Stephens v. Futch

Citations

• 73 Fla. 708
• 74 So. 805

Syllabus

<p>x. A failure to comply strictly with those provisions of tax laws which are intended for the guidance of officers in the conduct of business devolved upon them, designed to secure order, system and dispatch in proceedings, and by a disregard of which the rights of parties interested cannot be injuriously affected, will not usually render the proceedings void; but where the requisites prescribed are intended for the protection of the citizen, and to prevent a sacrifice of his property, .and a disregard of them might and generally would injuriously affect his rights, they cannot be disregarded, and failure to comply with them will render the proceeding invalid.</p> <p>2. Under the provision of Section 5 of Article VIII of the Constitution, that powers and duties of county commissioners “shall be prescribed by law,” the authority of such officials is only such as may be conferred by statutory regulations.</p> <p>3. The provision of Section 50 of Chapter 5596 of the Laws of Florida (Acts of 1907, p. 27), Compiled Laws of 1914, Section 558, that notice of tax sales shall be published in a newspaper “to be selected by the Board of County Commissioners at their first regular meeting in February of each year” requires such newspaper to be selected annually and such requirement is not met by the Board of County Commissioners making an order wherein a certain named newspaper was designated the county official paper to continue for the full term of two years, as the County Commissioners are not authorized to designate a “county official paper,” but only to select the newspaper in which the delinquent tax list is to be published.</p> <p>4. The statutory provision as to the selection of a newspaper in which the delinquent tax list is to be published was designed, in part at least, for the benefit of the tax-payer by giving him notice in what paper he shall look to see whether proceedings have been commenced against his land, and a failure to comply with such provision will re