186 S.W.2d 668 | Ark. | 1945
Appellant, Sinah P. Clark, instituted this suit in the lower court on May 24, 1944, against appellees, V. R. Trammell and Claude A. Rankin, Commissioner of State Lands, and alleged in her complaint that she, being "a stranger to the title," and "being desirous of purchasing . . . from the State" six town lots in Gentry, Arkansas, which had been forfeited to the state for non-payment of taxes for the year 1934, directed her husband to obtain a deed for said land from the state; that he and the agent he employed to assist him by mistake prepared and sent to the State Land Commissioner a petition to redeem said land, along with $70.98, the amount necessary to effect redemption; that the Land Commissioner *451 executed and transmitted to appellant a redemption deed, which has been duly recorded; that when she discovered the mistake she demanded of the Land Commissioner a deed evidencing a sale of the land to her, which the Commissioner refused to issue; that she was in possession of all the land, except the dwelling house, which was in the possession of appellee, V. R. Trammell, who had obtained a quitclaim deed for all the property from Reta Crawford (formerly Reta Ramsey). She prayed for a decree vesting title to the land in her, directing the Land Commissioner to execute deed to her and cancelling the deed of Reta Crawford to appellee, Trammell.
The Land Commissioner entered his appearance and made no defense. Appellee, Trammel, answered, setting up title to the lots in himself by virtue of the deed from Reta Crawford, only heir at law of T. C. Ramsey, deceased, who, appellee Trammell alleged, owned the land at the time it forfeited for non-payment of taxes, and he also averred that the tax sale was void on account of various defects. An intervention was filed by the guardian of Ota Ramsey, the insane widow of T. C. Ramsey, deceased, alleging that she had an interest in the land and asking that she be permitted to redeem same. There was very little, if any, conflict in the testimony.
The lower court held: That, since appellant had no title to the land when she redeemed it, her redemption thereof inured to the benefit of the owner, and that appellee, Trammel, owned the land, subject to the dower interest of intervener; that the tax sale was void because proper notice of the sale was not given and that the decree of confirmation did not cure this defect; and the complaint of appellant was dismissed for want of equity and the title of Trammell confirmed, subject to dower right of intervener, appellant being given judgment and a lien on the land for the amount she paid in redeeming the land.
It is well settled that a redemption of land forfeited for non-payment of taxes by one who has no title thereto confers no right or title on the person so redeeming. "One *452
who redeems land from a tax sale, when he has no right, title or interest in the land, acquires no title." (headnote 1) Frank Kendall Lumber Co. v. Smith,
Equity has the power to grant reformation of a written instrument, where a mutual mistake of the parties, or fraud on the part of one of the parties and mistake on the part of the other, causes the writing to fail to show the real transaction. But in this case relief is asked by appellant solely on the ground that she misunderstood the legal effect of the document which she signed. Such misunderstanding on her part was not sufficient to entitle her to equitable relief. In the case of Rector v. Collins, et al.,
We held in the case of Fullerton v. Storthz,
Even if it should be held that a deed from the State Land Commissioner falls within the category of instruments that may be reformed in equity, it is obvious that the proof in this case did not authorize reformation. The evidence shows that appellant signed and swore to an application to redeem, on the regular form, in which she set up that she owned this land and desired to redeem it. The Commissioner accepted this application and the funds accompanying it and issued to her a redemption deed, as the law directed him to do. Assuming that appellant executed the application under a mistake as to its purpose and effect, certainly there was no mistake on the part of the Land Commissioner. There was no fraud in the transaction alleged or shown. Therefore a court of equity was without power to give the appellant relief by way of reformation.
Nor could appellant invoke the equitable remedy of specific performance. In the case of Reed v. Wilson,
The views expressed above render it unnecessary to discuss other questions argued in briefs of respective counsel.
The decree of the lower court is affirmed.