59 Fla. 571 | Fla. | 1910
Lead Opinion
The bill of complaint filed by appellee against appellant in the circuit court for Walton county alleges that the Union Naval Stores Company is the owner by deeds duly executed under seal by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, R. G. Peters and A. L. Langellier of all the timber situated upon some twenty odd thousand acres of land fully described, the consideration therefor being $21,653.02; by said deeds of conveyance the Union Naval Stores Company and its assigns were granted not only the timber but the right to cut and remove same and to box, chip and work same for turpentine purposes for fifteen years, of which period less than seven years expired prior to the filing of this bill; that at the time of the execution of said conveyance the said railroad company and Peters and Langellier were the owners of the land and the timber thereon in fee simple and in possession thereof; that immediately subsequent to the making payment of the monies mentioned in such conveyances, the Union Naval Stores Company, through its agents and lessees entered into possession of the lands and timber described and boxed large quantities of the timber, and< is still in possession of the said lands and using the timber thereon for turpéntine and other purposes; that the defendant J. J. McCaskill claims to have purchased all the lands hereinbefore described-—the lands being the same upon which grew the timber theretofore sold to the Union
The Chancellor issued a temporary injunction which
Passing by the question whether appellant, who was the defendant in the court below, is in a position to take advantage of the alleged forfeiture—the forfeiture clause not having been made by him and not embracing the grantees of the grantor, who was the beneficiary of the forfeiture, and the appellant having purchased the land, not the tim ber, before the alleged forfeiture, it seems clear to us that the Union Naval Stores Company was within its rights when it attempted in the month of March, 1908 to pay the taxes assessed against the land involved here for the year 1907.
Courts of equity always mitigate forfeitures, or relieve against them, when this cán be done without doing violence to the contracts of the parties. Hall v. Delaplaine, 5 Wis., 206, S. C., 68 Am. Dec., 57 and note 85; Blair v. Chamblin, 39 Ill. 521, S. C., 89 Am. Dec., 322. Forfeitures, not being favored in equity, will not be enforced if couched in ambiguous language. Cleary v. Folger, 84 Cal., 316, 24 Pac. Rep., 280, 18 Am. St. Rep., 187.
The covenant to pay taxes is in the nature of a covenant to pay money and a forfeiture incurred by a breach thereof may be relieved against on the same principle. Giles v. Austin, 62 N. Y., 486.
All provisions óf a contract should be considered and construed with reference to controlling provisions and principles of law. Stewart v. Stearns & Culver Lumber
Forfeitures, not being favored in the law, the provisions upon which they are based must be strictly construed. Town of Mt. Morris v. King, 28 N. Y., Supp., 281, text 284, 77 Hun., 18; 3 Words and Phrases, 2894. Statutes are construed strictly against a forfeiture. 2 Lewis’ Sutherland Statutory Construction, Paragraph 547; Brundy v. Mayfield, 15 Mont., 201, 38 Pac. Rep., 1067; Manhattan Trust Co. v. Davis, 23 Mont., 273, 58 Pac. Rep., 718.
The provisions of Section 541 of the General Statutes of 1906, are applicable to the subject matter of the contract before us and become part of the contract. That section of the statute provides in part as follows: “All taxes shall be due and payable on or after the first Monday of November of each and every year;” and, according to the provisions of this section, unpaid taxes are not collectible by levy and sale until after the first Monday in April.
The complainant was bound to pay the taxes within three months after such taxes shall become due and payable. We think, according to a fair construction of the languagé of this contract, the .word “become” means “be,” that is the time when the taxes “become due and payable” is the time when the taxes “shall be due and payable;” and, according to the statute, taxes do not become due and payable on the first of November only but on or after the first Monday of November. Of course, if taxes became due and payable only on the first Monday of November, then according to the contention of appellant, three months thereafter, when the Union Naval Stores Company was required to pay the taxes, would expire on
In Acosta v. Anderson, 56 Fla., 749, 48 South. Rep., 260, we took this view of a contract'requiring the purchaser “to pay all taxes that may be legally levied or imposed” upon the land, saying of the contract, “It simply binds the complainant to pay the taxes that may become due each year,” thereby holding that the word “become” was the equivalent of the word “be.”
In the Acosta-Anderson case, considering the contention that the taxes were due and payable in November, 1905, and should have been paid before the advertisement of the land for non-payment of the taxes in April, 1906^ this court said: “We think the complainant could comply with the contract by paying the taxes on or before the time fixed by the tax collector in his notice of sale of the property for non-payment of the taxes.” It is true that in that case the contract did not fix a time for the payment of the taxes, but that fact makes no difference in the applicability of the doctrine of that case here, 'because the contract in the instant case fixes a time for the payment of the taxes at three months after the time when the
The decree is affirmed.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
This sale of growing timber on land, with the right of possession to remove the timber extending over a period of years, upon condition that if the taxes on the land are not paid by the grantee within three months after the taxes shall become due and payable the interest conveyed shall revest to the grantor, is a conveyance of an interest in the land, and creates an estate upon condition subsequent. The mere failure to perform the condition does not in equity at least ipso facto terminate the estate, but only entitles the grantor to re-enter; and if he does not re-enter the breach of the condition may be regarded as waived. The condition was imposed to insure the payment of the taxes on the land as required by law, so as to avoid a burden to the grantor. The time of payment of the taxes is not made an essential element of the condition if the requirements of the law are satisfied and no burden is imposed upon the grantor. The mere voluntary payment of the taxes by a vendee of the land does not of itself accomplish a forfeiture of the rights acquired by the conveyance of the timber, particularly when the
While I might agree to an affirmance of the decree, I cannot concur with the construction placed upon the contract by Judge Parkhill.
Texas “become” due and payable in this State on the first of November, but “continue” due and payable for several months thereafter. The word “become” connotes an entering into a new .condition as opposed to a continuance in an existing condition. See the various dictionaries “sub verbo”. The condition subsequent is not a requirement for the payment of taxes within three months after they are or may be due and payable, but after they “become” due and payable, and to my mind that means by the first of February, even under the peculiar verbiage of our statute.