12 Mo. App. 228 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1882
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the court.
This was a motion to set aside a sale made under execution issued upon a judgment in the above entitled cause, for back taxes. The motion, on hearing, was overruled.
The petition in the original proceeding was filed on September 3, 1879. Eleven defendants were charged as owners, of whom two are married women, whose husbands are made defendants. The petition is in the form usual in such cases, and seems to be sufficient. The property is said to be in the city of St. Louis, and is further described as follows: —
“No. 1. Lots 4, 5, 6, 7, iu city block of Bisley Addition, fronting twenty feet on Second Street, by one hundred and eight and five-twelfths feet deep. No. 2, lot 8, in same block, fronting twenty and seven-twelfths feet on Second Street, by one hundred and eight and five-twelfths feet deep. No. 3, lots 9, 10, 11, 12, in same block, fronting nineteen feet on Bisley Street, bjr a depth of eighty-five and three-twelfths feet. No. 4, lot 13, and the south part*230 of lot 14, in same block, fronting twenty-six and six-twelfths feet on Risley Street, by eighty-five and three-twelfths feet deep.”
The claim is for back taxes of 1877, and is set out as follows: “In the aggregate, upon each of said lots or tracts described herein, as follows: Upon said real estate numbered 1, $302.40, — that is to say, $25 upon each of lots numbered 4, 5, and 6, and $226.80 upon lot numbered 6 ; and upon said real estate numbered 2, $26.04 ; and upon said real estate numbered 3, $49.28, — that is to say, $12.32 upon each of said lots ; and upon said real estate numbered 4, $17.08.”
Three of the defendants were personally served. One was served by copy; and as to the remaining defendants who were not found, there was an order of publication, which was duly complied with. This order and advertisement described the property as it was described in the petition. All the defendants made default; and, at the October term, 1880, there was judgment in favor of the plaintiff.
This form of the decree is as follows : The court finds that there is due upon the real estate (describing it as described in the petition) state, school, and city taxes for 1877 ; “ and that the amount of said taxes and interest is as follows, to wit: On each of said lots numbered 4 and 5, in paragraph numbered one herein, the sum of $33.75.” There is, then, a separate finding as to taxes against each lot in each paragraph, and that defendants are the owners thereof; and then, consideratum est, etc., “ that the sum of $33.76 be levied out of each of said lots 4 and 5, as described in paragraph number one herein, being the amount of said back taxes, and interest thereon from January 1, 1878, at one per centum per month ; ” and so on, a separate judgment being rendered against each lot in each paragraph. The decree then declares the judgment a first lien in favor of the state upon said real estate, and orders that
Execution was issued on February 10,1881, in accordance with the judgment. The property was duly advertised for sale in accordance with the description in the petition, decree, and execution, and was sold on March 15,1881, to Zachariah T. Yarnall. The property was sold in separate lots. Lot 4, for $170 ; lot 5, $175 ; lot 6, $660 lot 7, $220 ; lot 8, $90 ; lot 9, $175 , lot 10, $115 ; lot 11, $110 ; lot 12, $105 ; lot 13, and south part of lot 14, $180, — making a total of $2,000. The total amount for which judgment had been rendered being $529.01.
This execution was returnable to the April term ; and, on the fourth day of June of that term, the motion was filed to set aside the sale, by defendants Gazzam, Cochrane, and Phoebe Hunt, together with her husband, and Horner, her trustee, and by Muldoon and Sharpe, who were not defendants, but who claimed to be the parties in possession of the property.
The grounds alleged in. the motion are, that judgment and execution are irregular, illegal, and void; that the sheriff sold more property than he advertised, and more than the special judgment authorized, and that he sold without legal notice ; that no demand of payment was made before the levy; that the propei'ty was sacrificed for $2,000, whereas it was worth $40,000 ; and that ther whole property constituted one common improvement, to wit, a packing and slaughter-house ; and that defendants offer to pay to the purchaser his bid, and all interest and charges.
On the hearing of the motion no testimony was offered on the part of the purchaser. The only witness examined in
An affidavit of Muldoon was offered, with an accompanying diagram. This affidavit is to the effect that the ten lots form a common improvement, used as a pork-packing house and hog run, the northern twelve feet being vacant; and that the improvements are two stories high, and worth $10,000. No one demanded the taxes of affiant or his firm. A lease from Mrs. Hunt’s trustee to Muldoon and Sharpe
The sale was a judicial sale, and entitled to all the presumptions attaching to such sales. Wellshear v. Kelly, 69 Mo. 343. There was no request to subdivide. Nor does it appear that further subdivision was practicable. The neglect of the sheriff to sell the land by its smallest subdivisions would not invalidate the sale. It is unnecessary to encumber this opinion' by repeating at length what has so recently been said by this court as to such sales. Sheehan v. Stackhouse, 10 Mo. App. 469; Brown v. Walker, 11 Mo. App. 226; Howard v. Stevenson, 11 Mo. App. 410. We may remark, however, in passing, that counsel for appellant has entirely misapprehended the case of Brown v. Walker. It is not held or said in that case, as counsel suggests in his brief, that on a judgment against two vacant lots, each of which is liable for only a part of the tax, both may be legally sold together : a single judgment against both the lots is, in that opinion, distinctly declared to be erroneous. It is held only, that the objection does not go to the jurisdiction, and that the fact cannot be shown in a proceeding in ejectment, by oral evidence, for the purpose of impeaching the judgment in the back-tax proceeding, and that the sheriff’s deed is not invalidated by mere irregularities in the proceedings in the suit that led to the sale.
We notice the vehemence of language with which counsel for appellant, in his brief and in other briefs in cases arising upon tax-sales, expresses his strong dissent from the views expressed and the results arrived at in these cases by this court and by the supreme court; but we find nothing in what is said in these cases that seems to warrant the con
And there seems to be nothing in the peculiar circumstances of the present case which makes it a glaring instance of abuse of power on the part of the government which, surely, may adopt effectual means to collect its revenue.
The owners of the property sold, had proper notice. Some of them were personally served. No one of them seems to have thought it expedient to redeem the property whilst it might have been redeemed. None of them appear to have attended the sale. The present proceeding was instituted in the trial court only by Mrs. Hunt and her husband and trustee, and two of the non-resident defendants ; whilst the only parties moving to set aside the sale who are represented by counsel here are Muldoon and Sharpe, who are merely lessees of Mrs. Hunt. The price paid was probably inadequate; but that is not alone sufficient ground for setting aside a judicial sale. There seems to be nothing in the contention that the description of the lots in the execution was such as would induce the belief that the sheriff would offer the lots in groups. They were grouped together evidently for facility of description alone.
The decree, which is followed in the advertisement and
The property was assessed under the revenue law of 1872, which provides (Wag. Stats. 1167, sect. 49) that all lots in cities shall be arranged according to the number of the lot; that (sect. 54) each town lot shall be assessed separately in the manner (sect. 75) provided by the general provisions of the law. The law of 1872 further provided, (Acts 1872, p. 124, sect. 203), — and the same provision was in force at the time of this sale, — that “ each tract of land or lot shall be chargeable with its own taxes, no matter who is the owner nor in whose name it was assessed or advertised.”
The statute further provides (Acts 1877, p. 386, sect. 7 ; Bev. Stats., sect. 6836), that, “the judgment, if against the defendant, shall describe the land upon which taxes are found to be due ; shall state the amount of taxes and interest found to be due upon each tract or lot, and the year, or years, for which the same are due, up to the rendition thereof, and shall decree that the lien of the state shall be enforced, and that the real estate, or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy such judgment, interest, and costs, be sold, and a special fieri facias shall be issued thereon, which shall be executed as in other cases of special judgment and execution, and said judgment shall be a first lien upon said land.” In other cases of special execution, the sheriff is directed “ to divide the property, if susceptible of division, and to sell so much thereof as will be sufficient to satisfy the execution, unless the defendant in the
It is, however, earnestly contended that, inasmuch as the sale of the three lots first offered brought enough to pay all the back taxes found to be due upon all the ten lots, when the sheriff had this money in his hands, the sale should have been stopped.
We need not now inquire whether where several lots belonging to joint defendants are offered for sale under a judgment for taxes, if one or two lots bring the amount due upon the whole series, the sheriff is bound, at the request of any one of the defendants, or of all of them, to stop the sale. That is not the question presented by this record. The question that we are to consider is this: Whether, in a proceeding to sell property under a judgment for back taxes, naming the several defendants as joint owners, if no one represents any defendant at the sale, and no application is made to the sheriff or to the collector in the matter, the sheriff must stop the sale when any number of lots sold has brought the total amount chargeable against the series; and whether, if this is not done, this is such an irregularity as ought to avoid the sale, and deprive the purchaser of his bargain, and put the state to another sale to collect its taxes, on application made at the return term of the writ by one of the several defendants beneficially interested in the property? And we think that this question must be answered in the negative.
It is true that it is held that a sale by a collector is of no validity if the taxes were in fact paid ; that a distress must not be excessive, and that a collector is liable in trespass if he sell upon his warrant a greater number of chattels
Dissenting Opinion
delivered a dissenting opinion.
I cannot agree with the opinion which has been delivered by my learned brethren in this case. It appears that when the sheriff had sold three of the lots he had secured sufficient money to pay the taxes, costs, and charges assessed against the owners in respect of all the lots. I think, then, that he had no power to proceed further with the sale without the consent of the tax-debtors. I think this for two reasons : 1. I do not think that the terms of the back-tax law, fairly construed, and taken in connection with the other provisions of the law relating to the collection of taxes, authorize this. 2. If the law does authorize it, then I think that in so far as it authorizes it, it is unconstitutional.
1. With reference to the first question, we have decided that a tax under the existing laws of this state is not merely a charge in rem (Gritchell v. Kreidler, No. 2318 Mo. App.
2. But if the statute, as framed, does not admit of such a proceeding, — if, after the sheriff has sold enough of the debtor’s property to pay all the taxes, costs, and charges, for'which the judgment has been rendered, — the law still obliges the sheriff to proceed with the sale, no matter at how great a sacrifice of the property of the tax-debtor, till every lot has been sold against which the tax is a lien, — then I am of opinion that in so far as it has this operation, it is unconstitutional and void. It may not be possible to point to any provision in the constitution of this state which prohibits such a proceeding in terms. The framers of the constitution could not have foreseen that the legislature would ever attempt to authorize a proceeding by which the officers of the state could sell to A. an unlimited amount of property belonging to B., for a price however small, under the pretence of collecting the state’s revenue, when the state’s officer already had in his hands enough money of the propperty-owner to satisfy its demand for revenue. A general provision was placed in that instrument denunciatory of
As this power cannot be exercised except for the purpose of raising revenue for public purposes, neither can it be exercised except so far as is necessary to raise such revenue. When the state, through its officer, has sold so much of the debtor’s property as is necessary to satisfy its revenue and the costs of collecting it, its power is exhausted. If, thereafter, it sells more, it commits an act of wanton despotism,'such as cannot be tolerated in a free government, and such as the legislature cannot be presumed to have intended to authorize. I coincide with the doctrine upon this subject expressed by the court of appeals of Virginia, that the power of the legislature to provide for the sale of land for the payment of taxes is limited to that object, and that a law which requires that the whole of the tax-debtor’s land shall be sold in all cases, without regard to the fact that it may be divided without injury to it, and that the tax may be paid by the sale of a part of it, is unconstitutional. Martin v. Snowden, 18 Gratt. 100; Downey v. Nutt, 19 Gratt. 59. It has been said that, in the absence of any statute limiting the officer’s right to sell, to so much as would be requisite to pay the taxes and charges, a restriction to this extent would be intended by law. O’Brien v. Coulter, 2 Blackf. 21. Commenting upon this decision, Mr. Justice Cooley, in his work on Taxation, says : “ Whether this is so or not is, perhaps, not very material, as it is not for a moment to be supposed that any statute would be adopted without this or some equivalent provision for the owner’s benefit. And such a provision must be
I think this just and salutary principle ought to have governed the sale in this case. I do not think the legislature of this state ever intended that it should be departed from in the sale of land for taxes. I think this is implied in the plainest terms in the language of the section of the statute under which the sheriff proceeded in making this sale. It provides that “the judgment shall state the amount of taxes and interest found to be due upon each tract or lot, and the year or years for which the same are due, up to the rendition thereof, and shall decree that the lien of the state shall be enforced, and that the real estate, or so'much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy such judgment, interest, and costs, be sold, and a special fieri facias shall be issued thereon, which shall be executed as in other cases of special judgment and execution.” Rev. Stats., sect. 6838. The provision of the Revised Statutes relating to the sale of land under execution in the case of private judgments, recites that “ when an execution shall be levied upon real estate, the officer levying the same shall divide such property, if susceptible of division, and sell so much thereof as will be sufficient to satisfy such execution, unless the defendant in the execution shall desire the whole of any tract or lot of land to be sold together, in which case it shall be sold accordingly.” Rev. Stats., sect. 2368. I am clear that it never was contemplated by the legislature of this state, in authorizing any sale of land under execution, that more should be sold than, reasonably subdivided, should be found necessary to satisfy the execution. And I think it clear, whether regard be had for obvious principles of right, or for the meaning of the statutes above
I am not insensible of the difficulties which surround this question, nor do I seek to undervalue the reasons which have induced my learned brethren, after the very earnest attention which they have given to the subject, to come to the conclusion expressed in the opinion of the court. But are not these reasons reasons of inconvenience merely? And must such considerations outweigh the most important rights ? In this case it seems that the lots which were sold after the sale of the first three were worth many times the value for which they were sold. In substance and effect, not a dollar of the money thus raised will go to swell the public revenue. The sale of the first three lots having provided sufficient money to pay the taxes, costs, and charges accruiug on account of the whole property, all the money raised by the sale of the remaining lots must, under the terms of the statute, be handed over to the tax-debtor. It presents, then, to my mind, the simple case of a proceeding by which an officer of the state capriciously sells the property of one citizen to another citizen and hands the entire proceeds of the sale over to the former. That the proceeds of the sale are not more than one-tenth of the real value of the property, is not the mere fact in which consists the outrage. It would be scarcely less an outrage upon private right, if the property sold for the full value or for double its value. The citizen has a right to say whether he will keep his property or suffer it to be sold. It may be sold, perhaps entirely appropriated for the purposes of the pub-
I therefore think that we ought to reverse the judgment of the circuit court and remand the cause with directions to set aside the sale of all the lots except the first three. The collector could then proceed, under the power of distraint which he possesses, to appropriate the money in the sheriff’s hands to the payment of the tax; and, if necessary, the court could aid him in the exercise of this power.
The judgment in this ease was afterwards set aside. — Rep.