Gamble v. Central Pennsylvania Lumber Co.

Citations

• 225 Pa. 288
• 74 A. 69
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 650

Syllabus

<p>Tax sale — Sale by county commissioners — Assessments—Land law.</p> <p>1. A sale of unseated lands by the county commissioners for nonpayment of taxes is valid, although the township assessor has made no return of assessment of such lands. The county commissioners as a board of revision are themselves competent to assess the tax.</p> <p>2. Where a person in good faith purchases a tract of land from county commissioners which the commissioners had bought in at a tax sale, and there is nothing of record to show that the commissioners had ever done anything to impair or abandon their title, the former owners of the land cannot allege as against such purchaser that the commissioners had continued to collect taxes from the land after the sale, thereby abandoning their title.</p> <p>3. Where an assessor returns an assessment on a tract of unseated land in his own township, the county commissioners have a right to levy a tax on such land and collect it, although the return may have improperly located the land. The commissioners axe not called upon to satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of the return.</p> <p>4. Where taxes are paid on a portion of an unseated tract of land, and the remainder is sold for nonpayment of taxes, and the county commissioners buy it in at the sale, and thereafter sell it to another person, the purchaser of the tax title, if there has been no previous apportionment of the land, has the right to locate his purchase upon such part of the whole tract as he may choose.</p>