Boagni v. Pacific Imp. Co.

Citations

• 111 La. 1063
• 36 So. 129
• 1904 La. LEXIS 597

Syllabus

<p>TAX SALE—VALIDITY—PRESCRIPTION—ASSESSMENT—POSSESSION—PRESUMPTIONS—IN-NOCENT THIRD PARTY.</p> <p>1. A tax sale of property in the year 1869, under which the buyer never claimed possession, paid no taxes since, and laid no claim to the property prior to the year 1902, is null, because of illegalities shown in defense, against plaintiff’s petition to be recognized as owner.</p> <p>(a) The taxes for which the property was sold were assessed in the years 1854 and 1855.</p> <p>The lien and privilege were prescribed as against an innocent third person, who had become «the owner after the assessment and prior to th,e sale. Section 43, Act No. 346, p. 512, of 1855.</p> <p>(b) The property was not assessed in the name of the owner. The court infers from the testimony that the owner was dead, in whose name the property was assessed.</p> <p>I 2. The plaintiff not having gone into possession, and the defendant having shown possession at one time in the history of the title, the presumption is that that possession continued in defendant or its authors to date of suit.</p> <p>3. The land is low, wet, and wild land, not inclosed, and, as a body, unfit for cultivation.</p> <p>Many years ago the owner of the title now in defendant had the land surveyed, established the boundaries, cut firewood thereon, and warned trespassers not to commit further trespass. He exercised the right of. an owner in possession.</p> <p>4. The chain of defendant’s title goes back to 1806. The first act was sous seing prive, and originally not binding on third persons.</p> <p>Subsequent acts had the effect of recognizing the first act.</p> <p>5. The second act of transfer was in notarial form. The heirs declared in the act that they were the heirs of the original owners. The declaration is not sustained by proof aliunde.</p> <p>The many years that have elapsed must give rise to some presumption that the declaration of these heirs is in accordance with the facts.</p> <p>6. Over 10 years prior to suit, the