St. Paul daily globe., 1885-11-24
The Tax-TltIe Decision.

To the Editor of the Globe:
Your reporter interviewed me in my
dressing gown and slippers" upon the de-
cision of the supreme court in the case of
Chauncey against Wass, and as had not
read the opinion of Judge Gilfillan. the sug-
gestions thrown out were eXtempore crude
and loose, but none the less contained the
embryo of views which my best reflection
would approve, i. e. that there was equitable
| relief against the obvious iniquity of the
| decision.
Well knowing, however, that the opinion
was written by Judge Gilfillan and expert
| mentally cogniZant of the carefulness and
thorough judgematicalness of his views upon
all legal questions, stated that the decis-
ion was probably irrefragable in legal
point of view.
Reading in the Pioneer Press this morn
ing an article which contains malverse crit
icism OF the court l have studied the
opinion carefully this afternoon and find
myself supported fully in the hints given to
your reporter, although they were not stated
by him with sufficient fullness.
''Much learning" hath never made me
''mad," and therefore I shall not belabor
the public with more than the bare state
lut1lG u d LOW pld1u dllQ uuCudllCllS6u pTlu-
ciples.
Courts are too busy to decide questions
not before them. In fact the incertitude
and vacillation especially of the common
law" decisions come mainly from a mis-
taken uneasiness of courts to reach beyond
the case in hand and comprehend possibili-
ties which are often suppOstions and spec
ulative. There is much in this case upon
which to infer that it was collusive. l say
this without knowing who the attorneys
were and therefore do not imply any per-
sonal animadversion.
1t cannot be instructedly argued that this
case was not soundly decided upon the prem
ises before the court and that it declares a
correct construction Of the terms and in
tenton of the law. Nor do I see the OBJ
nOxious characteristics of the law itself,
which are so ferociously impugned. Mis-
takes do occur-even fraud will sometimes
Intermediates, however, are only rare
possibilities and the very rigidity of the
law has been demonstrated by the trial of
eleven years to be its domineering merit.
The remedy against mistake OF fraud of
the officer whose duty it is to commence
the suit for the public is obvious and of
daily application. All acts. all judgments,
every human transaction, however sacredly
''signed, sealed and delivered" done or ad-
Indicated, if founded upon either ''miS.
take, fraud or surprise are either voida-
bic or void. 1t is the essential domain
of equity to afford relief in all such cases.
No lawyer will doubt that if the defendant
in this case had applied to the court below to
vacate the judgment on the ground that the
tax had been returned delinquent, when in
fact it had been paid, and that the defend
boI ,ofc hic riuhfc hot ha
had within a reasonable time after
knowledge of such mistake proceeded in the
proper way to assert them, he would have
found instant relief. Lapse of time. statutes
of limitation set up no bar against him who
acts with the promptness which equity
reasonably demands in the case.
Relief of the kiEd here suggested would
be peculiarly easy. because the service was
constructive and not personal, and because
the courts are organically not partial to tax
titles for the reason that the consideration
is always inadequate; and hence the title is
always taken s'cum onere' of suspicion.
judgments of this character are daily set
aside either on motion or, perhaps more
properly, by direct proceeding in equity.
This defendant has either overlooked or
sighted his obvious means of reaching JUS
tice and appears to me to have courted a
Judgment which could not have been
avoided, in the circumstances. In the dust,
which this decision has clicked up" much
has been irrelevantly said about ''due pro-
cess'' of law, constitutional rights and
the like. The prime object and the
transcendant merits of this law, which is at
once an innovation and improvement upon
the laws for the collection of taxes in ex-
istence at the time of its passage, is that it
gives the ''due process of law" which is so
fiippantly talked about may be well inn
ported into Fourth of July speeches, but
are too poetical and patriotic to be toler-
ated in the dry consideration of legal ques-
tions. HurTiedly, j. B. BRIsBN.
st. Paul, Nov. "a, 1885.