exactly in point, yet it is not mentioned in the latter case. But in the subsequent case of Brevoort v. City of Brooklyn, 89 N. Y. 128, Lynde v. Melrose was cited with approval, (see page 135,) but the case was distinguished by reason of certain specific agreements of the collector to repay in case of failure of title. In this case it is said: “It is true, as claimed by defendant, that the invalidity of the assessments appears upon the face of the assessment rolls,and undoubtedly, if the plaintiff had paid his money, as a simple purchaser at tax-sale, without any agreement for repayment in case any irregularity should exist or be discovered, he could not have recovered back the money thus paid. In such a case he would buy without warranty, and take such a title as the tax sale would give him.” That the New York court never intended to announce any general common-law right on the part of tax-sale purchasers to recover the purchase money paid for invalid certificates is apparent from the language in People v. Chapin, (N. Y.) 5 N. E. Rep. 64, where, in speaking of a statute conferring such right of recovery, the court says: “By it the state voluntarily assumes a liability to refund money received on a sale where the tax proceedings have not been in accordance with the statute, and are invalid; thus subjecting itself to a just rule of responsibility applied, without a statute, to inferior municipalities.” Citing Chapman v. City of Brooklyn. The case of Phillipsv. City of Hudson, 31 N. J. Law, 143, is pressed upon our attention as fully sustaining appellant’s position. In that case the assessment was for street improvement, and was held void by reason of certain irregularities in the tax proceedings, and the purchaser at the tax-sale was allowed to recover the purchase price paid; two justices concurring, and the chief justice dissenting on the main point. But that case, as an authority for appellant’s contention, is very much weakened by the subsequent case of Casselbury v. Piscataway Tp. 43 N. J. Law, 353, where it is said: “It is not denied that the township had the power to tax and to sell for taxes, that the taxes were actually levied and were unpaid, that a sale was actually made, and that there was no fraud or imposition, and no warranty. It is merely alleged that there was illegality in the method of procedure. The rule of law ap-
