13 Vt. 609 | Vt. | 1841
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The inquiry in this case is, whether the plaintiff acquired any title to the premises sued for, under the deed to James Whitelaw from David Hibbard as sheriff and collector of the tax of one cent on each acre of land in this state, granted in the year 1812. This is the only inquiry in this case, as the deed from William Hughes to Whitelaw, under another tax, was not in evidence, but rejected by the court.
The grounds upon which the court proceed, in deciding
The statute, laying this tax in 1812, appears to have been copied from a previous one in 1807. Having had experience in this state, at that time, that vendues, even by sheriffs, were not always conducted fairly, that the written proceedings, or records, by them kept, were mutilated, altered and suppressed, and it being, at that time, considered that a sheriff’s deed was prima facie evidence of the previous proceedings, and the regularity thereof, the legislature provided, in the act in question, as well as the previous one, not only that the sheriff and the several collectors should keep a record of their proceedings, but, within thirty days next after the ending of their vendues, should lodge a true and attested copy of
In the case before us, the sheriff left no true and attested copy of his sales with the clerk, and even if it should be considered that leaving the original sales, attested by him, could be considered as leaving an attested copy of his sales, which, however, is not admitted, yet, it is evident they never were recorded, but were taken back by him, before the county clerk for the county of Essex had ever recorded them, as required by the statute. The proceedings were never enrolled and transcribed into the public records of the county by, or under the direction of, the county clerk, and we are without any evidence, at this day, that either French, the then county clerk, or his successors, have ever examined the books, and compared the record, so as to be able to certify that they were truly transcribed. It appears that the county clerk, soon after receiving from Hibbard his original sales, went into the army and died. The deputy jailer, and a prisoner in jail, did all that ever was done towards transcribing these sales into the public records ; they were never examined, compared, nor certified by any competent authority, and the originals were handed back to Hibbard, at the jail. To
p0,. these reasons, we think a just regard to the previous decisions of this court requires us to say that this sale was inoperative, and that the deed from Hibbard conveyed no title.
These views were entertained by the court at the last term. We omitted to make the decision, on an intimation that the circuit court for this district had decided differently, and a just regard to the opinions of that able and enlightened court induced us to hold the case under consideration. But we cannot learn distinctly that this question has been decided by them. In the case of Tucker v. Sherman, before that court, the plaintiff made title under four vendues. If either were good, it was sufficient for his purpose in that case. Which of the several vendues were decided to be sufficient to establish his title, does not appear by the case, nor have we been able to ascertain whether this sale by Hibbard was considered as valid or not. We, therefore, do not think it important to retain this case any longer, as we are convinced that it would conflict with all'our decisions previously made, and set up titles which have not been considered as of any avail. The judgment of the county court is reversed.