58 So. 819 | La. | 1912
Plaintiff, for and on behalf of the state of Louisiana, sues the defendant company for the possession of certain property, and asks that the state of Louisiana be recognized as the owner thereof. He alleges that at one time Delphine Gravier was the owner. He asks that the state be put in possession of all the property left by said Delphine Gravier. Plaintiff further alleges that defendant pretends to hold the property under several tax titles and titles issued by the Auditor of Louisiana, which are null, void, and of no effect.
Defendant answers that it is the lawful owner of the property described in plaintiff’s petition; that it acquired said pieces of property by Auditor’s deeds, issued under Act 80 of 1888, as amended by Act 126 of 1896; that the property had been adjudicated to the state of Louisiana for unpaid taxes for the year 1882, and that it had been forfeited to the state for taxes for the years 1876 and 1S77, all of which adjudication and forfeitures had been duly registered in the office of the register of conveyances; that it had filed the proper proceedings for the confirmation of its titles in the civil district court for the parish of Orleans; and that there had been judgments in its favor, as prayed for. It pleads the prescription of three years, as provided in article 233 of the state Constitution. It further pleads that the state of Louisiana is equitably and by deed estopped from claiming the ownership of said property.
The defendant holds the two pieces of property under two separate deeds from the Auditor, representing that the property had been adjudicated for state taxes for the year 1882; these adjudications having been made by the tax collector of the state in the year 1885. It also claims that the property was forfeited to the state of Louisiana for the nonpayment of taxes for the years 1876 and 1877; and that when the Auditor issued deeds to defendant’s author in title that the state transferred the titles acquired, not only through the adjudications to it for the
“In a number of cases tax sales have been annulled when the property has not been thus assessed [in the name of the owner] and has been sold to pay the taxes levied on it. This was done on the principle, long recognized, that the validity of tax sales is to be tested under the law in force at the time.” Le Blanc v. Blodgett, 34 La. Ann. 107; Davenport v. Knox, 34 La. Ann. 407; Maspereau v. City, 38 La. Ann. 400; McWilliams v. Michel, 43 La. Ann. 984, 10 South. 11; Martin v. Athletic Club, 48 La. Ann. 1051, 20 South. 181; Millaudon v. Gallagher, 104 La. 713, 29 South. 307.
And in George v. Cole, 109 La. 833, 33 South. 791, we say:
“It is well established on principle and by authorities that a tax sale of property assessed in the name of one who is not the owner, without service of any notice of seizure on the real owner, is an absolute nullity and passes no title.” See, also, In re Sheehy, 119 La. 608, 44 South. 315; Lague v. Boagni, 32 La. Ann. 913; Bartley v. Sallier, 118 La. 98, 42 South. 657; Foreman v. Hinchliffe, 106 La. 234, 30 South. 762; Kearns, Curator, v. Collins, already cited.
It appears from the records in these confirmation proceedings that the state of Louisiana, or the succession of Gravier, was sought to be brought into court by service upon curators ad hoc.. This cannot be done. The state of Louisiana is not unknown, or an absentee, in its own courts; and it cannot be cited and bound in that manner.
“The assessing officer, who assesses property not segregated from the public domain, does not bind the state. The land not being taxable, no title passes, and the state is not estopped.”
Defendant had no good or valid titles to the land in question.
“Prescription shall not run against the state in any civil matter, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution, or expressly by law.”
“We consider that, for the purposes of prescription, successions now represent, as they did under the Code of 1808 and under the Roman law, the person of the deceased, as long as the heirs leave their rights in abeyance, and avoid the responsibility and charges of asserting them.”
The state, as we have seen, does not take in the capacity as heir. The property or succession belongs to the state. The state
We have seen that the state, in this instance, took possession, as owner of the property described, on the death of the former owner. It (the succession or the property) became part of the public domain. We said, in Sanchez and Wife v. Gonzalez, 11 Mart. (O. S.) 210:
“It is believed that we may safely assume, as a general rule of prescription, that the public domain is not subjected to it by any length of time.”
See, also, Pepper v. Dunlap, 9 Rob. 283; McCastle v. Chaney, 38 La. Ann. 720; Reed v. Creditors, 39 La. Ann. 115, 1 South. 784; State v. Buck and Fruit Co., 46 La. Ann. 669, 15 South. 531.
But no term of prescription is pleaded under article 3526, C. C., and the court cannot furnish any. The subject needs no further consideration.
The pleas of estoppel and prescription were properly overruled, and the judgment appealed from is affirmed.