Corburn v. Crittenden
Corburn v. Crittenden
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The several grounds of objection made to the introduction in evidence of the list of lands sold to the State in Washington County for non-payment of the taxes of 1881 were untenable and properly overruled. The certificate of the tax collector should have been dated, and the certificate of the auditor should have shown when it was received in his office, but the omission of these dates was not material and did not vitiate the sale. It does not appear when the list was sent to or received by the auditor, but in the absence of anything to show the contrary it will be presumed that the officers performed their duty as to the time, even if time as to this is material.
The objection that three lots (9, 10, and 11) were sold together for one single tax and costs is without force, in view of the fact that they may have been, and presumably were, assessed together for a single sum as one tract. The sale for more than could be lawfully claimed for taxes or costs, if there was in fact such excess, did not invalidate the sale.
The only ground of objection to the deed from the auditor to the plaintiff upon which we specially remark is, “ Because it fails to state upon it the amount of State taxes and damages thereon, and the amount of county taxes and damages thereon, and the amount of other taxes and damages thereon, etc., as prescribed by § 562 of the Code of 1880.” The auditor’s deed is indorsed by a statement of the fees, commissions, and costs of the different
The specific objection made is that a separate statement of the damages due each fund was not made, and that this, which should be a distinct item, is embraced in others, and therefore the deed is invalid for non-compliance with the law.
We think the requirement of the statute on this subject was substantially complied with and its object fully met, and that the deed was properly admitted in evidence.
The evidence offered by the defendant to show the value of the different lots sold, and their ownership at different dates, and the exemption from taxation of the right of way of the G. C. & B. R. R. Co. over Lot 11, was all irrelevant.
The dealing of the Board of Supervisors of Washington County with the assessment roll of 1879 was not illegal, so far as appears from the record before us.
The orders from the minutes of the board, introduced by the defendant without the caption of the minutes of the meetings, are not sufficient to cause these meetings to be pronounced illegal. Meetings of boards of supervisors not affirmatively shown to have been not according to law are presumed to have been legal. Brigins v. Chandler, 60 Miss. 862.
The objection that from the 18th of August to-the 8th of September was less time than the landowners were entitled to in the circumstances of the assessment being considered is not valid. It was for the board of supervisors to prescribe the time.
As we understand the matter from the record, the board of supervisors met on the first Monday of August, 1879, to examine the assessment roll, and rejected it, and appointed the individual who was assessor to make and complete the roll, and designated the 18th of August for him to deliver it, and that on the 18th of August' the board met and received the roll and ordered that all objections to it be filed by the 8th of September, and that on the 8th of September the board met to act on the assessment roll and proceeded to
The appointment of the assessor as the person to complete the assessment was reprehensible, but it did not make the assessment completed by him illegal. He was pro hac vice an officer de facto, and his acts were valid. In Wolfe v. Murphy, 60 Miss. 1, we animadverted on the illegal and vicious practice of boards of supervisors to appoint assessors to complete assessments they should have made, and declared that it was the purpose of the law that the delinquent assessor should lose his compensation, and should not be enabled to save himself from loss by the easy device of an extension of time by the action of the board of supervisors in appointing him to make the assessment.
We find no error lor which the judgment should be disturbed, and it is Affirmed.
Reference
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- W. H. Corburn v. O. B. Crittenden
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- 1. Tax Sale. Lkl of lands. Defective certificate of tax collector. The fact that a tax collector’s certificate to a list of lands sold to the Slate for taxes is not dated does not vitiate the sales reported in such list. 2. Same. List of lands. Defective certificate of auditor. And the failure of the certificate of the auditor of public accounts to show the date of the reception of such list in his office does not invalidate the sales embraced in the list. 3. Same. List of lands. When sent to and received by auditor. Presumption. In the absence of proof as to the time when such a list was sent to or received by the auditor, it will be presumed that the same was sent as directed by law and duly received. 4. Same. Several lots sold together. One tax. Assessment. Presumption. The sale of three town lots together for a single tax and costs is not illegal if the lots were assessed together for a single sum as one tract of land, and in the absence of proof it will be presumed that the assessment was thus made. 5. Same. Por excessive taxes. Effect. Tender. A sale of land for an amount of taxes and costs in excess of what is due thereon is not invalid if there was no tender of the legal amount. Code 1880, \\ 525. 6. Auditor’s Deed. Statement indorsed thereon. Statute construed. Case in judgment. Section 562 of the Code of 1880 provides that “ the auditor shall make a statement on each conveyance (of land) made by him of the amount of State taxes and damages thereon, and of the amount of county taxes and damages thereon, and of any other taxes and damages thereon; * * * and such conveyance shall not be valid unless it has been dealt with as herein provided.” To meet the requirements of this statute, the auditor indorsed upon a certain deed a statement as follows: “ State tax, general fund, one dollar and thirty-one cents; State tax, school fund, eighty cents; county tax, five dollars and seventy-five cents; No. 2 levee tax, two dollars and thirty-one cents.” Held, that this was a substantial compliance with the statute, notwithstanding the damages on the several taxes were not separately itemized, but were included with the taxes respectively. 7. Tax Title. Ejectment thereon. Defense. Irrelevant evidence. In an action of ejectment by the purchaser of a tax title to obtain possession of one of several lots of land sold together for a single tax, evidence of the respective values of the lots, of the ownership thereof by different persons, and of the exemption from taxation of a railroad right of way over the lot sued for at the time of the sale for taxes, is irrelevant and inadmissible for the purpose of showing such sale to be invalid. 8. Board or Supervisors. Legality of meetings. Presumption. A meeting of a board of supervisors not affirmatively shown to have been illegal is presumed to have been legal. Brigins v. Chandler, 60 Miss. 862, cited. 9. Same. Organization of meetings. Evidence thereof . Presumption. The caption of the minutes of a meeting of a board of supervisors, and not the orders made at the meeting, should show the organization of the board according to law; and where the orders only of such board, not made at a regular meeting, are introduced in evidence in a case, and there is no proof of notice given for a special meeting, it is presumed that the caption of the minutes, if produced, would show that such notice was given. 10. Same. Appointment of person to complete assessment. Time therefor prescribed. Where an assessor failed to complete the assessment roll as directed by the Revenue Act of 1878, and the board of supervisors appointed a person to complete the same, such board had the power under $ 26 of that act to prescribe the time when the appointee should complete the roll and deliver it to the clerk of the board. . 11. Assessment or Taxes. Failure of assessor to complete. Appointed to continue. Effect. Where, upon the failure of an assessor to complete the assessment which it was his duty to make, the board of supervisors, under the Revenue Act of 1878, appointed the delinquent himself to complete and return the assessment, such appointment, though very reprehensible, does not render the assessment invalid after its completion. Wolfe v. Murphy, 60 Miss. 1, reiterated.