174 Ind. 638 | Ind. | 1910
Suit by appellee to quiet his title to the lands described in the complaint. The pleadings set up the following facts: On February 12, 1900, the land in question was sold by the treasurer of Madison county for delinquent taxes. There was no redemption from the sale. Appellant Sansberry acquired the certificate of sale by proper assignment and held it without making any return thereof to the auditor, and without making any demand, or receiving any deed thereon until February 26, 1906. These facts present the only question involved in this appeal, namely: Was said appellant’s right to a deed, six years after the sale, barred by limitation? Three years after the sale of the land, to wit, on March 9, 1903, an act was approved containing the following provision:
“In all cases where lands have been or may hereafter be sold for delinquent taxes, penalty, interest and costs and a certificate of purchase has been or may hereafter be issued, as is now provided by law, it is hereby made the duty of such purchaser, his heirs or assigns, to cause a deed to be executed and placed on record in the proper county within four years from the date of said sale: provided, that on failure of said purchaser, his heirs or assigns so to do, then and in that case the amount due such purchaser shall cease to be a lien on said lands so purchased as herein provided and as is now provided by law.” §10359 Burns 1908, Acts 1903 p. 230, §3.
Appellant Sansberry urges that his case does not come within the statute, because at the time of the sale there was no such statute, and no limitation to his right to a deed upon failure of the owner to redeem, his insistence being that the certificate of purchase vested in him the right to the perpetual lien of the State until the tax was actually paid by the debtor, and which lien was transferred to him by the State with all the rights incident thereto under the law as it existed at the time of the transfer. In other words, he claims that an abridgement of his
Judgment affirmed.