Auditor General v. Keweenaw Ass'n
| Decision Date | 17 December 1895 |
| Citation | 65 N.W. 288,107 Mich. 405 |
| Parties | AUDITOR GENERAL v. KEWEENAW ASS'N. LIMITED. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
Appeal from circuit court, Houghton county, in chancery; Jay A Hubbell, Judge.
Suit by the auditor general against the Keweenaw Association Limited, to recover delinquent taxes. From a decree for defendant, plaintiff appeals. Reversed.
Dunstan & Hanchette, for appellant.
Irving D. Hanscom, for appellee.
This case comes here on appeal from a decree adjudging certain taxes assessed upon defendant's lands for the year 1892 to be void. The objections raised are: First, that the county treasurer did not enter the delinquent lists furnished by the several township treasurers on the books in his office provided for that purpose, as required by section 46, Act No 200, Pub. Acts 1891; second, that the county clerk failed to add to the transcript the certificate of correctness required by said section 46; third, that the assessment roll made by the supervisor was not made according to law, for the reason that certain of the property was not assessed in the name of the owner, or as unknown; fourth, that the tax roll was not a copy of the assessment roll.
The curative provision of the act of 1891 (section 86) is very broad. It provides that no tax shall be void on account of real property having been assessed without the name of the owner, or in the name of any person other than the owner, or on account of any irregularity, informality, or omission, or want of any matter of form or substance, in any proceeding that does not prejudice the rights of the person whose property is taxed; that the absence of any record of any proceeding, or the omission of any mention in any record of any proceeding that should appear, shall not invalidate the proceeding, if the fact that such proceeding was had is shown by any other record, statement, or certificate made evidence by the terms of the act; that no tax shall be invalidated by showing that any record, statement, or certificate affidavit, paper, or return cannot be found in the proper office; and, unless the contrary is affirmatively shown, the presumption shall be that such record was made, and such certificate, statement, affidavit, paper, or return was duly made and filed. The object of the provision requiring the county treasurer to enter the list of the delinquent tax lands on the books of his office would seem to be to serve the convenience of the office, and to put the list of delinquent taxes into permanent form. In the present case it seems that the county treasurer furnished to the supervisor for each township a blank book, upon which the copy of the township assessment...
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