Wiswell v. Beck’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““In the instant case, there was no duty to pay these taxes imposed upon respondent by law or otherwise, as he was not the owner of the property at the time the taxes became delinquent or when paid by appellant, nor would he have accepted the property if he had known that there was a tax lien outstanding against it. . . . “Packwood v. Briggs, 25 Wash. 530 , 65 Pac. 846 ; Burgert v. Caroline, 31 Wash. 62 , 71 Pac. 724 , 96 Am. St. 889, and Vietzen v. Otis, 63 Wash. 411 , 115 Pac. 858 , are also relied on by appellant as authorities supporting the rule that the payer of taxes on the premises of another has a lien on the property therefor. These cases present situations where the person paying the taxes has some right or claim of ownership in the property and makes the payment for the purpose of protecting this claim or right, and not by mistake, and so far as the facts appear, the ownership was a continuing one or the vendee had notice of the tax lien claimed by the payer, and for these reasons are distinguishable. The whole theory of these cases, holding that the state’s lien is transferred to the payer of taxes on property of which he is not the owner, is that the payer has performed a duty which was by law imposed upon the owner who neglected to perform it, and that no hardship will be worked on the owner in performing this duty to the payer who has performed his (the owner’s) duty to the state.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 4 Wash. 2d 522 - Olson v. Chapman