56 Neb. 295 | Neb. | 1898
In 1868 certain state and county taxes were levied and assessed upon a tract of land in Burt county. The tax so imposed was void, as the land at the time was not subject to taxation. In 1869 these lands Avere sold for the non-payment of the taxes levied in 1868. Subsequently the purchaser obtained a treasurer’s deed for the lands based on the tax sale made thereof; and it seems that in 1893 a decree of the district court of said county declared such tax deed and the tax upon'Avhich it Avas based void and vacated the tax levy, sale, and deed, as clouds upon the owner’s title. Subsequently the purchaser at the tax sale sought reimbursement from Burt county for the money paid by him at the tax-sale purchase and for subsequent taxes paid upon the real estate. The district court denied him relief, and he has brought its judgment here for review.
1. The record presents two questions, one of which is AAdiether, in the absence of an express statute, a county is liable to a purchaser for money paid by him to its treasurer for lands sold by the latter at tax .sale, there being at the time no valid tax delinquent against the land for which it Avas sold. This question we anSAver in the negative. Whatever may be the rule elsewhere, the doctrine of this court is that the rule of caveat emptor applies to a purchaser at a tax sale, except where he is protected by express statute. (Pennock v. Douglas County, 39 Neb. 293.)
2. The second question is whether any .statute exists which renders the county liable to the purchaser for the money he paid at the tax sale and for subsequent taxes paid by him upon the land. The first legislation in this state upon the subject .seems to have been enacted in 1866. Section 75, chapter 46, passed in that year, pro-
Affirmed.