioners, for $30; and that the taxes of 1897, amounting to $5.43, were paid by the purchaser. The conveyance was made in due time, reciting a consideration of $35.43, but without specifying further the years for which taxes were included. The deed had been of record for more than five years. It is held, that the deed does not show that the assignment of the certifícate was made for more than the legal taxes and interest thereon, for it may be presumed that the intervening taxes of 1893, 1894, 1895, and 1896, remained due and unpaid at the date of the compromise, and were included in the amount stipulated for the assignment of the certificate.