37 Fla. 457 | Fla. | 1896
The gist of the controversy made by the parties in this case is as to which takes precedence, the deed of W. R. Sanders to the plaintiff, or the tax deed of same
The statute under which the certificate in question issued provides that the same may be assigned by the person to whom the same was issued by merely writing his name on the back thereof. Section 52, pp. 35, 36 acts of 1883, Chapter 3413 laws of Florida.. The fact that more was done than the statute required for that purpose, connected with the amount recited to have been paid, viz: $50, indicates very clearly an intention to do something more than to merely assign the certificate. The consideration recited also impels us to the same conclusion. The tax certificate amounted to only $8.33, and which could have been redeemed at any time within a year of the sale, or nearly eleven months from the date of the alleged assignment, by paying interest at the rate of 25 per cent, per annum. The present value of the certificate at the time of the conveyance was less than $9. The deed purported to convey the land. It vested in Sanders and Waller all the right, claim and demand of W. R.
We do not think that the deed written upon the back of the certificate of 1886 was such an assignment of it as the statute contemplated, or that a tax deed could lawfully issue upon the same. Not only is there a failure to make such an assignment of the certificate .as is contemplated by the statute, but by the deed from one holding a prima facie title as well as the certificate, and transferring all his “right, title, interest, claim and demand to the land,” the claim or demand arising from the tax certificate became merged in the conveyance of the general title, and became but the evidence of the payment of taxes, and no valid tax deed could thereafter be issued thereon. Bennett vs. Keehn, 57 Wis. 582, 15 N. W. Rep. 776. The tax deed itself shows that it was based upon a purchase, and not an assignment of the certificate. The form used would have been sufficient if the land had been bid off by the collector for the State and the transfer of the certificate had been from the Comptroller, because the title of the State would have been complete without the execution of a deed upon the certificate. Section 62 Revenue Acts of 1883, p.. 39, Chapter 3413. The right of a private purchaser under a tax sale is different. To enable any other person than such purchaser at the sale to take a deed upon such purchase there must be an assignment of the certificate, and the fact of such assignment should be stated in the tax -deed. Construing the recitation in the tax deed with the terms of the deed endorsed upon the tax certifi
The judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed.