31 Fla. 471 | Fla. | 1893
On the seventh day of September, 1891, R. H. Ramsey bought lot 4, of block 83, in the city of Jacksonville, which was sold that day at public outcry by the tax collector of Duval county, for unpaid State and county taxes of the year 1890. Ramsey paid the sum which he had bid, and on the 15th day of the same month the collector issued to him a certificate stating the fact of such sale, and that Ramsey or his assigns would be entitled to a deed of conveyance of such land in accordance with law, unless the same should' be redeemed within one year by the payment of the amount with interest at the rate of twenty-five per cent, per annum. Ramsey transferred the certificate to one Hinchinan, and the latter assigned to .Greeley, and in October last Greeley brought mandamus against the plaintiff in error, the clerk of the Circuit Court of Duval county, to compel him to execute a deed for the land. A peremptory writ was awarded.
The controlling question, in view of our conclusions, is whether or not the law, as it was on the day of the sale, authorized the sale of land for taxes of
If the act of 1887 as thus amended, controls of itself the question before us, the redemption period of one year prescribed by it had passed before the day, September 21st, 1892, on which application was made to the clerk for a deed, or that, October 31st, on which resort was made to the courts for relief, and it not being pretended that a redemption of the land had been made, the relator was entitled to a deed. We, however, must ascertain the effect of the legislation of 1891 on the law as it stood at the time of the enactment of that legislation. The legislation of that year to be considered consists of two statutes: One, Chapter 4010, entitled: “An act for the assessment and collection of revenue,” (the same title as that of the general revenue law of 1887," supra,) and the other, Chapter 4011, entitled: “An act to provide for certifying lands to the Comptroller upon which taxes have not been paid, for the redemption thereof, and for the forfeiture and sale of lands not redeemed.” Each of these statutes was approved June 10th, 1891, and, under the operation of Section 18 of Article III of the Constitution, went into effect August 4th, 1891, or sixty days from the final adjournment of the Legislature, which adjourned sine die on the 5th day of June.
Pausing to consider the effect of this act of 1891, 'Chapter 4010, in so far as we have stated its provisions, and not failing to remember that it is a statute of fifty-eight sections covering every subject covered by the general revenue law of 1887, and operating as .a revision of it, and entirely repealing it (State ex rel. vs. Palmes, 23 Fla., 620, 624, 3 South. Rep., 171), except in so far as any of its provisions as to assessment and sale may be kept alive by the fifty-seventh section, hereinafter noticed, for the special purposes therein mentioned, and excepting also the retention by the seventh and eighth sections of Chapter 4011, mentioned below, of its provisions as to redemption and deeds, it seems clear not only that its purpose was that there should not be any public sale of lands by tax collectors for the collection of unpaid taxes to be assessed under its provisions, but also that the warrants which were outstanding on- the day it became of force, August 4th, 1891, should no longer authorize compulsory collection of the. taxes assessed on land
The first section of this act, Chapter 4011, is, that from and after the first day of January, 1892, there shall be no more lands sold for taxes in the State of Florida, either State or county. The second is, that it shall be the duty of tax collectors to open their books for the payment of taxes on the first Monday in November, 1891, and keep them open till the first Monday in April, 1892, and to do likewise in each succeeding year. The third section provides that when the collectors shall have closed their books as ‘mow or herein provided,” it shall not be lawful for them to receive further moneys that remain due for taxes on land, and that within thirty days after the date of closing of said books it shall be the duty of the collectors to make out prescribed triplicate lists of all lands upon which taxes have not been paid, one of which shall be forwarded to the Comptroller, another to the clerk of the Circuit Court, and the third to be kept by the collector. This section also provides for certain certificates which are to .be sent to the Comptroller. The fourth section directs the Comptroller to publish in each county the lists from that county, within one year from their receipt; and the fifth sec
This statute (as shown by its last section), and the-other act of the same year are to be construed in pari materia, or as one law. Its first section, standing-alone, is not inconsistent with the idea that sales of lands for taxes might be made at any time in the year-1891 ; yet in can not be denied that the section does, not of itself give power to sell lands ; and, as it does not do so, it can not be said that it qualifies or neutralizes the provisions of Chapter 4010, which took, away that power upon the fourth day of August, 1891, the day it became operative. The expression “now or herein provided,” as used in the third section, means, not only that lands under the assessments of' 1891 and future years should be certified to the Comptroller within thirty days after the first Monday in April, but, as shown by the word “now,” that whenever collectors closed any outstanding book, to the extent that such books were kept alive for the collection of taxes, they should within thirty days thereafter-certify all lands to the Comptroller in the manner prescribed by such third section. When Chapter 4010, the general revenue law of 1891, became operative, the-power of collectors to sell lands for all past or future assessments of taxes ceased. This is shown not-only by the provisions of that act as explained above, but by the absence from it and from Chapter 4011, of
The sections of Chapter 4010 alluded to above as recognizing the system of sales by the Commissioner of Agriculture, are the 53d and 54th, which prescribe the limitation of suits for setting aside deeds of land sold by such Commissioner, and the conditions to recovery in such suits, and provide tor refunding and
The judgment awarding the peremptory writ wall be reversed, and the cause remanded for judgment in accordance with this opinion. State ex rel. vs. County Commissioners of Sumter county, 22 Fla., 364, 370. It will be ordered accordingly.