142 Pa. 357 | Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County | 1891
Opinion,
In the recent case of Crouse v. Murphy, 140 Pa. 335, in which an opinion was filed at the present term, we had occasion to note the evident purpose pervading the legislation of this state to protect bona-fide purchasers of real estate against unrecorded liens and encumbrances. The same general subject is brought to our attention from a different stand-point by
It is well to remember at the outset that taxes upon seated property were originally a personal charge against the owner, for which his personal property and his person were liable to seizure, but which were not a lien upon land: Burd v. Ramsay, 9 S. & R. 109. In regard to unseated land a different rule prevailed; the land being treated as the debtor, and not the owner. Payment was compelled by the sale of the land with
2. The law does not make it his duty to certify to the absence of liens, and when he gives such a certificate he “ becomes the special agent of the purchaser ” who asks for it.
8. The certificate, by reason of its form, or want of it, imposes no liability, even if it was the duty of the receiver to make certificates of search and no lien.
As authority for the first of these positions, Alcorn v. Philadelphia, 44 Pa. 348, is cited. The plaintiff in that case sought to hold the city for the negligence of the city surveyor in locating the lines of plaintiff’s lot at his request. This court held that the act of the city surveyor was in no sense that of the city, nor was the duty in which he was engaged a municipal duty. The location of lines between adjoining owners, and surveying lots, was held to be “ not a duty incumbent on cities in their corporate capacity, .... but a private one falling on the lotowners themselves.” The city surveyor, like county surveyors and other public officers, is elected not to represent the municipality, but to serve the public as occasion may require, at the instance and upon the employment of individuals. But the collection of taxes is a municipal purpose. They are levied, collected, and disbursed under the authority and direction of the city, by officers appointed or elected for the purpose, who represent the city. When levied, the duplicates are charged to the receiver. He is the only authorized collector and receiving officer. He is required to open his books for the receipt of taxes on the first day of January of the year for which the taxes are assessed. His daily collections must be reported to the city controller, and his daily cash receipts deposited in the banks designated for that purpose. Taxes not paid during the year or within fifteen days thereafter he is required to enter upon the register of unpaid taxes, in order to continue their lien. If this is not done, the lien ceases, and the real estate may pass, by sale, discharged therefrom: Smaltz v. Donohugh, 11 W. N. 220. The entries on the register, if made in time, are valid liens on the real estate affected by them, and must be taken notice of and provided for in case of sale. These liens are not the result of legal proceedings in a court of record,
The second reason does not seem to us tenable. When taxes were made a lien on the real estate on which they were levied in the city of Philadelphia, it was necessary to provide some record of the liens unpaid at the end of the current year. For this purpose a book was provided, upon which unpaid taxes were to be entered. Taxes not appearing there were presumed to be paid, and they were not liens. Taxes appearing there were valid liens upon the real estate on which they were assessed. This book was thus made the lien docket of the city. It was the proper and the only reliable source of information open to the interested inquirer. It was kept by and in the custody of the receiver, whose duty it was to certify liens appearing upon it. When applied to, it was his duty, as the representative of the city, to state truly the liens against the real estate inquired about. Baxter’s conveyancer applied for a search, which made an examination for five years necessary. The receiver certified that he had examined for five years, viz., 1878 to 1877, inclusive, and that there were no taxes registered against the lot except those of 1877. It was as important to the purchaser to know that there were no taxes registered for 1875 as to know that there were taxes unpaid for 1877. It was the amount of liens the purchaser was inter
Nor do we regard the form of the certificate as a matter of any consequence in this case. The purchaser applied for and had a right to receive a certificate in proper form, informing him of the exact amount of the demands of the city for unpaid taxes. A certificate intended to convey the needed information was furnished, and relying on the truth of its statement, the title was taken and the purchase money paid over. Having thus led the purchaser to pay the amount of the taxes of 1875 to his vendor as purchase money, the city cannot now be permitted to set up the mistake of its officer as a reason for compelling the payment of the money a second time. If it was a mistake, as it was acted upon in good faith by the purchaser, the city cannot now assert a lien for the taxes of 1875, nor deny the facts which the certificate asserted.
The subject of the want of form in a certificate and of negative statements therein was considered in Ziegler v. Commonwealth, 12 Pa. 227, in which a certificate similar to the one before us was held sufficient in form to justify a recovery.
The judgment in this case is reversed, and a venire facias de novo awarded.
P.L. 18; 8 Sm. L. 189.
Section 11, act of February 2, 1854, P. L. 30.