State v. Amey
State v. Amey
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit instituted by the State of West Virginia to subject to sale, for the benefit of' the school fund, certain tracts or parcels of land which it is alleged in the bill were sold by the sheriff of Nicholas county for the taxes delinquent thereon, purchased by the State, and no‘t redeemed within the time provided by law.
Only one of these tracts is involved upon this appeal, and it is a tract alleged to contain 92.3 acres situate on Little Creek, in Hamilton District, in said county. The allegation of the bill is that this tract was returned delinquent for the taxes assessed against the same in the name of Charlotte Shaver, the former owner, for the year 1909, and sold by the sheriff in December, 1911, to satisfy said delinquency, at which sale the State became the purchaser; that the same was not redeemed within the time provided by law, and is now subject to be sold for the benefit of the school fund. The appellant O. C. Lewis filed his. petition asking to redeem this tract of land. lie averred that the same is a part of an 825-acre tract patented to A. H. McCoy in 1842; that out of this 825-aere tract the said McCoy, on the 29th of March, 1856, conveyed a boundary of 600 acres to Wm. H. McCoy; that on the 12th of November, 1866, the said Wm. H. McCoy reconveyed said tract of 600 acres to the said A. H. McCoy; that prior to making said last mentioned conveyance
Edith S. Ahbe, and others, filed a petition and answer in said cause alleging that the tract of 92.3 acres as claimed by the petitioner Lewis forms an interlock with the lands owned by them; that the said Charlotte Shaver in her lifetime conveyed away to L. W. Herold and the Elkins Lumber Company all of the lands owned by her, for which reason there was no land properly assessed to her for the year 1909, and
Much evidence was taken in this case presenting the various phases of it. It is unnecessary, however, for its correct determination to consider very much thereof. It will be borne in mind that this proceeding is to subject to sale a tract of 92.3 acres, to which the State alleges it procured the title by virtue of a return of the same delinquent for nonpayment of taxes thereon by Charlotte Shaver, and a sale thereof and purchase by it for such delinquency. The 300-acre tract of land acquired by Mariah Shaver is described in the deed to her by metes and bounds, and in her deed to Charlotte Shaver simply by reference to the former deed. The 100 acres conveyed away by Charlotte Shaver to L. W. Herold, above referred to, is also described by metes and bounds, as is also the tract conveyed by her.to the Elkins Lumber Company.. Both of these conveyances were prior to the year 1909, for which the tract of. 92.3 acres was returned delinquent. The testimony of surveyors is taken which shows that the two tracts of land conveyed away by Charlotte Shaver — the 100 acres to L. W. Herold, and the tract to the Elkins Lumber Company — cover exactly the same land which was conveyed to Mariah Shaver by A. H. McCoy, and by Mariah Shaver to the said Charlotte Shaver, so that upon the execution and delivery of these deeds no part of the 300 acres remained to the said Charlotte Shaver. Not only does the testimony of the surveyors show clearly that these two deeds cover the same land conveyed to Charlotte Shaver, and all of it, but a comparison of the descriptions in the two deeds with the description in the original deed makes this fact perfectly manifest to anyone. Now the petitioner O. C. Lewis locates the boundary of this 300 acres on the side where it abuts upon the Ahbe land so as to make an interlock with the Ahbe land, while the Ahbes make this
The appellant Lewis contends that by reason of his deed from Wm. H. McCoy, sole devisee of Andrew H. McCoy, he acquired some interest in the 600-acre tract. It is a little hard for us to conceive how this deed was effective to convey anything to him. The allegations of his own petition show that McCoy had theretofore conveyed 300 acres of this 600 .acres to Mariah Shaver, and 300 acres to J. E. Shaver, and
Upon finding that the State acquired no title to the 92.3 acres, or any part thereof under’ the tax sale, the court below properly dismissed the bill without undertaking to determine the correct location of the line between the Shaver land and the Ahbe land. The State of West Virginia, under the facts existing here, has no interest in that question.
We find no error in the- decree of the circuit court complained of, and affirm the same.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State v. A. I. Ameys.
- Status
- Published