Ross v. Coat

Citations

• 58 Ill. 53

Syllabus

<p>1. Limitation act op 1839—payment of taxes thereunder. Under the eighth section of the Conveyance Act, the payment of taxes mhst, to comply with the statute, be made for seven successive years, or it can not be used with color of title and possession to bar a recovery. If the owner of the paramount title pays any one of the seven years, the chain is broken, and the party claiming color of title can not rely upon such payment.</p> <p>2. Where the holder of claim and color of title paid the taxes due on the land from 1855 to 1863 inclusive, except the years of 1857 and 1859, when the owner of the paramount title first paid all taxes due on the land, but the holder subsequently paid an amount equal to the taxes which had been assessed for those years: Held, that there was not a payment for seven successive years as required by the statute; that when claimant paid to the collector for those years there were no taxes due on the land, and that there was not a payment for any seven successive years, by any party in possession of the land.</p> <p>3. In such a case, the party claiming color of title, is in no better condition, although he may have paid all taxes legally assessed on the land while vacant and unoccupied, for a period of less than seven years, and several other years after it was reduced to possession, sufficient to make the period of limitation, as, under the statute, tire taxes must all bo paid for the proper period, either when the land is vacant, or all when it is occupied, as the two sections can not be united to create a bar. The party, to acquire the bar under either section, must perform all acts required by that section.</p>