15 S.E.2d 719 | Ga. | 1941
1. A judgment sustaining a general demurrer to an intervention seeking to cancel tax deeds, on the grounds that the levy was excessive and that an interest less than the fee was conveyed, will not bar a subsequent intervention by the owner within the redemption periods seeking to redeem the property as provided by law.
2. Where one seeking in a court of equity to redeem property sold for taxes admits stated amounts to have been paid for the property at the sale, but fails to allege payment or tender of such amounts before filing such suit, the petition should be dismissed on demurrer. Where property was sold in 1935 for municipal taxes, and no attempt to redeem was made for a period of more than two years thereafter, the right to redeem terminated, and the owner was divested on all title, right, and interest in the property; and where these facts are shown by a petition which also seeks to redeem the same property from a tax sale to one county in 1934, the petitioner, being without title or interest, is not entitled to redeem from the county, whether the redemption period has expired or not; and the action should be dismissed on demurrer. Section 3 of Ga. L. 1937, p. 491, expressly removes such seeds from the operation of that act, and they are controlled by the Code, §§ 92-4402, 92-8301. The constitutionality of section 3 can not be raises for the first time in the brief of counsel in this court.
3. The portion of the order excepted to in the cross-bill of exceptions, it *470 reviewable at all, can not be considered on assignments of error contained in the cross-bill.
Mrs. W. B. Lowe, who had inherited the interest of Mrs. Rosenkrantz, the lessor, in the property, was on motion made a party over her objections. She thereupon came into the court and attacked the tax deeds of the city and county, on the grounds (1) that they conveyed only the lease hold estate, and did not affect her interest, and (2) that the levies were excessive. She did not make a tender of any part of the taxes. The court sustained demurrers and dismissed her pleadings. She excepted, and this court affirmed the judgment. (Lowe v. Atlanta,
2. "Tax sales are creatures of statute. When, how, and under what circumstances they are to be made, and their effect when made, are matters depending upon the statute governing them."Bennett v. Southern Pine Co.,
Clower v. Fleming,
In Allen v. Gates,
The tax deed to the city was executed in 1935, and the intervention asserts that the tax sale was consummated at that time. Under Ga. Laws 1935, p. 466 (Ga. Code Ann. § 92-4402), the redemption period expired in 1937. No redemption having been made during the time in which redemption is authorized, the City of Atlanta acquired under the tax deed an absolute and unconditional title to the land sold. Beckham v. Lindsey,
3. The ruling complained of in the main bill of exceptions is the judgment of March 3, 1941, overruling the demurrers to Mrs. Lowe's intervention. The only assignment of error in the cross-bill of exceptions is on that portion of the judgment excepted to in the main bill, where the trial court attempted to name all parties at interest in the suit, omitting the name of the plaintiff in the cross-bill. The portion of the order excepted to is not reviewable by cross-bill of exceptions. That part of the order must be reviewed, if indeed it is reviewable at all, by an independent bill of exceptions. Code, § 6-901; A. C.Alexander Lumber Co. v. Bagley,
Judgment reversed on the main bill of exceptions; cross-billdismissed. All the Justices concur.