Turley v. St. Francis County Road Improvement Dist. No. 4

Citation287 S.W. 196
Decision Date11 October 1926
Docket Number(No. 168.)
PartiesTURLEY et al. v. ST. FRANCIS COUNTY ROAD IMPROVEMENT DIST. NO. 4.
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas

Action by the St. Francis County Road Improvement District No. 4 against Linn Turley and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

C. W. Norton, of Forrest City, for appellants.

M. B. Norfleet, Jr., of Forrest City, for appellee.

McCULLOCH, C. J.

St. Francis County road improvement district No. 4 was organized under general statutes of the state (Crawford & Moses' Digest, § 5399 et seq.), authorizing the creation of improvement districts by order of the county court on petition of owners of property. The statute authorizes the collection of special taxes upon assessed benefits, payable in installments, and the foreclosure of the tax lien by action in the chancery court. A section of the statute (Crawford & Moses' Digest, § 5433) provides in part, as follows:

"The tax so levied shall be a lien upon all of the real property in the district from the time same is levied by the county court, and shall be entitled to preference over all demands, executions, incumbrances or liens whatsoever created, and shall continue until such assessments with penalty and costs that may accrue thereon have been paid."

The present action was instituted in the chancery court of St. Francis county by the commissioners of the district to foreclose the lien for delinquent taxes for the years 1923, 1924, and 1925 on certain lands in the district, including two tracts to which title is claimed by appellants. These two tracts of land were sold by the county tax collector in the year 1922 for the general taxes assessed against the same for the year 1921, and, there being no bidders, the lands were knocked off to the state, and, not being redeemed within two years, were certified to the state as forfeited lands. Appellants purchased the state's title and received a deed from the commissioner of state lands.

Appellants appeared in this action and defended against the asserted lien of the road district on the ground that the sale for general taxes extinguished the lien of the road district for the special taxes, and vested an absolute title in appellants, as purchasers, against all such liens. They asked that their title be quieted as against all of the special taxes levied by the district, both delinquent and immature. The cause was heard by the chancery court upon an agreed statement of facts, which presents the sole question whether, as contended by appellants, the sale by the state for general taxes extinguished the lien for improvement district taxes, and vested the title in the purchaser at the tax sale, free of all such antecedent liens. The chancery court decided the question in favor of appellee, holding that the special tax liens were not extinguished by the sale under the state's lien for general taxes, and that the sale under foreclosure of either one of the liens did not operate as an extinguishment of the other lien, but that the title obtained by the purchaser under such sale was subject to the other lien, and subject to the right to redeem therefrom. The court in its decree dismissed the complaint of appellants for want of equity, and declared a lien in favor of the road district for the unpaid delinquent taxes for the years 1923, 1924, and 1925, and ordered a sale of the lands if the amount decreed be not paid within the time specified in the decree. Appellants were given the right to redeem within a specified time. Our conclusion is that the decision of the chancery court was correct.

Counsel for appellants rests his case entirely upon the theory — an obviously sound one — that the state's sovereign power of taxation is paramount, and that all other liens are subordinate to it. It is declared in the Constitution of the state that "the state's ancient right of eminent domain and of taxation is herein fully and expressly conceded * * *" (article 2, § 23, Constitution of 1874), but it does not follow that it...

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6 cases
  • Waits v. Black Bayou Drainage Dist
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • January 16, 1939
    ... ... from the chancery court of Washington county HON. J. L ... WILLIAMS, Chancellor ... , and amendments, and was organized on September 4, 1916, ... so that it is controlled by Chapter ... Covington v. Meletio, 168 Miss. 497; Turley v ... St. Francis County, 287 S.W. 196; Wyatt ... 387, ... that to abate an improvement lien might violate Section 100 ... of the ... ...
  • Board of County Com'rs. of Big Horn County v. Bench Canal Drainage Dist.
    • United States
    • Wyoming Supreme Court
    • December 31, 1940
    ... ... City Bond. Co ... (Ind.) 84 N.E. 20; Turley v. St. Francis County ... Dist. (Ark.) 287 S.W. 196; ... Mexico provides that a special improvement lien "shall ... be on a parity with the tax lien of ... Cases in note 128 A. L. R. 392; Road Imp. Dist. v ... Delinquent Bonds, 158 Ark. 58, 249 S.W ... 4. A ... brief was filed herein by Mr. L. A. Bowman as ... ...
  • Waits v. Black Bayou Drainage Dist
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • May 22, 1939
    ... ... from chancery court of Washington county HON. J. L. WILLIAMS, ... Chancellor ... Covington v. Meletio, 168 Miss. 497; Turley v ... St. Francis County, 287 S.W. 196; Wyatt ... amendments thereto, on September 4, 1916; and in connection ... therewith an ... accrue thereto by reason of the improvement proposed by the ... district; and that on June ... ...
  • Howie v. Panola-Quitman Drainage Dist.
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • November 20, 1933
    ... ... from chancery court of Quitman county HON. R. E. JACKSON, ... Chancellor ... 1025; Field v. Porter, ... 270 P. 1027; Turley v. St. Francis Rd. Dist. No. 4 ... (Ark.), 287 ... 1025; Turley v. St. Francis Co. Road ... Improvement Dist. No. 4 (Ark.), 287 S.W ... ...
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