East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-03-29
- :
THE TAX LAW.

As there Is much solicitude in the pub
lac mind concerning tax titles under Tho
amendatory act of 1858, would it not be
well for the legal profession TO examine
the act carefully, SO rs to be able, by Civ,
ing promptly rational exposition Of its
various provisions, to relieve persons OF
perplexityy
In this connection we desire 10 direct
attention to two or three points in the law.
Section l0l, page 1856, relates to sales
which were made prior to the date at
which the act took effect. 1t seems only
10 give to the original owners ofland sold
for taxes cumulative or additional rene
dy or proceeding to test the validity OF
the tax title, and limits such remedy or
proceeding to two years from the date OF
the deed or the taking effect of the act.
There is no prohibition or exclusion of
any other remedy or proceeding. We
would therefore inquire, for information,
whether all the usual actions are not left
tn the owner Of the land to the tax title
claimant, and whether, so far as the old
sales are in question, the black republi-
can land,sharks who procured the passage
OF the law have not cyer-reached them
selves?
Section l2I, page 100, covers tax deeds
obtained for State tar and certificates ofsdle:
and, by reference to its language, it will
be perceived that, after the deed has been
recorded for two years in the office of the
Register of Deeds, with the four excep-
tons named no stat Of sectnsnt or other
sait for the rscorery Of possession shall be
thereafter commenced nor the title thereto
(sustained) BY any person claiming or holding
possession Or WR through any other source
Section $50, page l91, makes the pro-
visions of the foregoing section "applca-
bic to the deeds executed by him for lands
purchased at the County Treasurer's office
pursuant to the provision" of the law as
amended by the act Of 1858.
The difference between sections 10l
and 124 appears to be this: section 101
gives q remedy which must be resorted to
within the two years, but in no other way
interferes with the old remedies and modes
Of procedure; but section 124 expressly
excludes all the old remedies and modes
of procedure, unless commenced within
the two years, and thereafter bars all
claim of the original owner of the lands
sold for taxes.
BY closely scrutinizing the amendatory
act, it will be seen how carefully the at
tempt Is made to conceal the real intcn-
ton of its trainers, by inducing the belief
that the object was to secure the State,
by precluding after the two years all
question of her tax titles, and celebrating
that portion of the statute relating there.
to, and contained in section 124, and then,
in as few words as possible, making its
provisions apply, in section 1870, to all
other subsequently acquired tax titles
What the Supreme Cont will do with
this law we cannot of course know
Formerly the Supreme Court, at the bid
ding of the State administration, reversed
one of their tax law decisions which had
borne heavily upon the interests of the
land-sharks. We hope never again to
see the Judiciary so warped by political
and private influences. The court may
set aside some of the worst provisions of
the present law; but instead of placing
reliance upon this possibility, the people
had better revolutionize the Legislature
and State government, and thus SECURE
TIE REPEAL OF THE LAW.
We have already hoistcd the banner of
REpEAL.-Frse Press.