83 Miss. 265 | Miss. | 1903
delivered the opinion of tbe court.
On March 6, 1893, for nonpayment of the taxes of 1892, “all of fractional section 39, township 16, range 4 east, 20 acres,” in Warren county, assessed to “unknown” owners, was by the tax collector of said county struck off to the state. On October 4, 1901, this land was, for the sum of $200, conveyed by the state to appellee. On 29th of March, 1902, appellee filed his bill in the chancery court praying the confirmation of his title. To this bill appellant, who was in possession of the land, and all other persons claiming an interest in said land, were duly cited to appear and defend. Said bill of complaint also prayed for a personal decree of $100 against appellant for the use and occupation of said land from the date of the deed from the state. Appellant, in her answer, admitted the forfeiture of the land described to the state, admitted the purchase from the state by appellee; but denied that he acquired any title to the land by the purchase, because, she averred, there was no delinquent tax due on said land for the year 1892, for the reason that the taxes due on said land had been paid by Trank Toney (appellant’s testator), being included in ¡the following assessment, upon which all taxes had been duly paid, to wit, “Toney, Trank. Lots 4, 5, 6, Collier estate, section 37, township 17, range 4 east,” which was identical in point of fact with fractional section 39, wherefore the assessment under which the state claimed was double and erroneous, and the sale thereunder conveyed no title. IJpon the trial appellant offered parol testimony under § 3776, Code 1892, to sliow that the description in the Toney assessment could be applied fo the' land in controversy. The testimony in substance was as follows : That under the final decree in a suit for partition in the chancery court of Warren county styled “Miller v. Collier"
It is conceded that under § 1806, Code 1892, and the construction placed thereon by this court, appellee, by his evidence, made out a prima facie case entitling him to a confirmation of his title to the land described in his conveyance, to wit, “Fractional section 39, township 16, range 4 east, 20 acres,” and under § 3817, Id., the conveyance to him cannot be invalidated in any court except by proof that the land was not liable to sale for the taxes, or that the taxes for which the land was sold had been paid before sale. If the two deseriptinons, from their wording, show that they refer to the same tract, the question is, of
A statement of the difference in the wording of the two descriptions under consideration herein will suffice to show that, whatever be the fact, they do not in terms refer to the same tract of land. The land described in the deed to appellee is “section 39, township 16, range 4 east,” while the description under which appellant defends is “lot 6, Collier estate, section 37, township 17, range 4 east,” in a different section of a different township. These two descriptions differed so widely and so materially as in no way to disclose that they were intended to describe the identical tract. In the absence, therefore, of any notice, it became the duty of the tax collector to sell the land, as he did, for nonpayment of taxes, and this sale vested indefeasible title in the state, unless appellant can defeat the sale by proving by parol testimony under the rule prescribed by § 3776, that the taxes were in truth paid on the land conveyed by deed from the state to appellee before the sale thereof by the tax collector. The exact language used in § 3776 in this connection is: “Parol testimony shall always be admissible to apply a description of land on the assessment roll, or in a conveyance for taxes when such testimony will show what land was assessed and sold, and there is enough in the description on the roll or conveyance to be applied to a particular tract of land by the aid of such testimony.” Assuming as a matter of fact that both assessments under consideration were intended to be of the identical tract of land conveyed by the deed from the state, and assuming further that parol testimony would prove this identity, the special inquiry presented by this record is: “Is there enough in the description on the roll to be applied to a particular tract of land by the aid of such testimony ?” This provision of our statute law has been the subject of repeated adjudi
It should be premised that the rights of the landowner are governed by the description on the assessment roll. No matter how honest is his intention in listing his property for purpose of taxation, or how sincere his belief that he has paid the taxes on his own land, this will not defeat a sale under a valid assessment, when he has paid the taxes under a description so erroneous as to be beyond the power of remedy by parol testimony. It needs no argument in the instant -case to demonstrate that the assessment under which Toney paid his taxes for 1892 contains no descrip
Affirmed upon direct and cross-appeal.
SUGGESTION OK ERROR.
delivered the opinion of the court in response to the suggestion of error.
The assessment here under review does not come within any of the saving clauses of § 3775, Code 1892, nor does it give
Suggestion overruled.