Paul v. Fries

Citations

• 18 Fla. 573

Syllabus

<p>1. When several tax deeds upon the same property are held by the same party as grantee, and the eldest is good to vest title in him, the subsequent deeds are merely evidence of the payment of taxes, and give him no title, as he already had it.</p> <p>2. A paper purporting to be a. tax deed is not executed within the meaning of the statute so as to couvey the property, unless it is attested by subscribing witnesses (under the revenue law of 1874).</p> <p>3. Where in ejectment a tax deed not executed so as to convey the land is given in evidence without objection, and no point is made either in the Circuit Court or on appeal that the deed is invalid in that respect, yet this court cannot permit such deed to have operation as a conveyance and give it effect by our silence.</p> <p>4. If the plaintiff has not a legal title at the time of commencement of his suit in ejectment, he cannot recover. An equitable interest ripening into a legal title, after suit brought, cannot have relation to the.former equitable interest so as to give a right of possession at the inception of the suit. And so a tax deed executed on the day of trial cannot be given effect in favor of the plaintiff, although he might have held the certificate of sale and might 'have had a deed before suit. The rule is otherwise as to a defendant who sets up such title to. defeat the plaintiff’s claim of possession. See Spratt vs. Price, 18 Fla., 289.</p> <p>5. When husband and wife reside upon land which is the separate property of the wife, the assessment for the purposes of taxation may be made in name of the husband as an occupant.</p> <p>6. Under the revenue law of 1874 a tax' deed duly executed is prima facie evidence of title and of the regularity of the proceedings from the valuation of the land by the Assessor to'the date of the deed inclusive, and the burthen of proof to defeat such title is upon the person resisting the same.</p>