Edmondson v. Granberry

• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WHITFIELD, J.
• Citation: Edmondson v. Granberry, 19 So. 676, 73 Miss. 723 (Miss. 1896)
• Decision Date: 23 March 1896
• Parties: T. H. EDMONDSON v. J. M. GRANBERRY ET AL

19 So. 676

73 Miss. 723

T. H. EDMONDSON v. J. M. GRANBERRY ET AL

Supreme Court of Mississippi

March 23, 1896

March 1896

FROM the chancery court of Sunflower county HON. A. H. LONGINO Chancellor.

The appellees filed their bill for the cancellation of certain conveyances, under which the appellant claimed, as clouds upon their title, and the controversy turned upon the validity or invalidity of a sale to the state for taxes in 1868, under which the ancestor of the appellees had purchased the land from the state in July, 1871. The deed of Eli Waites, tax collector, dated July 6, 1868, shows that the land was struck off to the state for taxes on that day. It was not acknowledged by him, however, until July 13, 1870 more than two years after the day of sale, but by the certificate of acknowledgment it was acknowledged to have been delivered on the day of its date. The statute under which the sale was made contained the following provision in respect to the execution of deeds to the state: "If upon offering all the land of any delinquent taxpayer, no person will bid for it the whole amount of the taxes and all costs, the collector shall strike off the same to the state and convey the same in one deed, to be acknowledged in due form before the clerk of the probate court." Code 1857, p. 80.

The only evidence the deed bore of filing was an indorsement showing that it was filed for record September 14, 1870. There was no evidence to indicate whether or not it had ever been, in fact, lodged or filed with the clerk of the probate court as required by the law in force at the time, which was as follows:

"The collector shall file all deeds for land sold to the state, or other persons, in the office of the clerk of the probate court of the county on or before the second Monday of July, there to remain for two years from the day of sale, unless sooner redeemed; and the owner of such land may redeem the same within said two years, " etc. Code 1857, pp. 80, 81; Acts 1863, p. 111.

Affirmed.

T. R. Baird and Nugent & McWillie, for the appellant.

Upon the evidence in the record, negative and positive, we have a right to say that the tax collector's deed of July 6, 1868, was not executed and deposited with the probate clerk in the manner and at the time provided by law, and that it did not there remain an executed instrument showing an inchoate title in the state for the period allowed for redemption, and that it is void in consequence. The statute then in force required that tax deeds to state should be acknowledged by the collector, in due form, before the clerk of the probate court, and that after that was done they should be filed in the office of the clerk on or before the second Monday in July, and remain in the clerk's office for two years from the date of sale, unless sooner redeemed. Code 1857, pp. 80, 81; Acts 1863, p. 111.

It has been recently held by this court that when, during the year allowed for redemption, a tax deed is by the clerk marked canceled, and is delivered to one supposed to be the owner of the land, who promises to pay the redemption money, but several weeks...