Haynes v. Heller

1. Tax-Deed; Description of Property Sold. Where a tax-deed showed that a single lot, fully and correctly described, was subject to taxation, and that for non-payment of taxes it was duly offered for sale, and that certain parties offered a stated amount, being the whole amount of taxes, penalty, and costs due on said lot, for property which was described by number, street and city, but without mentioning county or state, and further recited that said property was the least quantity bid for, and that payment having been made, the said property was struck off to them at that price, held, that the omission of the county and state in the last description was not fatal, but that the whole deed, taken together, disclosed with absolute certainty the property sold and conveyed. A substantial compliance with the statutory form of a tax-deed is sufficient. 2. Tax-Deet> ; Time md Place of Sale; Statutory Form. The deed must show upon its face the time at which the property was sold, or it will be void. The form prescribed by the law of 1862, where it speaks of the offer to purchase, reads thus: “And whereas at the time and place aforesaid,” etc. The omission of the words “time and” from that portion of a tax-deed is not a substantial departure from the statutory form, when the time of sale is plainly shown by other parts of the deed. 3. Constitutional Law; Ch. 198, Compiled Laws. The tax law of 1862 was, so far as any question in this .case is concerned, a valid enactment.

Error from Shawnee District Court. Ejectment, brought by Heller, against William M. Haynes and George W. Donnell, to recover the possession of “Lot 241, Kansas avenue, in the city of Topeka, Shawnee county.” It is admitted that Heller had a regular chain of title to said real estate from the government to himself. It is also admitted that Haynes and Donnell had a regular chain of title to said lot from one M. L. Johnson, who received from the county of Shawnee a tax-deed of and for said lot, issued under a tax-sale in 1864 for unpaid taxes of 1863, said deed being dated August 13th, 1866, and recorded on the 18th of said August. This suit was not commenced until more than two years thereafter; and Haynes and Donnell set up their tax-title, and the statutory bar, as a defense. The whole question therefore turns upon the validity of the tax-deed, and this includes the question of the validity of the statute under which the deed was issued. The action was tried at the December Term 1872, without a jury. The district court made separate findings of fact, and conclusions of law. The defects and omissions in the tax-deed, to which some of the findings of fact relate, are sufficiently stated in the opinion, infra. The statute under which the tax-deed was issued is ch. 198, Compiled Laws of 1862, pp. 874 to 881. Sec. 1 defines what the term “real property” shall include for the purposes of taxation ; § 2 designates what property shall be exempt from taxation, and contains eight clauses, dividing such exempt property, into as many different classes; § 10 prescribes the form of the tax-deed to be thereafter issued on tax-sales. This act purports to have been passed and approved March 6th, 1862. At that time all bills originated in the House, as provided by § 12 of art. 2 of the constitution.* Said ch. 198 is known in the House and Senate'Journals of 1862 as “Bill No. 30;” and in regal’d to the enactment thereof the district court made the following finding : Fifth: At the session of the legislature of the state of Kansas for the year 1862, on the final passage of Bill No. 30, entitled 'An act to amend an act to provide for the assessment and collection of taxes, approved February 27th, 1860/ the yeas and nays were taken in both houses, and entered on the journals thereof; and amendments having been made by the Senate to the bill as passed in the House, and the House refusing to concur in the same, a joint conference committee appointed by both houses made the following report, to-wit: Mr. Wilson from the committee of conference made the following report: Mr. Speaker: The Committee of Conference on Bill No. 30 have agreed to the following amendments to clauses 6 and 7, in section 2: In clause 6, strike out “500” and insert “200.” In clause 7, strike out all the clause, and insert the following: “Two horses, or two yoke of cattle, or one of each, two cows, ten sheep, ten hogs, and live stock under two years of age ‡ to the value of one hundred dollars.” Respectfully submitted, R. S. Stevens, J. M. Hubbard, Horatio Knowles, for the Senate. Davies Wilson, P. B. Plumb, H. W. Martin, J. C. Marshall, E. Gr. Jewell, for the House. And that the House Journal of and for that session shows that, “On motion, House adopted the report of the Committee, and the bill passed,” and does not show affirmatively that the yeas and nays were called and entered on the journal, or that a majority of all the members of the House voted for said bill as amended by the report of said committee, or voted thereon by yeas and nays.† As conclusions of law, the court found in favor of Heller, as follows: “1st, That the plaintiff is entitled to recover possession of the premises mentioned in the petition. “ 2d, That said tax-deed was not made and executed substantially in the form and manner required by law, and is therefore invalid.” New trial refused, and judgment in favor of the plaintiff. The defendants bring the case here on error. 1. All the points made by defendant in error against the validity of the tax-deed were decided by the court below in favor of plaintiffs in error, except this: “that said tax-deed was not made and executed substantially in the form and manner required by law.” The words, “time and,” were left out of the deed. The deed must be substantially according to the form; and this reduces the question to this point: Is the substance there, without the two words omitted? We think it is. What do we find in the deed? First, “The taxes assessed upon said real property for the year 1863 aforesaid remained due and unpaid at the date of the sale hereinafter mentioned.” There was a sale then. Second, “And whereas, the treasurer of said county did on the 3d day of May 1864, at the sale begun and publicly held on the first Tuesday of May 1864, expose fo public sale at the county-seat, * * * the real property,” etc. The sale was held May 3, 1864, at the county-seat. Third, “And whereas, at the place aforesaid, Winans & Whittaker, * * * having offered to pay $4.81, * * * and payment of said sum having been by them made to the said treasurer, the said property was stricken off to them at that price.” Now suppose the word “place” had also been left out, and what would we have: A public sale, May 3d 1864, at the county-seat; Winans & Whittaker bid, and paid; the property was stricken off to them. What stretch of the imagination can suppose that the bid and payment were at any other time than when the property was offered? It is a substantial statement of the whole case, without using the word time. It could have been at no other time. And of so little consequence has this been held by the legislature, that in the form, given by subsequent ones the word “time” is left out. If the tax-deed “shall he prima fade evidence of the regularity of all the proceedings, from the valuation of the land by the assessor, inclusive, up to the execution of the deed,” as the law says, then how can it be said that this offering (bid) was at another time, without showing it? (See Bowman v. Coolcrill, 6 Kas., 329, 330.) If this deed were any other than a tor-deed, would any lawyer think of claiming to any court that it is void because the word time is omitted? And yet there is no authority for any different rule of construction, but on the contrary this “statute of repose” will be favored. 2. But it is claimed by defendant in error that because the property is not particularly described in the granting clause of the deed, that it is therefore void on its face; because, if not thus rendered void on its face, the claim amounts to nothing. None of the forms prescribed by the laws of 1862,1866, or 1868, have in them a description of the property other than by reference to the preceding part of the deed. They are all alike, and the deed is a copy. It is competent for the legislature to prescribe the form of a deed, and when that form is followed it cannot be claimed successfully that it is void. The land is fully described in the deed in question here. 3. It is further urged that because the journal of the House of Representatives does not show that the yeas and nays were called, and the requisite number of members voted for the report of a conference committee on one section of the law of 1862 “to provide for the assessment and collection of taxes,” under which law these proceedings of sale were had, that the whole of said law is unconstitutional, and must so be declared by this court. And this claim is set up in the face of the admission that “the yeas and nays were taken in both houses and entered on the journals thereof” “on the final passage.” The constitution of the state requires that “ the yeas and nays shall be taken and entered immediately on the journal upon the final passage of every bill.” Nothing more. It is agreed that the journal shows this was done in this case. The record shows that, “On motion House adopted the report of the committee, and the bill passed.” This court will certainly presume that the report was adopted by the requisite number of votes; and we think reasonably may presume by calling the yeas and nays, if that was necessary, which we claim it was not. In Miller & Gibson v. The State, 3 Ohio St., 477, the court says, (page 481,) “If a strict literal compliance with every constitutional requirement however minute is necessary • to the validity of a law, and the courts are bound to hold that nothing was done but what appears in the legislative jowrnal, it is easy to demonstrate that not a single statute enacted since the constitution took effect can be upheld.” And in the same case it is decided that although the constitution requires that every bill shall be read on three different days, yet it does not require that every amendment to a bill shall be read three times. So here, the yeas and nays are to be called on the final passage of every bill, but not on adopting the report of a committee of conference. “Every reasonable intendment is to be made in favor of the proceeding of the legislature.” We claim on this point, first, that as the report was adopted, and bill passed, the presumption is that they were properly adopted and passed; second, that it was not necessary to call the yeas and nays on the report of a conference committee, nor was it then the custom as-will appear by the journal. In view of the consequences, the court will hesitate before they hold all such laws unconstitutional. If it was necessary to call -the yeas and nays, and for them to appear on the journal, only the particular section of the law under consideration by the committee, (§ 2,) could be in any wise affected; and as that particular section has nothing whatever to do with tax-sales, and tax-deeds, the law in these respects stands. “The validity of a law must be maintained unless a clear case be presented where it is palpably in contravention of the constitution.”. Oity of Atchison v. Bartholow, 4 Kas., 124. 1. The form of the statute is not substantially followed, in description of the property sold. Neither the county, nor the state, in which the lot is located, appears; and the court will not take notice how many cities there are of that name, nor which one might be meant, unless there were such words, coupled with the description, as would refer back to a prior and fuller description. It is true, that in this deed a good description of said lot is given, in reciting the property which was subject to taxation; but as no reference is made to it in the prescribed- form by such words as “said lot No. 241,” the statute required something more than that. It required a full, complete and correct description, inasmuch as in the granting-clause of the deed there is nó description except by reference, and direct reference is made to this description as being the property sold and conveyed. We ask the court to notice especially the language of the statute, “ (here follows the description of the property sold.) ” But it may be claimed that the court should construe all parts of the deed together, as in a conveyance from A. to B., and gather a sufficient description from the whole; but such is not according to authority: Blackw. Tax Titles, 124, 125-; 14 Gal., 131; 23 Wis., 104; 22 Wis., 170; 20 Ohio, 564; 2 Comst., 66; 10 Minn., 79. “If the description by the officer be not so certain and complete as not to require the aid of extrinsic evidence, his deed is held to be void.” 23 Texas, 45; 13 Johns., 96; Blackwell, 123,156, 381; 2 Ham., 287; 13 How., 23. 2. The statutory form reads, “and whereas, at the time and place aforesaid,” etc., referring to the sale. The recitals in the tax-deed previous merely state, that on a certain day and place, the said lot was exposed to public sale, and in leaving out the word “ time,” the most important word' in the tax-deed is omitted, and the date of the sale left blank. If the deed does' not show when the lot was sold, how can it be told when the time of redemption has expired? and whether or not the sale took place- at the time prescribed by law? This deed does not show when the money was offered, nor when the property was stricken off. The words “time and place” were not repetitions, but were necessary and essential under the statute.' (1 Gilm., 26; Blackwell, 368.) The cases are numerous where strict compliance with prescribed forms has been held to be necessary to the validity of tax-deeds: 15 Wis., 446; 18 Wis., 321; 15 Ark., 185; 18 Mo., 580; 36 Mo., 115. 3. What purports to be an act of the legislature entitled “An act to amend an act to provide for the assessment and collection of taxes, approved February 27, 1860,” and approved March 6, 1862, is null and void, because not passed in accordance with §§10 and 13 of article 2 of the constitution of this state. The house journal of that session not showing that, on the final passage of said act as amended, after the report of the joint committee, the yeas and nays were called and entered on the journal, or that a majority of all the members of the house voted for said bill as amended, the said act approved March 6th, 1862, is a nullity. The entering of the yeas and nays on the journal is imperative. Nothing is law simply because the legislature will that it shall be, unless they have expressed their determination to that effect in the mode pointed out by the constitution, which invests them with the power, and under all the forms which that instrument has rendered essential: Cooley’s Const. Lim., 130 to 140; 14 111., 297; 25 111., 183; 2 Minn., 331; 4 Hill, 384; 1 Denio, 9; 13 Mich., 481, 492. The act of March 6th 1862, being then a nullity, the act of February 27th 1860, is the law governing the proceedings of the tax-sale under which the plaintiffs in error claim, and which statute of 1860 gave three years in which to redeem. The said tax-deed is then void by reason of being executed too soon. 21 Cal., 392; 19 Mo., 331; 33 Cal., 668; 10 Mich., 486; 15 Minn., 252; 2 Kernan, 541.