12 Me. 378 | Me. | 1835
By the statute of 1831, ch. 501, sec. 2, the law of evidence, before applied to the sale of the lands of nonresident proprietors, for the nonpayment of taxes, was changed. Prior to that time, great strictness of proof, in relation to the preliminary proceedings, had been required of purchasers, to which they were generally strangers, and over which they had no control. It was competent for the legislature, by a general law, to prescribe that, so far as the transfer of the land was in question, proof of the due execution of the collector’s deed, and of certain
Thus in the levy of an execution upon real estate, when the title thence derived is called in question, the return of the sheriffj specifying the steps taken by him in pursuance of law, cannot be controverted. They may nevertheless be false, and a party thereby be deprived of his land, in a manner not authorised by statute, but the only remedy afforded by law for redress, is by an action against the sheriff, for a false return.
It may be urged, that money may be voted by a town, at a meeting not legally called, without an article justifying it, or ibr a purpose not authorised by law. Such a vote would not justify an assessment made in pursuance of it, and the assessors would be holden personally liable. This responsibility would generally be sufficient to keep them within the path of duty; and where it did not, would afford an adequate remedy to the party injured. Nor would he be under any necessity of losing his land. He has five years, within which to redeem it, holding the authorities of the town, who may have abused their trust, liable to him for an indemnity. There does not appear to us therefore any objection to the plain and obvious terms of the act, which are made to apply to sales thereafter to be made. Nor can we find in the act, or in the policy upon which it is founded, any authority to exclude from its operation lands subsequently sold, upon taxes previously assessed.
But it is contended, that the tenant has failed in the proof required by the act. The statute of 1321, ch. 116, concerning the assessment and collection of taxes, sec. 30, prescribed that the collector should advertise in the public newspapers of the printer to the State, for the time being, three weeks successively, but did not specify how long prior to the sale that should be done. By an additional act of 1826, ch. 337, sec. 8, it is provided, that the notice of sale, “ to be published in the public newspapers three