Morrow v. Smith

• Decision Date: 11 March 1899
• Citation: Morrow v. Smith, 8 Okla. 267, 61 P. 366, 1899 OK 48 (Okla. 1899)
• Parties: ROBERT MORROW v. MARY E. SMITH
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1899 OK 48

61 P. 366

8 Okla. 267

ROBERT MORROW v. MARY E. SMITH

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: March 11, 1899

SYLLABUS

¶0 TAX DEED--Tax Warrant, When Required. Section 5631, General Statutes of Oklahoma, 1893, which provides that, "An entry is required to be made upon the tax list, showing what it is and for what county and year it is, and the county clerk shall attach to the lists his warrant, under his hand and official seal, in general terms requiring the treasurer to collect the taxes therein levied according to law, and no informality in the foregoing requirements shall render any proceedings for the collection of taxes illegal." And that, "The county clerk shall take the receipt of the county treasurer on delivering to him the tax list with the warrant of the county clerk attached, and such list shall be full and sufficient authority for the collection, by the treasurer, of all taxes therein contained," is mandatory, and without such warrant the county treasurer has no right or authority to sell real estate for the non-payment of taxes, and any sale made by the county treasurer, upon failure to pay taxes on such real estate, and any deed issued by him in pursuance of such sale, in the absence of a warrant as provided in section 5631, is absolutely void.

Error from the District Court of Canadian County; before John C. Tarsney, District Judge.

R. B. Forrest, for plaintiff in error.

Dille & Blake, for defendant in error.

BURWELL, J.:

¶1 Lots numbered 4 and 5, in block numbered 82, in the city of El Reno, Canadian county, Territory of Oklahoma, were sold in 1894 for delinquent taxes, and bid in by the county treasurer, under section 5660, Statutes of Oklahoma, 1893. On the 21st day of November, 1895, E. K. Criley paid the county treasurer the amount of taxes, interests, penalties, costs, etc., accrued against said property, under section 5662, Statutes of Oklahoma, 1893, and received an assignment of the certificate of purchase from the county treasurer, paid the taxes for the subsequent years of 1895 and 1896, and secured a tax deed therefor, and thereafter conveyed said lots to the plaintiff in error.

¶2 This case presents the question as to whether or not it is necessary for the county clerk to attach his warrant to the tax lists directing the county treasurer to collect the taxes named therein. It is admitted that no warrants were issued by the county clerk directing the county treasurer to collect the taxes designated in the tax list. Plaintiff and defendant entered into the following stipulation, which was duly filed in this court:

"In the Supreme Court of the Territory of Oklahoma. Robert Morrow, plaintiff in error v. Mary E. Smith, defendant in error. Stipulation.

"It is conceded that the question raised in the brief of the plaintiff in error in this case concerning the necessity of a warrant from the county clerk to the county treasurer, is exactly the same question that is pending at this time before this court in the case of N. F. Frazier v. Edward Prince. So far as that question is concerned, plaintiff in error agrees that the brief of the defendant in error, in said case, maybe considered in connection with the brief of this plaintiff in error; it is also agreed that any other question, if any there be, identical with the questions presented by the plaintiff in error in this case with similar questions in the Frazier case, may be likewise considered. R. B. Forrest,

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