Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 1).pdf/411

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
TYLER v. CASS COUNTY.
387

ously assessed,” etc. ; and closes by making the treasurer liable only for his own acts and those of his deputy. This statute was before the supreme court of Iowa in Coulter v. County of Mahaska, 17 Iowa, 92; but in that case the liability of the county for the principal and interest was conceded, and the sole point in dispute was whether or not the county was liable for 30 per cent. penalty allowed by the Iowa statutes, and the court held that it was not. In Morris v. County of Sioux, 42 Iowa, 416, cited by respondent, there was no question under the statute before the court; and Scott v. Chickasaw Co., 46 Iowa, 253, was a clear case of wrongful assessment, and within the strict words of the Iowa statute.

In Nebraska the law was originally taken from Iowa, but was changed in 1871 to read: “ When, by the mistake or wrongful act of the treasurer or other officer, land has been sold contrary to the provisions of this act,” etc.; and making such treasurer or other officer liable over to the county on their official bonds. And by a later enactment ‘(see § 131, Revision, 1881, Neb.) the statute is again changed to read as follows: ‘“ When, by the mistake or wrongful act of the treasurer or other officer, land has been sold on which no tax was due at the time, or whenever land is sold in consequence of error in describing such land in the tax receipt, the county is to hold the purchaser harmless,” etc.; and closing by declaring that such treasurer or other officer shall be liable only for their own and deputies’ acts. The cases of McCann. vy. Otoe Co., 9 Neb. 324, 2 N. W. Rep. 707; Roberts v. Adams Co., 18 Neb. 473, 25 N. W. Rep. 726, and co nomine, 20 Neb. 411, 30 N. W. Rep. 405, are cited in support of the judgment in this case; but all those cases were decided after the change in the statute, and the two latter after the second change. What constitutes the legality is not disclosed in the case in 9 Neb. and 2N. W. Rep. The court simply remarked that the plaintiff had brought himself within the provisions of their revenue law, and was entitled fo recover, and added: “The question of the liability of the treasurer or other officer making the mistake or error is not, under the issues, involved in the case.” The other cases were precisely alike in principle. The title to the lands was in the United States, and it was al-