210 Wis. 336 | Wis. | 1933
Milwaukee county and its treasurer, Patrick McManus, naming as defendants the city of Milwaukee, city of South Milwaukee, village of Whitefish Bay, and T. V. Mueller, pursuant to leave granted by the court, bring this original action for declaratory relief respecting the sale of
Sec. 74.39, Stats., in terms provides that county treasurers should commence the sale of lands for delinquent taxes levied thereon in 1931 on June 14, 1932, and “continue the same from day to day.” The county treasurer had duly published the notice and advertisement of sale requisite to give jurisdiction to conduct the sale. On June 11, 1932, Governor Philip F. LaFollette, moved thereto by the unusual and great number of delinquent real-estate taxes existing and the general economic condition prevailing throughout the state, issued an executive proclamation requesting that county treasurers comfnence the sale of land for delinquent taxes as prescribed by the statute, but to sell only one tract each day, and in making the daily sale to select a tract in which the county held a prior tax-sale certificate; that after making such single sale, adjournment of the sale to the following day should be made and entered of record; and that they refrain from making other than such single daily sales until after October 15, 1932.
The county treasurer complied with this request. On October 10, 1932, the governor issued another proclamation requesting the county treasurers that the procedure suggested in his first proclamation be continued until February 1, 1933. This request was also complied with by the county treasurer with the single exception that on November 21, 1932, he offered for sale at public auction a parcel of land on which the county did not hold a tax-sale certificate, which tract was bid in by and sold to the defendant T. V. Mueller, who on December 2, 1932, filed with the county board a petition for a refund of the money paid by him to the county on such sale under sec. 75.22, Stats., on the ground that the sale to him was illegal and void because there was no authority in law for conducting the sale on the day of the sale.
The petitioners ask that the court declare whether the county treasurer may legally proceed on February 1st with the tax sales as proposed. Requests for other specific declarations are made which will be stated so far as it is deemed necessary to comply with them.
The governor in his first proclamation expressly based his request to the county treasurers on a decision of this court made in 1874, the opinion in which was written by Mr. Chief Justice Ryan, Wood v. Meyer, 36 Wis. 308. This was a case in ejectment. The plaintiff claimed under a tax deed. The defendant claimed the tax deed was void because the tax sale on which it was based was not made on a day on which the sale was authorized by law. The sale was made June 9, 1857. The statute then in force (R. S. 1849, ch. 15, sec. 86) fixed the sale of land for delinquent taxes as to commence on the second Tuesday in April. It was the same as the present statute in all material respects, except that the present
“To hold the deed void on the ground alleged, we must find that the day of sale was, ex necessitate legis, a day on which the sale could not properly take place. This we cannot do. Under the statutes, the sale should have begun on the second Tuesday of April, and, if unfinished on that day, have been continued on the next succeeding days, till completed. But, so that the sale began on the first day named, and was continued from day to day on the succeeding days, the statute does not require that it should have been continued for any given time on each day. It is the habit, in some counties, to protract the sale by disposing of a single parcel or so on each day. This is not forbidden, and is a compliance with the statute. And we cannot say, judicially, that the sale in question may not have legally continued from the second Tuesday in April to the 9th day of June.”
The statute as thus construed authorized the continuance of the sale of lands for delinquent taxes during an extended period by making a single sale each day and then adjourning the sale to the day following, and adjudged a sale made on any of the days through which the sale continued to be valid. The statute says nothing as to when the sale must be completed. As it authorizes continuances from day to day by a single sale each day from April until June, no reason is perceived why it does not authorize such continuances to February 1st of the following year.
A decision construing a statute becomes an integral part of the statute itself. Gulf, C. & S. F. R. Co. v. Moser, 275 U. S. 133, 48 Sup. Ct. 49. When a statute has been once construed by the court, it remains as construed until it is amended by the legislature or the construction given is modified or changed by the court. The statute under consideration has never been amended by the legislature since it was construed by the court, nor has the court ever in any way
We are of opinion that sec. 74.39, Stats., as construed by the court in the Wood Case, authorizes the action and the proposed action of the county treasurer and validates the continuances of the sale of lands for delinquent taxes made according to the practice stated.
We are requested to declare whether the defendant Mueller is entitled to recover the amount paid by him to the county on the sale of the parcel sold to him on November 2d. We cannot, of course, presume to pass upon the validity of the sale as between him and the property owner, as the property owner is not a party to this action, but it is obvious from "what we have above said that Mr. Mueller has not shown the sale to him to be invalid, and is therefore not entitled to a refund under sec. 75.22.
We are asked to declare whether the selection each day by the county treasurer of the parcel- on which the county held a previous tax-sale certificate invalidated his individual sales and whether this practice conformed to the provisions of secs. 74.33 to 74.39, Stats., inclusive. We discover nothing in the statutes prescribing the order in which the parcels shall be sold, or governing the selection of the parcel or parcels to be sold upon any day during which the sale progresses. The selection by the county treasurer of the parcel to be sold each day during the progress of the sale did
We are asked, in case we declare the continuance of the sale legal, to declare the date which the several tax certificates shall bear and the date from which interest shall be computed. This is not a subject for declaratory relief. It is obvious, however, that each certificate should bear date and recite the date of sale according to the fact. Sec. 74.46, Stats. Interest should be computed from January 1, 1932, the date from which it would have been collected had the sale been concluded as soon as might have been after June 14, 1932.
Under the Declaratory Judgments Act, sec. 269.56, courts have power to declare rights, status, and other legal relations and in the making of such declarations to construe deeds, wills, written contracts, or other writings constituting a contract or status or legal relation affected by a statute, municipal ordinance, contract, or franchise. This statute does not empower the court to give directions.
The only controverted questions in this case are whether or not the county treasurer under the facts admitted and stipulated has jurisdiction to make a valid sale on February 1, 1933, and whether or not the respondent Mueller is entitled to a refund on account of moneys paid on a sale already made. The Declaratory Judgments Act — sec. 269.56 (11) — provides that no declaration made shall prejudice the right of persons not parties to the proceeding.- The judgment of this court must be in accordance with the statute.