91 N.J. Eq. 63 | N.J. | 1919
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was a bill to quiet title. In February, 1909, the complainant purchased two lots of land located in the town of Irvington, adjacent to one another and abutting upon property already owned by him, at a sale made by the town authorities under the Tax Adjustment act of 1898. Comp. Stat. p. 5251. These lots at the time of the tax sale were owned by the heirs-at-law of one Alfred Tichenor. The sale purported to convey the fee, and a deed for the premises was executed in due course by the tax collector of the town and delivered to the complainant. This was not recorded.
In May, 1914, one William F. Headley purchased from the heirs of Alfred Tichenor all their right, title and interest in and to the lands in question. This deed was duly recorded. In October of the same year Headley and bis wife conveyed the premises to Hilda H. Headley, the defendant, and that deed was also recorded.
Hilda Headley claims to be a bona fide purchaser for value without notice of any right of the complainant in the premises, and asserts that the deed from the tax collector to the complainant is void as against her under the provisions of section 54 of the act concerning conveyances. Comp. Stat. p. 1553. That section provides that every deed shall, until duly recorded, or lodged for record in the clerk’s office, be void and of no effect against subsequent judgment «creditors without notice, and against subsequent bona fide purchasers and mortgagees for valuable consideration, not having notice thereof, whose deed or mortgage shall have been first duly recorded.
In the argument of the cause before the court of chancery the principal question mooted was whether a tax collector’s deed given to a purchaser at a tax sale under the Tax Adjustment act
We do not find it necessary to determine the very interesting question whether or not an unrecorded tax deed is void and of no effect against a subsequent bom fide purchaser for valuable' consideration not having notice thereof, whose deed has been first duly recorded. And for this reason: The proof is convincing that shortly after the tax sale, in 1909, the complainant entered into possession of the two lots involved in this litigation, enclosed them with a fence, and used them in his contracting business, storing ashes, stones and other debris on the land, and keeping there his wagons used by him in his business. These wagons, all of them, had his name thereon. This use and occupation of the premises by the complainant continued without interruption from the year 1909 until the institution of this suit; it was open and notorious, obvious to every one visiting the premises.
The statute makes an unrecorded deed void only as against judgment creditors, bona fide purchasers and mortgagees' who have no notice thereof, and it is entirely settled, both in this state and elsewhere, that possession of land, if open, notorious and unequivocal, constitutes notice of the right, or claim of right, under which the party in possession occupies it; and this notice is effective, not only as to those who have actual knowledge of
For affirmance — The Chief-Justice, Swayze, Trenohard, Parker,, Bergen, Minturn, Kalisoh, Black, White, HepPENHEIMER, WILLIAMS, TAYLOR, GARDNER, AcKERSON-14.
For reversal — None.