tax sale

The court recognize the correctness of the principle contended for by the counsel for the plaintiff in error; that in an ex parte proceeding of this kind, under a special authority, great strictness is required. To divest an individual of his property, against his consent, every substantial requisite of the law must be shown to have been complied with. No presumption can be raised in behalf of a collector who sells real estate for taxes, to cover any radical defect in his proceeding; and the proof of regularity in the procedure devolves upon the person who claims under the collector's sale.

A sale of lands for the nonpayment of taxes assessed thereon. A sale made in a proceeding in rem. 108 111. 334.

A sale of lands for the nonpayment of taxes assessed thereon. The power of sale does not attach until every prerequisite of the law has been complied with; Minor v. Natchez, 4 Smedes & M. (Miss.) 602, 43 Am. Dec. 488. There must be a substantial compliance with the law authorizing the sale; Marx v. Hanthorn, 148 U. S. 172, 13 Sup. Ct. 508, 37 L. Ed. 410. There are important details connected with the auction itself and the duties of the officer intrusted with the conducting thereof. The sale must be a public, and not a private, one. The sale must take place at the precise time and place fixed by the law or notice. A tax sale is vitiated by a failure to give the notice required by law of the place where the sale will occur; Henderson v. White, 69 Tex. 103, 5 S. W. 374. The sale must be made to the highest bidder. This is the rule in Pennsylvania; but in most of the states the highest bidder is he who will pay the taxes, interest, and costs due upon the tract offered for sale for the least quantity of it. The sale must be for cash and must be according to the parcels and descriptions contained in the list and the other proceedings. When a tract of land is assessed against tenants in common, and one of them pays the tax on his share, the interest of the other may be sold to satisfy the residue of the assessment. Where several parcels of land belonging to the same person are separately assessed, each parcel is liable for its own specific tax and no more. A tax sale is void if any portion of the tax for which it was made was illegal; Tillotson v. Webber, 96 Mich. 144, 55 N. W. 837; Graham v. Mortgage Co., 33 Fla. 356, 14 South. 796. See Culbertson v. Witbeck Co., 127 U. S. 326, 8 Sup. Ct. 1136, 32 L. Ed. 134; Tax Deed.

A sale of land for unpaid taxes; a sale of property, by authority of law, for the collection of a tax assessed upon it, or upon its owner, which remains unpaid.

Defined under Sale in Black's Law Dictionary.