Vaughan v. Swayzie

Citations

• 56 Miss. 704

Syllabus

<p>1. Tax-title. Sow proved. State deed not sufficient.</p> <p>A. plaintiff seeking to recover land upon a tax-title derived from the State, in order to make out his title, in addition to producing his deed from the State, must show by the list of lands sold to the State, or by a deed from the tax-collector, according to the statute applicable to the sale for taxes, how the State acquired her title; and where he fails to do this, his deed from the State may be excluded from the evidence, upon the motion of the defendant.</p> <p>2. Same. Evidence thereof. Variance between State deed and list of lands.</p> <p>In an action for the recovery of land bought from the State, where the purchaser’s deed describes the land as “ Commencement Plantation, consisting of 1,330 acres,” and the list of lands sold to the State, which is offered in evidence to prove title in the State,' shows a sale to the State of “ Commencement Plantation, consisting of 500 acres,” and it is admitted that the plantation does embrace thirteen hundred and thirty acres, and that the five hundred sold to the State cannot be identified, the variance is fatal to the plaintiff’s title thus derived.</p> <p>3. Taxes. Levy and collection. Legislative power. Curative act.</p> <p>As the Legislature has the undoubted power to prescribe such formulas as to it may seem proper with regard to the levy and collection of taxes, it also has the constitutional power, by retroactive legislation, to dispense with the necessity of the prescribed formulas, to cure irregularities in the observance thereof, or to obviate the evils of their non-observance.</p> <p>4. Same. Judicial proceedings. Legislative power. Curative act.</p> <p>Legislation can neither validate nor nullify judicial acts, but, before judgment, a litigant whose claim or defence depends upon an informality not affecting substantial legal or equitable rights has no vested interest in the existing legislation; and, therefore, where a judicial proceeding for the