123 Wis. 632 | Wis. | 1905
Plaintiff denies the right of a minor to- redeem from a tax sale after the deed has been issued. Sec. 1165, Stats. 1898, provides:
“The owner or occupant of any land sold for taxes or other person may, at any time within three years from the date of the certificate of sale, redeem the same or any part thereof.”
Sec. 1166, Stats. 1898, provides:
“The lands of minors or any interest they may have in-lands sold for taxes may be redeemed at any time before such, minors come of age and during one year thereafter.”
It is difficult to discover in these statutes any such limitation as that for which appellant contends. It is lands “sold for taxes” which may be redeemed, and it would constitute-legislation, rather than construction, to insert into these express and unambiguous statutes a condition that the redemption take place before the issue of the deed, and would, in our opinion, in large measure, thwart the beneficent purpose of see. 1166, to preserve to minors their lands during their nonage against the drastic forfeiture imposed by our laws for the collection of taxes upon real estate. That no such limitation was, indeed, contemplated by the legislature, is evinced by sec. 1176, which, in defining the character of title conferred by a tax deed, recognizes that in some cases a right of' redemption persists beyond its issue and delivery. The right of redemption after the issue of a deed by a minor or other person has apparently never been questioned before this court. The cases cited by the appellant declaring the impregnable-character of a tax deed after three years from its record were all decided with reference to fee owners of full age, to whom a right of redemption is given by the statutes only prior to the issue and record, of the deed. On the other
The next question in order is whether the minor in this case bad any such interest, after executing and delivering bis warranty deed, as would entitle him to redeem. Tbe statutes above mentioned give this' right of redemption not only to tbe owner and occupant, but “other person.” In this respect they are broader in terms than those of many other states. Nevertheless it has been held that a mere stranger has no right of redemption, and therefore an attempt on bis part to. exercise it by paying money to tbe county clerk is futile. Cousins v. Allen, 28 Wis. 232; Rutledge v. Price Co. 66 Wis. 35, 27 N. W. 819. The right of redemption, especially in minors, is highly favored, and statutes conferring it.have always been accorded liberal construction. Jones v. Collins, 16 Wis. 594; Dubois v. Hepburn, 10 Pet. 1. ITence we have no doubt that the words “or others,” in sec. 1165, are to be given such construction as will enable those whose rights would be directly prejudiced by the absolutism of the tax title to redeem therefrom, though they be neither owners nor occupants. The right has been recognized in favor of those having-mere moral beneficial interest under void parol trust (Karr v. Washburn, 56 Wis. 303, 14 N. W. 189; Begole v. Hazzard, 81 Wis. 274, 51 N. W. 325) ; an administrator, though without title, and without any showing that the land was necessary for debts (Bowers v. Williams, 34 Miss. 324) ; or a wife having mere inchoate homestead interest (Lamar v.
The further question is raised by the appellant — whether ¡it is not necessary for one redeeming after a tax deed has been ■recorded to commence some action to- set aside that deed be
Tbe statute of limitations denying any action after three-years from the recording of tbe tax deed, as, indeed, all othei~ special statutes of limitation, is wholly without application after redemption, by virtue of sec. 1189, which provides:
“Nor shall such limitation nor any other limitation in favor of a tax deed or a tax certificate, except in case of actual possession founded on a tax deed, apply where the taxes, for the non-payment of which the lands were sold and the tax deed executed, were paid prior to the sale, or where the land was-redeemed from the operation of such sale_ as provided by law or where the land was not liable to taxation.”
Hence there was nothing in the lapse of a year or two after the redemption which could preclude the holder of the legal, title from regaining actual possession, either by taking it ins.
Notwithstanding that no action was necessary to enforce possession and ownership of the premises, however, both the existence of the tax deed on the record, and the act of plaintiff in bringing this action, constituted such an apparent cloud ■and such a setting up of a claim to the land as would enable the defendants to maintain an action under sec. 3186 to quiet their title; and such action, is, in substance, brought by the ■counterclaim in defendants’ answer praying judgment canceling the tax deed.
From fhe views thus expressed, we must conclude that the land in question was lawfully redeemed from plaintiff’s tax ■claims upon it in March, 1902; that thereafter he had no rights whatever therein to sustain his action of trespass, but that his tax deed, and. declared claim thereunder, entitle defendants to have the same adjudged invalid.
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.