33 Minn. 434 | Minn. | 1885
This action involves the title of a lot of land in Minneapolis. The plaintiff’s alleged title is derived through a sale of the land in 1881, under chapter 135 of the laws of that year, for delinquent taxes for the year 1875. The defendant has title by conveyance from one Smith, the original owner of the land, unless Smith’s
The precise question to be decided is as to the effect of this attempted redemption in respect to the taxes for 1875, and in respect to the judgment and sale therefor under the act of 1881, through which the asserted title of the plaintiff was derived. The right to make redemption was declared by the statutes then in force, and the law should be so construed as to make the right to redeem available. In order that an effectual redemption be made, it should only be necessary that one seeking to redeem should pursue the course which the law contemplates. The statute provided that redemption might be made by paying money into the county treasury, the amount of which would depend upon the circumstances of the case. Where the land had been bid in for the state, and no assignment had been made, the sum to be paid was the amount for which the land had been bid in, with interest, and all subsequent taxes, penalties, and interest. If the right of the state had been assigned, the sum to be paid was the amount paid by the assignee, with interest from the time of payment by him, etc. But it was practically impossible for one seeking to redeem to make such payments until he should be informed by the county auditor as to the amount required to be paid. The facts from which this amount could be calculated should all appear in the au
But it is said that this redemption was effectual only as to the taxes for 1874 and 1876, which only were referred to in the certificate, and that the tax for 1875 remained still unpaid, and a charge upon the land in favor of the state, when the proceedings were instituted un-¡ der the act of 1881. We think, however, that the legal effect of the|
We thus come to the conclusion that the proceedings against the land under the law of 1881 to enforce payment of the tax for 1875 were not authorized; for it was only as to lands charged with taxes which had become delinquent, and which had not been “satisfied by payment, redemption, or sale,” that such proceedings were to be instituted. See section 1 of the act. And it is further declared,' by section 7, in respect to the judgment and sale contemplated by that act, that “said judgment and sale shall be void, upon proof at any time that such taxes shall have been paid or [that] such property was exempt.” The amount of the tax for 1875 was not, in fact, paid into the county treasury. It was, however, by the redemption, to which full legal effect is to be given, satisfied and discharged from the land, so that the state could assert no further claim upon the land on account of that tax. While proof of payment or of exemption is alone specified in section 7 as having the effect to avoid the judgment and sale, we think that the word “paid” is here used in a comprehensive sense, embracing the meaning of the words “satisfied by payment, redemption, or sale,”
Our opinion is substantially in harmony with that of the learned judge whose determination we have reviewed, and his order refusing a new trial is affirmed.