Court Opinion

ID: 9761474
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:43:39.701143+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:22.401967
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur in the result for the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in Tax Claim Bureau v. Wheatcroft (Auritt), 2 Cmwlth. 408, 415, 278 A.2d 172, 176 (1971):
“I dissent. Herbert and Esther Auritt are two distinct human beings, each of whom is an owner of the home sold at the tax sale. The record contains no evidence that Herbert and Esther are fused flesh forms animated by a single life spark. I have never met Herbert Auritt or Esther Auritt. I am reasonably confident, however, from the record before us that I can legitimately rely upon the doctrine of judicial notice to accurately conclude that Herbert is an ‘each’ and Esther is also an ‘each’.
Since there are two ‘eaches’ both of whom are owners of the home, the provisions of the Real Estate Tax Law were not followed and the tax sale can not be valid.
*630According to the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, (Act of July 7, 1947, P.L. 1368; 72 P.S. 5860.602), when a tax sale of property is contemplated, ‘notice of the sale shall also be given by the bureau, at least ten (10) days before the date of the sale, by United States registered mail, personal addressee only, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, to each owner as defined by this act and by posting on the property.’. (Emphasis added.)
The provisions of the law clearly require that the notice be sent to ‘personal addressee only’ and ‘to each owner’. In this case, the letter sent, allegedly notifying the owners of the sale, was addressed to ‘Mr. and Mrs. Auritt’. Obviously, the letter here was addressed to two people and compliance with a statute mandating delivery to ‘personal addressee only’ and to ‘each owner’ was impossible. Esther and Herbert Auritt held their property as tenants by the entireties. Since there were two owners of the property in question and the statute required that notice of an impending tax sale be sent to each, the Tax Claim Bureau failed to comply with the statute by not sending a separate notice of the sale to each owner.
While it is true that tenancies by the entireties occupy a unique position in the realm of estate law, present enlightened social and economic attitudes make it unrealistic for the courts to continúe to follow Bracton’s maxim: ‘Man and wife are as one person, for they are one in flesh and blood.’ * It is obvious that man and wife are not one person. They are two distinct beings, who, if they hold property as tenants by the entireties, are two distinct owners of an undivided whole property. As two separate and distinct owners, notice of an impending tax sale of property owned by each should be given separately to each. The majority correctly points out that there must be strict compliance with the notice provisions of a tax sale statute.
*631The Legislature, of course, would be free to change the law and provide that husband and wife are to be treated as one person and notice to either would be sufficient. The Legislature, in other areas of the law, has specifically mandated that owners of undivided interests in property shall be treated as one person but they have not said any such thing in the Real Estate Tax Sale Law.
I would reverse the order of the court below and set aside the tax sale of the property owned by Herbert Auritt and Esther Auritt.
Today’s decision gives full effect to the clear legislative mandate. I cannot however agree that today’s decision should apply only to future notices. In order to insure that individuals similarly situated to the appellants herein will be treated equally, this decision should apply to all cases which are pending and not finally litigated on the date of this decision. See Luskey v. Staffron, 469 Pa. 377, 366 A.2d 223, 224 (1976) (Concurring Opinion of Roberts J., joined by Manderirio, J.). It should also apply in situations where there is no pending litigation on the date of this decision and timely legal action is taken. The applicability of this decision in such a manner would not unreasonably cast a cloud on property titles.

The exact authority for Bracton’s maxim is not necessary because its validity was attested to for many years in the classroom by Dean Walter A. Rafalko of the New York Law School who always brought to the student’s attention that Bracton served as a Judge in the Thirteenth Century.”