Harper v. M'Keehan
Harper v. M'Keehan
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Several points have occurred in this case which are new, and some not new. Since the trial of the cause, the counsel of plaintiff has discovered some facts relative to defendant’s title, not known or not made known to the court and jury at the trial; and a great part of his argument here was grounded on one of these facts—i. e., the right of G. Loque to part of the land claimed by defendant. We cannot take into consideration any facts not known and passed on at the trial.
Much testimony was given as to the residence of Hamaker, and argument as to the effect of it. The deeds and parol evidence without contradiction showed that Hamaker claimed a designated quantity of land under a deed; that part of the land inclosed within his boundaries was within'the survey of John Loque, and his house was on that part; but that neither his house or improved land or lines, interfered with the claim of defendants, but was separated from defendant’s claim by a marked line called for by the deed of Hamaker and the deed of defendant. The case of Campbell v. Wilson, (1 Watts 503), and some subsequent cases, decide and settle that his possession on an adjoining tract, or even an interfering tract, distinctly separated and designated, will not avoid a sale of another tract as unseated, though the claim of the possessor may interfere with the adjoining unseated tract; but that the purchaser of the unseated tract may hold what is without the boundaries of the land so in possession of another.
All the testimony as to whether Hamaker ever was under Woodburn, and if so, how ? was left to the jury and decided on by them. The case of Morton v. Harris, (9 Watts 319), was much urged, but it is sufficient to say it is not this case. Defendant showed a deed from G. Loque in 1811 for 352 acres by courses and distances, and also a deed from Wolff for 49 acres adjoining the other; and it was in proof that soon after a surveyor ran round the two, including them in the same survey. It was in proof by a person present at the survey and others, that this land was known as M. Irvine’s land ever since, and was assessed and taxed
The Act of 3d of April 1804, which is the basis of our system of taxing unseated land, in its first section directs minutely that the name of the warrantee as well as owner (if the owner is known), the quantity of acres surveyed, the persons on whom it adjoins, and the waters on which it lies, shall be returned to the commissioners. When sales were made and the title to purchaser disputed, the attention of the court was called to the provisions contained in other sections of the Act, and when they had not been complied with, or the purchaser could not prove in court that they had been complied with, the sale was declared invalid, and nothing was said about the provisions of the first section; besides the fifth section of that Act vests in the purchaser all the estate “ that the real owner or owners thereof had at the time of such sale, although the land may not have been taxed and sold in the name of the real owner.” We have had no decision or none applicable to this case, on this section. Luffborough v. Parker, (16 Serg. & Rawle 360), turned on advertising as the property of Nathaniel Luffborough, when the owner’s first name was Nathan.
In Burns v. Lyon, (4 Watts 363), we have a case which, though not cited in the argument, has some bearing on this case, and which seems to have been in the mind of the court in deciding this cause. In that case, from the report, no title was shown in any person as owner of the land. It was assessed as 200 acres unseated, being part of a tract in possession of J. Dowling. It would seem Dowling did not claim the part in dispute. After the sale, some persons went into possession of the 200 acres sold, it would seem, without title; against these the alienee of the purchaser at commissioners’ sale brought ejectment and recovered; and it was decided that it must be left to the jury to decide, whether the land claimed by the purchaser was the same which was assessed and sold; and they found for the purchaser at tax sale.
It is true that the point, that no owner was named in the assessment and sale, was not made: if made and decided, it might rule this case. I know of no decision applicable to this case as regards the construction of the fifth section of the Act of 1804—“ shall vest in the purchaser all the estate of the real owner, though not assessed and sold in name of real owner.” Lands were originally assessed in the name of some person: does the law mean that the title shall pass, though assessed and sold in the name of a person who was not the owner, provided it is found to be the very land which was assessed and sold?—if it do not mean this, it is nearly useless as a provision in favour of the purchaser. Again, it happens that a tract of land is covered by two warrants; the older
Onq point remains. M’Keehan took his deed from the treasurer, stating that he held it in trust for the heirs of. M. Irvine; he did not give his bond for overplus in trust; his bond recited that Ke had taken a deed in trust, but the bond bound himself and for seven years the land.
It was held that a man who had obtained a patent for land, and suffered it to be sold as unseated and purchased himself, did not improve or strengthen his title. Where, the land of minors is selling for taxes, and a friend of the family buys it in with money furnished by the family, this may apply; but if he buys with his own money and gives his own bond for part of the purchase money, and takes the title in his own .name as the best way of securing himself, it is a different matter; and it is immaterial whether he has the declaration of trust put in the deed to himself, or gives them a declaration of trust on a separate paper. Until they come of age, it is unknown whether they will accept the purchase and repay his money, or refuse to-pay and leave the land his; and in
Judgment affirmed.
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