285 Mass. 154 | Mass. | 1934
This is a petition to foreclose a tax title held by the petitioner on real estate of the respondent. It comes before us by appeal from a decision of the Land Court dismissing the petition. The land was sold in 1930 for nonpayment of the taxes of 1929. The question is whether the description in the advertisement and deed was adequate to conform to the requirements of the law.
This finding of fact must be accepted as true in the circumstances here disclosed. Whether land is identified by
The object and purpose of a notice for a tax sale is to apprise the owner and the public that a specified parcel of land is -to be sold. It must be sufficiently accurate to enable the owner and the public to identify the premises. It must give information so adequate that from its terms both owner and prospective bidders may locate the land to be sold with substantial certainty. While it need not be so detailed as to point out precise boundaries with the exactness of a technical survey, it must convey reasonably definite knowledge as to the tract of land intended. Williams v. Bowers, 197 Mass. 565. Conners v. Lowell, 209 Mass. 111, 120. The decision of the judge shows that the description here in question did not conform to these requirements.
The case at bar is distinguishable from Larsen v. Dillenschneider, 235 Mass. 56, where there was reference to a plan, and also from Galligan v. Everett, 259 Mass. 94, 98, where the description although meager was of land in a small town with widespread knowledge of particular parcels.
Order dismissing petition affirmed.