15 Kan. 290 | Kan. | 1875
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action for the recovery of certain real property, to-wit, Lot 2, in Block 2, in the city of Atchison. In this opinion we shall speak of the plaintiffs, and those under whom they claim, as the “ plaintiff,” and the defendants, and those under whom they claim, as the “defendant,” and shall not mention particularly each separate person. The plaintiff was the original owner of the lot in controversy. The defendant holds the same under a tax-
“Sec. 117. If the holder of a tax-deed, or any one claiming under him by virtue of such tax-deed, be defeated in an action by or against him for the recoyery of the land sold, the successful claimant shall be adjudged to pay to the holder of the tax-deed, or the party claiming under him by virtue of such deed, before such claimant shall be let intp possession, the full amount of taxes paid on such lands, with all interest and costs as allowed by law, up to the date of said tax-deed, including the costs of such deed and the recording of the same, with interest on such amount at the rate of twenty per cent, per annum, and the further amount of taxes paid after the date of such deed, and interest thereon at the rate of twenty-five per cent, per annum.”
This statute was enacted in the interest of equity and justice, and its provisions should be so construed as to promote justice. It is wholly unlike that class of statutes which attempts to give the land of one person to another for an inconsiderable sum. The former is liberally construed, the latter is strictly construed. The former was enacted for just such cases as the one at bar. It was enacted for void tax-deeds, and not for valid tax-deeds. A person holding under a valid tax-deed has no need of such a statute. Only persons holding under void tax-deeds need such a statute. The laws under whose provisions tax titles are created are usually construed strictly, and therefore, we hold that the tax-deed in this case is void. But laws enacted for the purpose of enforcing, in a fair and reasonable manner, the delinquent members of society to discharge that moral obligation resting upon them as well as upon others to bear their proportionate share of the public burdens, are always construed liberally, so as to promote their object, and therefore we hold that before the plaintiff can recover his. property he must pay to the defendant the taxes which he ought to have paid a long time ago to the public officers, and which the defendant has
The judgment of the court below is affirmed.