People ex rel. Weber v. Chicago & Alton Railroad

Citations

• 96 Ill. 369
• 1880 Ill. LEXIS 41

Syllabus

<p>1. Taxation—description of property assessed. Property assessed for taxation must be described by reference to government surveys, or by metes and bounds, or, if land is divided into lots, then by reference to authenticated plats. If a piece of land is designated as a lot, when there is no plat to which reference can be had, to determine from what tract it has been formed, no judgment can be rendered against it for taxes, as it is not capable of location.</p> <p>2. While a government survey with a given number is a description of land well recognized, and which can be easily located, yet a lot therein of a certain number, does not represent any ascertainable part of the survey, unless a plat has been made and recorded by competent authority, which divides the survey into lots.</p> <p>3. Same—surveying and plaiting lots. The Revenue laws make it the duty of the owner, where a tract of land is divided into parcels so that it can not be described without metes and bounds, to cause such lands to be surveyed and platted into lots, the plat to be certified and recorded, and the law provides that, if the owner shall neglect or refuse to cause this to be done within thirty days after being notified by the county clerk, such clerk shall cause the survey to be made and recorded, and the expense thereof to be added to the tax levied on such property. When the land is so surveyed and platted, and the plat recorded, the lots may be assessed according to their numbers.</p> <p>4. A survey and platting of a tract of land by a deputy county surveyor, at the instance of an assessor, without any notice by the county clerk to the owner, or not at the request of the clerk, the plat not being recorded, is not a compliance with the statute, and such survey and platting are unauthorized and binding on no one, and will not change the original description of the land.</p>