Iberia Cypress Co. v. Thorgeson

Citations

• 116 La. 218
• 40 So. 682
• 1906 La. LEXIS 489

Syllabus

<p>1. Taxation — Tax Deeds — Evidence ox-Sale.</p> <p>A duly recorded tax deed to the state,, made pursuant to section 53 of Act No. 85, p.</p> <p>130, of 1888, and showing on its face the observance of all the formalities prescribed by the statute, must, under constitutional provisions, be received as evidence establishing-a prima facie valid sale.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 45,. Cent. Dig. Taxation, §§ 1555-1559.]</p> <p>•2. Same—Sale—1Title Acquired.</p> <p>A tax sale to the state, made pursuant to law for taxes due on an assessment against the owner of a tract of land, who does not redeem within the year, necessarily vests the legal title to the property in the state.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 45, Cent. Dig. Taxation, § 1463.]</p> <p>.3. Same — Validity of Sale — Burden of Proof.</p> <p>Where, in such a case, plaintiff in an ac.tion of trespass derives his title from the state, and the defendant asserts title from the alleged widow and heirs of the tax debtor, and assails the tax sale on the ground that the assessment was null because made in the name ■ of a dead man, held, that the burden of proof was on the defendant to show the death of the tax debtor prior to the time of the assessment.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 45, Cent. Dig. Taxation, §§ 1565, 1606.]</p> <p>■4. Death—Evidence—Hearsay.</p> <p>The testimony of a single witness to the ■effect that the tax debtor left the state in 1883, .and that the witness heard that the absentee was drowned during the same year by the sinking of a “swamp boat,” is purely hearsay, and therefore insufficient to establish the fact of death prior to the assessment in the year 1890.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 15, Cent. Dig'. Death, §§ 5, 6.]</p> <p>.5. Evidence — Presumptions — Failure to Call Witnesses.</p> <p>Where the wife and the sons of the tax debt- or were living in the parish where the trial was had, and were not called as witnesses by the