Summary
In Register v. Bryan, 9 N.C. 17, it was said that the Sheriff's deed would be invalid by matter subsequent, such as a failure to register it within the time prescribed.
Summary of this case from Taylor v. AllenOpinion
June Term, 1822.
Where lands are sold for taxes under the act of 1798, if no person bids off a smaller quantity than the whole, the bid shall be considered as made by the Governor for the use of the State, but the title of the State is not completed before all the further requisites pointed out by the act are complied with.
EJECTMENT tried before Paxton, J., in COLUMBUS, at Fall Session, 1821. The lessors of the plaintiff claim under a patent granted to Esther Rowan, and regularly deduced title down to James Register, (18) who by deed on 7 July, 1819, conveyed to the lessors of the plaintiff. On 9 August, 1816, the land was exposed to sale for taxes by the sheriff of Columbus, and James Register became the purchaser, not having agreed to pay the taxes for a less quantity than the whole land; and on 28 February, 1818, the sheriff executed accordingly a deed to James Register. The defendant claimed the land under a younger patent, and relied on the act of 1798, which declares that when lands are sold for taxes, and no person shall bid for a less quantity than the whole of the said land, such bid shall be considered as a bid by the Governor for the use of the State. The jury, under the instruction of the court as to the law, found a verdict for the plaintiff, and defendant appealed.
The principal question here is whether the sale of the land for taxes divested the title of James Register. If it did not, the plaintiff is entitled to recover the land in the present action. When James Register became the highest bidder for the whole land, and bid therefore the amount of all the taxes that were due upon it, such bid became the bid of the Governor, by the act of 1798, ch. 492, Rev. Code. That act declares, sec. 4: "That if no person shall bid a smaller quantity than the whole, then the whole of the land so set up shall be considered as a bid for the Governor, and the sheriff shall strike off the same to him accordingly and execute a good and sufficient deed of conveyance to him and his successors in office, in manner hereinafter directed, for the use of the State." Further requisites are pointed out for a completion of title to the State, such as registration, etc. From this law it would seem that the Legislature considered the title of the State complete when the requisites pointed out by the act should be complied with by the proper officer. That has not been done, and I am not prepared to say that the legal estate has been divested out of James Register; of course he remained in of his (19) old estate; for I view the conveyance of the sheriff to him as a nullity.
For these reasons, I think judgment should be entered for the plaintiff.