64 Iowa 757 | Iowa | 1884
The petition states, in substance, that the plaintiff is the owner of the land in question; that it was sold at one sale for the taxes of 1873, 1874, 1875 and 1870, and the deed in question was issued upon such sale; that the sale was invalid, for the reason that the delinquent taxes for the first three years above mentioned were not brought forward, as required by law, and for the further reason that there was no valid assessment for any of the years, because the taxes for the first two years were not assessed to any person by name, nor were the words “unknown owner” inscribed upon the page upon which the assessment was made, but the place where the name of the owner, or the words “unknown owner,” should have been written, was left blank; that, while the taxes for the last two years were duly assessed to the owner, Jacob Kirchner, the assessment was not so transcribed as to appear in the tax lists as assessed to Kirchner, or to any other person named; that the tax deed is invalid, because, while from, the time of the sale until after the issuance of the tax deed Kirchner was the owner, and, by reason of his ownership, had constructive possession, (no one having actual possession,) no expiration notice was served upon him, and none was served upon the person in whose name the land was taxed, and so the time of redemption, if there was any valid sale, has not expired; that the amount necessary to redeem cannot he ascertained by simple compensation, but that whatever the amount is he is ready to pay.
From the'foregoing, it will be seen that the questions pre"sented pertain to the validity of the assessments, to the effect
This section isfi-elied upon by the defendant as sufficient to sustain the sale. The plaintiff, on the other hand, denies that it has any application. His position is that, where tlio error or irregularity pertains merely to the mode óf sale, and does not inhere in the tax itself, such error or illegality invalidates the sale. The question jiresented is not entirely free from difficulty, but we have reached the conclusion that the plaintiff’s position cannot be sustained.
Affirmed.