9 Pa. 318 | Pa. | 1848
This action is brought to recover back, not the purchase-money paid for the tax-title, for the maxim caveat emptor would have barred it, but taxes subsequently assessed on the tract in the plaintiff’s name; assessed, however, in the lifetime and during the ownership of a revolutionary officer, to whom the state had granted it, and consequently paid on a void assessment. A single fact in the cause turns the scale against the plaintiff — the payment was voluntary. The cases agree that a party who has paid an unfounded demand without constraint, cannot recover it back: it was his folly to part with his money, and he must submit to lose it. But the difficulty is, to say what degree of constraint entitles a party to his action. In Colwell v. Peden, 3 Watts, 328, where the subject was considered on principle and authority, it was.
Judgment affirmed.