Lawrence v. Defenbach

Citations

• 23 Idaho 78
• 128 P. 81
• 1912 Ida. LEXIS 85

Syllabus

<p>Tax Sale — Deed—Redemption—Construction or Statute.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the court.)</p> <p>1. Sec. 1763, Rev. Codes, as amended, by Special Sess. Laws 1912, p. 43, requires the purchaser at tax sale, or the assignee thereof, to serve or cause to be served a written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, notice of such purchase to every person in actual possession or oceupaney of such land or lot, and also the person in whose name the same stands upon the records in the recorder’s office, if upon diligent inquiry he can be found in the state, at least three months and not more than five months before the expiration of the time of redemption on such sale.</p> <p>2. Held, in this ease that sec. 1763, Rev. Codes, as amended by Special Sess. Laws 1912, p. 43, was not intended to apply to the execution of a tax deed to lands sold for delinquent taxes, where the sale had been made and the time for redemption has expired, and the purchaser was entitled to an absolute deed under the statute at the time such act became a law.</p> <p>3. The general rule and principle which should apply in this case is that all statutes are to be so construed, if possible, as to be valid, and requires that the statute shall never be given a retrospective operation, when to do so would render it unconstitutional, and the words of the statute admit of any other construction.</p>