53 Wis. 457 | Wis. | 1881
This is an action to foreclose tax certificates. The objection was taken on the trial, and is renewed here, that it was incumbent on the plaintiff, in order to be entitled to a judgment of foreclosure, to allege and prove that all the proceedings, from the listing of the land for taxation down to the sale for taxes, had been in conformity to law.
In Durbin v. Platto, 47 Wis., 484, which was a similar action, it was decided, on demurrer to the complaint, that it was no more necessary to set out in the complaint the proceedings antecedent to the certificate, than it was in an action to foreclose a mortgage to state the transactions of the parties antecedent to the giving of the mortgage. That decision was based upon the languagé of the statute, which provides “ that all the rules of law and practice relating to the foreclosure of mortgages by action,” and “ the rides of pleading and evidence therein, ... so far as they are applicable,” shall prevail in these actions. Chapter 181, Laws of 1872; section 1181, E. S.
That case, it is true, only involved a question of pleading, but the decision has an important bearing here. It pointedly
But it is objected that the tax certificate on the sale of 1878 was not in the form prescribed by law (section 64, ch. 22, Laws of 3859, and section 171, ch. 18, Tay. Stats.), and therefore was improperly admitted in evidence. The particular objection is, that the words “according to the facts,” at the énd of the certificate, are omitted. But these words were obviously intended as a direction to the officer in regard to the manner of filling out the certificate. That being its object, the reason for the decisions in Lain v. Cook, 15 Wis., 146; Lain v. Shepardson, 18 Wis., 59; Wakely v. Mohr, id., 321, does not apply.
The defendants offered evidence to, show that the taxes in the town of Bed Eiver, where the land is situated, for the years 1876 and 1877, were invalid. The evidence was objected to and excluded on the ground that the statute of limitations had run on the certificates, and that any errors in the tax proceedings prior to their date could not be shown. The plaintiff relies upon section 7, ch. 334, Laws of 1878; section 1210e, E. S., and section 3, ch. 309, Laws of 1880, to sustain this ruling. The validity of these statutes of limitation and their
"We think the judgment of the circuit court must be affirmed.
By the Court.— Judgment affirmed.