Speed v. McKnight

Mississippi Supreme Court March 15, 1899

Speed v. McKnight, 76 Miss. 723 (Miss. 1899)

Whitfield

Opinion of the Court

Whitfield, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The motion to strike the bill of exceptions from the record is denied. It is not perceived what duty appellant was under to set about the preparation of a bill of exceptions to the decree until the decree had been rendered.

On the merits the assessment under which this property was sold' and the sale Avas utterly void. The case of Coburn v. Crittenden, 62 Miss., 126, is wholly unlike this case in its facts. The assessment here was the act of the tax collector and the lots were physically widely separated and of different values, as shown by proof, and should not have been sold as one tract.

The decree on the cross appeal is affirmed. The decree on the direct appeal is reversed and cause remanded for decree in accordance with this opinion.

Reference

Full Case Name: Esther A. Speed v. Theodore McKnight
Cited By: 3 cases
Status: Published
Syllabus: 1. Bills oe Exceptions. Chancery court Chancery practice. Time for preparing. Code 1893, {¡§ 555, 735, 736. Where testimony is heard orally in the chancery court and the case taken under advisement, to be decided in vacation,, and decision is not rendered until the next term of the court, the time limited by statute (code 1893, {!{! 555, 735, 736) for the preparation of a bill of exceptions embodying the testimony does not begin to run until the decree is actually rendered. 2. Assessments. Separated lots. Valuation. Change of by collector. Tax sales. Where several lots of land, separated from each other and of variant values, are assessed together at an aggregate valuation and the taxes on some of them are paid, the tax collector is not authorized to change the assessment so as to exclude therefrom the lots paid upon, deducting from the aggregate valuation a part, proportionate to the whole as the number of lots paid upon are to the entire number. A sale for taxes after such a cliang-e of the assessment by the collector is void. Coburn v. Crittenden, 62 Miss., 125, distinguished.