9 S.D. 234 | S.D. | 1896
Upon a claim of fee-simple ownership, with an offer to pay as a condition of relief, all proper taxes, penalties, costs and expenses paid or incurred by the defendant, plaintiffs brought this equitable action to set aside a tax deed and quiet the title to certain real property described and designated as the “Santa Pe Lode Mining Claim, Lot No. 402,” which consists of 8.80 acres, situated in Nevada Gulch, White-wood mining district, Lawrence county, of this state, on the slope of Green Mountain, 3-¡- miles from Juead City, a regularly platted, unincorporated village and voting precinct, containing at the time to which this action relates about 1,50,0 inhabitants.’ Prom a decree in favor of defendant, plaintiffs appeal'to this court.
As affecting the ground work of the assessment and taxation, counsel for appellants urge in the court below, and here rely upon, certain irregularities and omissions on the part of the taxing officers, which, they contend, are sufficient to impeach and defeat the sale. The facts, all of which are undisputed, will be considered, so far as essential, in connection with legislative enactments, specifying and defining the steps to be
Although from the county treasurer’s receipt for the taxes of 1886 the property in question appears to have been returned as “Santa Fe Lode, Lot 402,” without any designation as to a section, township, range, village, lot, or block, a determination of the sufficiency of that description is not essential to this appeal, and the point is mentioned merely to show a misleading diversity in the method of identification. Section 1544 of the Compiled Laws provides that “* * * the list of taxable property assessed to each person shall contain: (1) His lands by township, range and section, and any division or part of a section or numbered fractional lot of any section lying in the county in which the list is required. And when such parcel of land is not a congressional division or subdivision, it shall be
From a cursory examination of the agreed statement of facts, it will be noticed that no intelligible description of the property appears in any proceedings subsequent to the listing thereof for taxation, but all references thereto are confusing, misleading, and deceptive. Public officers authorized to take land, in which they have no interest, and, without the owner’s consent, convey the same to strangers, must substantially pursue the statute from which such authority is derived, and a description thereof in any tax proceeding, sufficiently erroneous to render the exercise of ordinary diligence on the part of the owner ineffectual to prevent a divestment of title, because he is unable to 'ascertain what was intended by what has been done, should not receive judicial sanction. Tallman v. White, 2 N. Y. 66; Bird v. Benlisa, 142 U. S. 664, 12 Sup. Ct. 323; Lachman v. Clark, 14 Cal. 131; Curtis v. Board, 22 Wis. 167; Murphy v. Hall, (Wis.) 31 N. W. 754.
In addition to the foregoing fatal irregularities in the description of the property, counsel for appellants confident rely upon certain alleged “defects in the assessor’s return, the failure to make it in time, the failure of the board of equalization to meet, the excessive levies, the defective advertisement, the error in computation of interest and penalty, the charge of 5 per cent commission and 50 cents for certificate, the making of a new description in the tax deed, the taking of a deed without notice, and the entry of judgment for defendant.” But the view we have taken renders unnecessary a consideration of assignments of error pertaining to the foregoing points. The mandatory requirements of the statute, wisely designed to guard the interest of the taxpayer, have not been observed by the