74 Pa. Super. 582 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1920
Opinion by
On May 31,1919, lands were sold under a levari facias issued against Frank Butterfield, mortgagor, and Henry D. Anderson, real owner. Certain tax claims were presented against the fund realized from the sale by the school district of Beaver Falls, which were allowed by the court below, in proceedings under the Act of April
The tax claims are divisible into three groups:
(1) The first class embraces school taxes for the years 1906,1907,1908 and 1909, for which liens were regularly filed in the prothonotary’s office and writs of scire facias thereon duly issued under the Act of June 4, 1901, P. L. 364, prior to the approval of the Act of June 1,1915, P. L. 660, which amended the Act of May 21, 1913, P. L. 285, so as to extend its provisions to school taxes. Judgment was, however, not entered in the several sci. fas. until October 9, 1916. The situation as to these taxes at the passage of the Act of 1915 then was: The school district had complied with the provisions of the act of assembly in force when they were levied, had filed municipal claims in the prothonotary’s office as directed by law and had thus secured valid liens of record on the real estate against which the taxes were assessed which were vested rights, prior to the Act of 1915, and writs of scire facias had been issued on these claims within the time fixed by the Act of 1901. Had the real estate been sold by the sheriff at any time prior to June 1, 1915, for a sum sufficient to pay these claims, they would have been paid without further action on the part of the school district. After the passage of the Act of June 1, 1915, but within five years from the issuance of the writs of scire facias, judgment was entered in said suits. No provision is made in the Act of 1913, or the Act of 1915, by which the taxes covered by these claims can be collected. Unless, therefore, the claims are upheld the land is absolved from their payment.
In Bradford County v. Beardsley, 60 Pa. Superior Ct. 478, it was held by this court that after the passage of the Act of May 21, 1913, a municipal claim for county and poor taxes for the year 1912 could not be filed in the prothonotary’s office in 1914, under the provisions of the Act of June 4, 1901; that the later act repealed the earlier with respect to the method or remedy provided
(2) The second class comprises school taxes for the years 1910,1911,1912 and 1913. Municipal claims were duly filed in the prothonotary’s office for all these taxes before the approval of the Act of June 1, 1915; they differ from the first group only in the fact that writ's of scire facias were not issued prior to the enactment of that statute. Sci. fas. were issued on the 1910 and 1912 tax claims on August 1, 1918. The claim for the 1911 and 1913 taxes was not filed until December 29, 1914,
(3) Liens for taxes for the years 1914, 1915 and 1916, were not filed by the school district prior to the Act of June 1,1915, but on August 10,1917, one claim was filed covering the taxes for the three years. This was done pursuant to the Act of May 10, 1917, P. L. 162. The title to that Act is “An act to validate tax liens filed since the 21st day of May, 1913, under the provisions of the Act of June 4, 1901,” etc. Its title gives no notice that the body of the act, in addition to validating such liens as had already been filed, authorized the filing of tax liens under the provisions of t'he Act of June 4,1901, for the period of three months after its approval and to that extent at least the act is unconstitutional and void as in conflict with art. Ill, sec. 3, of the Constitution: Com. v. Thomas, 248 Pa. 256. As this claim was filed after the approval of the Act of May 10,1917, it was not within the validating provisions of that Act and its filing was unauthorized and no valid lien was created thereby. But it was held in Finn v. Mellon, 71 Pa. Superior Ct. 8, (affirmed by the Supreme Court in 265 Pa. 147), that, although the Act of June 4, 1901, was repealed by the Act of May 21, 1913, so far as it related to the filing of liens for taxes and the method prescribed in the former
The exceptions are all overruled and the order of the court below; is affirmed at the costs of the appellant.