129 Ark. 334 | Ark. | 1917
A demurrer was sustained to the complaint in this case, and appellants refusing to plead further, the complaint was dismissed. From the judgment dismissing the suit, an appeal has been prosecuted to this court. The proceeding is one in ejectment to oust appellees from the possession of a part of the southwest quarter, section 26, township 6 north, range 7 east, in Crittenden County, Arkansas. The complaint alleged that appellants were the owners of the S. W. % of section 26, township 6 north, range 7 east, in said county and State; that they deraigned title from the government through mesne conveyances; that appellees were in possession of part of said real estate by purchase from W. M. Rooks and wife, who had obtained a tax deed under a tax sale in the chancery court of Crittenden County, wherein the Board of Directors of the St. Francis Levee District was plaintiff and Ruth Ellis et al were defendants; that the tax sale was void for the reason that the land was indefinitely described; that the description in the tax proceedings and tax deed was as follows: “N. of E. R. frl. S. W. 1/4, Section 26, T. 6, N. R. 7 E., 125 acres;” that the S. W. 1/4 of section 26, township 6 N., range 7 E., is a regular quarter section.
The question presented by the appeal is whether the description was sufficient to validate the tax proceedings and support the tax deed. The tax proceedings were instituted ahd the tax deed was executed under Act 262 of Acts of the G-eneral Assembly of 1909. Being a special proceeding in rem or warning order, it was necessary to correctly describe the land in order to confer jurisdiction on the court decreeing the sale. In construing said act, this court said in Beck v. Anderson-Tully Co., 113 Ark. 316, that “A complaint correctly describing the lands, under the act, is the primal step in the proceeding. It is the basis upon which the clerk must act in giving the notice provided for. No presumptions can be indulged in favor of a decree grounded upon a complaint that does not contain a correct description of the particular tracts of land ordered to be sold. The notice must be given by the clerk of the lands described in the complaint. Unless the lands are correctly described, the notice will necessarily be insufficient. Neither the complaint nor the notice are susceptible of amendment, and, therefore, no presumptions can be indulged contrary to what they show on their face. They are preliminary and prerequisite to a seizure and control by the court of the land sought to be condemned for the delinquent taxes. ’ ’
For the error indicated, the judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded with instructions to overrule the demurrer to the complaint.