57 Iowa 320 | Iowa | 1881
The title of plaintiff under which he seeks to recover the land in question is based upon a sale for taxes and a-
“Commencing at the northwest corner of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section thirty-one (31), in township number seventy-four (74), north of range number eight (8) west, thence running east eleven rods and eleven links, thence south eight rods, thence east four rods, thence south twenty-three rods and six links, thence in a southeast direction about fifteen feet to lands owned by Jas. H. Auld, thence south on said Jas. II. Auld’s west line nine rods to the north side of Main street in the town of Brighton, thence west along the north side of said Main street five rods and eleven links and eight feet, thence north sixteen rods, thence we15! ten rods, thence north about twenty-five rods to the place of beginning.”
The following plat, made an exhibit by plaintiff, shows at a glance the part of the N. E. ¿ of the N. E. J of section 31, township 74 N, R. 8 W., owned by Deeds, which plaintiff claims is covered by the description as found in Jhe assessment and tax books, and also in the treasurer’s deed executed upon the tax sale:
It will be observed that the area of the land as shown by the true description is less than three acres, the quantity called for by the description used in the tax books and treas
The statute requires land to be assessed by a “description sufficient to identify it.” Code, § 821, ¶ 2. A failure to comply with this provision defeats the assessment, for the reason that in matters of taxation the statutes applicable thereto must be observed.
The defect, or rather the absence of description, found in the assessment, tax books, and treasurer’s deed cannot be cured by extraneous evidence. It is not in the nature of a latent ambiguity which may be explained. Nor can evidence be received to apply the assessment and deed to the land contem
The tax proceedings and deed being void for this uncertainty, or rather absence of description, are to be regarded as incapable of support in this manner. As the absence of description runs through all tax proceedings and the treasurer’s deed, one cannot have support from the others, all being alike void.
The description in this case, as it in no manner points to the land in question, which cannot be identified by any inquiry therein suggested, nor discovered from any data found therein, is unlike the descriptions held sufficient in the following cases, viz., Immegart v. Gorgas et al., 41 Iowa, 439; Judd v. Anderson, 51 Iowa, 345. The descriptions in these cases locate each tract of land in a given corner of a government subdivision, a “ forty,” and specify the number of acres in each tract. The corner of the forty thus becomes a fixed monument, and the government lines become boundaries of the tract. As the description is held to call for a tract in a square form all its boundaries may be readily determined. Rutin this case the land is described as “ three acres in the N. W. part” of a forty. The description does not call for either monuments or boundaries. It is applicable to an indefinite number of tracts of three acres which do not touch any line of the forty or have a corner common therewith. The cases cited do not, therefore, we think, support the ruling of the court below.
Upon the question of the invalidity of the assessment and tax deed because of the absence of sufficient description, see Blair Town Lot Co. v. Scott, 44 Iowa, 143; Bosworth et al. v. Farenholz, 3 Iowa, 84; Vaughan v. Stone, 55 Iowa, 213.
"We have held that where there is a void sale or deed upon a valid tax the purchaser at the tax sale may recover from the land-owner the amount required to redeem the land from taxes. Everett v. Beebe, 37 Iowa, 452. This case has been often followed. The ground of this ruling is that by the sale and tax deed all the right, title, interest, and claim of the county and State to the land sold is transferred to the purchaser. See Code, § 897. The interest of the county and State in the land is measured by the tax. Hence we hold that as the sale transfers to the purchaser that interest he may recover the tax from the land-owner. But the section of the Code above cited does not provide that the sale and deed shall operate to transfer to the purchaser the tax. And there is no statute to that effect. The tax was not, therefore, transferred to plaintiff by the deed and other proceeding. The sale and deed transferred no
This conclusion is in accord with Early v. Whittingham, 43 Iowa, 162. We are, therefore, of the opinion that plaintiff cannot, in this action, recover against defendants the amount of the taxes assessed against his personal property. Other questions discussed by counsel need not be considered as the points ruled herein are decisive of the case.
The courtvbelow should have dismissed plaintiff’s petition.
Reversed.