Norris v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad

Citations

• 218 Pa. 88
• 66 A. 1122
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 459

Syllabus

<p>Tax sales — Collector’s return — Assessments—Notice—Identification of property.</p> <p>In order to give a purchaser at a tax sale a good title the provisions of the statutory law regulating the subject must be complied with. The right to make a sale of real estate for unpaid taxes is wholly statutory and hence the necessity in order to give validity'to the sale that the provisions of the statute be observed. The several steps resulting in the sale are the assessment of the property, a return by the collector to the county commissioners when the taxes are not paid, and an advertisement and sale by the treasurer. These several steps must be taken and in the manner pointed out in the statute, if the title of the real owner is to be divested and vested in the purchaser by a tax sale. The assessment, the return by the collector, and the conveyance by the treasurer should sufficiently identify the property so that the record will identify and disclose the property taxed and sold.</p> <p>The description of the land in the return of the collector should also be definite; and sufficiently so to enable the owner and also the officer and the public to identify and determine from the return the exact property which is delinquent and hable to sale. The owner should have an opportunity to pay the taxes or redeem the land after it has been sold within the time permitted by the statute, but this right will be denied him if by reason of an insufficient description the return fails to disclose the location of the property an'd hence its ownership. It is not the intention of the law, even in cases of tax sales, that an owner shall be deprived of his property by failure to perform a duty imposed by that law, unless he has notice of an opportunity to discharge the duty.</p>