Woodside et al. v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 01 January 1858
• Citation: 32 Pa. 52
• Parties: Woodside et al. versus Wilson.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 52

32 Pa. 52

Woodside et al. versus Wilson.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

ERROR to the Common Pleas of Crawford county.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Reynolds and Kennedy, for the plaintiffs in error.

Farrelly and Church, for the defendant in error.

The opinion of the court was delivered by THOMPSON, J.

A sale of unseated land for taxes, which have been actually assessed, and which have remained due and unpaid "for one whole year," will pass the title, although assessed in a wrong name or by a wrong number, if otherwise designated and capable of identification. The reason for this is, the recognised principle, that it is the land, and not the owner, which is chargeable, and to be charged with the tax. It must, however, be susceptible of identification as the land assessed, otherwise the sale would be void. The bond, an essential part, would, without any designation, be invalid, as being too vague to furnish a lien on the land, and thus the sale would be inoperative. But, identification is a question, arising on the evidence, for the jury; and what will be sufficient to satisfy them, that the land sold was the land charged with the tax, will support the sale. This is conclusively settled in Stewart v. Shoenfelt, 13 S. & R. 360; Strauch v. Shoemaker, 1 W. & S. 174; Burns v. Lyon, 4 W. 363; Thompson v. Fisher, 6 W. & S. 520; Dunden v. Snodgrass, 6 Harris 151 Russel v. Werntz, 12 Harris 337; Miller v. Hale, 2 Casey 436, and other cases. It was said in Laird v. Heister, 12 Harris 463, "that the tax-books in the office of the commissioners, and treasurer, were not intended to give notice of the liability of the land for taxes, but merely the mode in which tax accounts are kept." This seems a perfectly legitimate conclusion, deducible from the principle asserted in Dunden v. Snodgrass, and other cases, that the designation of the land will be sufficient, if it afford the means of identification, and do not positively mislead the owner. It will not do to assume that such a thing may not occur; but, in case of an owner anxious and willing to pay his taxes, it is difficult to conceive of. For if, when he examines the assessment-books, and finds that the description or designation of the land is defective, — so much so, as to render uncertain or doubtful what is really the assessment of the land sought for, he can relieve himself of all difficulty on that score, by procuring it to be assessed in the office by the commissioners, by a proper description; and then, a payment of the tax so assessed, relieves the land from all danger. The tax being thus paid, a sale by any other description will amount to nothing, as the duty is discharged, and the land, for the time being, freed from the charge. The principles, however, already referred to, in regard to assessment and identification of unseated land, are indisputable in their application to all such lands, by whatever title derived from the Commonwealth, with the exception, it is contended, of unseated donation lands.

It is well known, at least to the profession, that the body of lands known as Donation, being grants to officers and soldiers of the Pennsylvania line of the revolutionary army, is exclusively within the "new purchase" from the Indians, acquired by the treaties of Fort Stanwix, in 1784, and Fort McIntosh, in 1785, and within the boundaries of what was afterwards known as the "actual settlement" district, north and west of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, and Conewango creek. In surveying these lands, in 1785, the territory was laid off into districts, to each of which a surveyor was appointed. There were nine districts, one of which is called the 10th, there being in fact no 9th district. In making these surveys, in addition to running and marking lines, the surveyors were required to mark on the north-west corner of each tract, in Roman characters, the number of the lot. This was affixed to the nearest tree to the mathematical terminus of the line. By some of the judges, this numbering has been figuratively called the name of baptism of the lot. It was as essential an act in the survey, as it was a controlling one. It located the survey against conflicting calls, or apparently contradictory marks on the ground; and in case of disputes about location, if the numbered corner could be found, it put an end to controversy in that particular. It was only in regard to this quality — the fixing the location of the land — that the great value of the number on the ground was conceded. I know of no case in which the taxing functionaries were to be exclusively controlled by it, and obliged to ascertain it accurately, at the risk of having avoided all their assessments and sales for taxes. As but few of those original corners remain — perhaps not one in a hundred — it could not be done, and the assessment cannot be made other than by drafts and prior assessments, or the like.

The land in controversy being part of a donation tract, the principle is earnestly insisted on, that although a designation of such land in the assessment may be sufficient without the number, yet, if such designation was accompanied by a wrong number, a sale upon a tax so assessed would be void. — Utile per inutile non vitietur, might be sufficient to reply to this idea; but it is contended that there is authority for the doctrine in Dunn v. Ralyea, 6 W. & S. 475. We do not think there is. That was the case of donation tract No. 1031...