Record is notice to all concerned.

No action to

set aside sale after two

years.

Bill to foreclose right of redemption.

Proviso.

certificate and affidavits have been re-recorded as a deed. Such record shall be notice to all the world, and at the expiration of two years from date of making such record shall, in the absence of fraud, be conclusive evidence of the service and facts therein stated, and in the absence of fraud no writ of certiorari shall be allowed, and no action shall be brought to contest or set aside said certificate of sale, notice and affidavit of service so recorded as a deed, or to recover possession of the lands so conveyed, after the expiration of two years from the date of their record. (P. L. 1918, p. 896.)

149. Sec. 49. The purchaser, or his heirs or assigns, in addition to the foregoing remedy, and at any time after the expiration of the term of two years, whether notice to redeem has been given or not, may file a bill in equity to foreclose the right of redemption, but on filing such bill the right to redeem shall exist and continue until barred by the decree of the Court of Chancery, but no foreclosure decree shall be entered unless evidence is produced in the foreclosure suit that all subsequent municipal liens have been paid to the time of the commencement of the suit; provided, however, that if any delinquent owner or lienor shall be, at the time of the expiration of the time limited for the redemption of the real estate in which such delinquent is interested, an infant under the age of twenty-one years, or an idiot, or then shall have been judicially declared a person of unsound mind, then the right to redeem shall not be barred by service of notice as hereinbefore provided so long as such impediment shall continue, but shall be barred only by bill in equity to foreclose and decree thereon after proceedings have been taken according to the rules and practice of that court for the protection of the rights of such person. (P. L. 1918, p. 897.)

Foreclosure. It was held that the foreclosure provided in section 59 of the general tax act of 1903 (the provisions regarding the sale of land of which act have been superseded by this act) was intended by the Legislature to be a strict foreclosure of the right to redeem, and not foreclosure and sale of land already sold for taxes. Mitsch v. Owens, 82 N. J. E. 404.

150.

affidavits.

Sec. 50. The filing of affidavits under this act shall Legality of be deemed a legal proceeding for the purpose of any prosecution for perjury or subornation thereof. (P. L. 1918, p. 897.)

Title void

unless
taken.

151. Sec. 51. The title of a purchaser at a sale shall cease and determine, and the certificate of sale shall be void at the possession expiration of twenty years from the date of the sale, unless the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, shall before the expiration of that term enter into actual possession of the land purchased or foreclose the right to redeem the same by notice or by proceedings in equity and record the evidence thereof, as above prescribed. (P. L. 1918, p. 897.)

NOTE. See cases under par. 124, sec. 24, ante.

152. Sec. 52. No sale of land for municipal liens heretofore or hereafter made shall be set aside by reason of including together taxes on real and personal property, but the sale shall be sustained as to the real property, subject to the right to redeem on payment of the amount of the lien thereon; no sale shall be set aside because of insufficient description in the original entry of the lien, or in the list made up for the sale, or because of a mistake in or omission of the name of the owner, or because of failure of the clerk or any municipal officer to record the proceedings relative to the sale, if it shall appear by other legal evidence that the land sold was in fact that assessed, and that the sale was made pursuant to law. No sale shall be set aside because of variance between the date of any published notice and the actual publication thereof, if notice has actually been given for the time required. (P. L. 1918, p. 898.)

Construction of former laws.-Under P. L. 1875, p. 101, supplemental to the tax act of 1846, the words "shall have been" or "shall be," in the proviso in the section in point, healing defects in public notices, are prospective and not retrospective. The intent to make statutes retroactive must clearly appear by express words or by necessary implication. State, Alden v. Newark, 40 N. J. L. 92, affirmed 44 N. J. L. 648.

P. L. 1881, p. 237, repealed by P. L. 1903, p. 442, which enacts that, where the sale has been made to the township, the proceedings shall not be set aside except upon condition that the tax assessed, with interest, be paid by the party prosecuting the suit, applies only to cases where the defects complained of

As to setting

aside sale

of land.

are insufficiency of the description of the land assessed or failure of the township clerk to record all the proceedings. Brooks v. Union Tp., 68 N. J. L. 133.

Validity of sale in general.-Under P. L. 1854, p. 429 (superseded in turn by the general tax act of 1903 and by this act), while a mistake in the owner's name will not invalidate a sale, an entire omission thereof is fatal. State, Tindall v. Vanderbilt, 33 N. J. L. 38.

An assessment for taxes will not be vacated merely because only one of two tenants in common was named as owner. Fleischauer v. West Hoboken, 40 N. J. L. 109.

Under P. L. 1854, p. 429 (superseded in turn by the general tax act of 1903 and by this act), if a tax warrant is void, any sale made, or deed given by virtue thereof, will also be void. Van Wagenen v. Brown, 26 N. J. L. 196.

Under P. L. 1854, p. 429 (superseded in turn by the general tax act of 1903 and by this act), if more land is taxed to a person than he owns, and his assessment thereby becomes higher than it should be, it constitutes an objection to the validity of a sale of the land for such tax. Carron v. Martin, 26 N. J. L. 594, reversing 26 N. J. L. 228. (See sec. 53, post.)

Under P. L. 1854, p. 429 (superseded in turn by the general tax act of 1903 and by this act), where a municipal corporation has undertaken to sell real estate for taxes, the sale will be set aside unless all legal conditions precedent appear to have been performed. Fleischauer v. West Hoboken, 40 N. J. L. 111.

The failure to show from the record or by the evidence aliunde that adjournments, if made, were lawfully made and advertised, that any notice of the sale was posted at or near the land sold, or that proof of the publication and mailing of the notice of sale was taken and returned with the warrant as required by P. L. 1879, p. 340 (repealed by P. L. 1903, and supplied by the general tax act of 1903, superseded in part by this act), was held fatal to the validity of the tax sales. Brooks v. Union Tp., 68 N. J. L. 133.

Recovery of money paid by purchaser.-Under P. L. 1866, p. 1078, § 29, as amended by P. L. 1878, p. 195, supplemental to the tax act of 1846, where a declaration of sale of land for taxes is void, because the sale was made by a collector of taxes, under a warrant issued by the township committee to any "constable" of the county, there being no covenant or warranty of title, the purchaser who pays the consideration price voluntarily with knowledge of the facts, cannot recover back the purchase-money of the collector after the same has been paid over to the township for a tax legally assessed. Tooker v. Roe, 44 N. J. L. 591.

See Voorhees v. Anglesea, 74 N. J. L. 377; Booth v. City of Bayonne, 85 N. J. E. 281; Walsch v. Borough of Edgewater, 87 N. J. L. 338.

153. Sec. 53. Where the assessment itself is valid and the tax, assessment or other municipal charge, or any part thereof, is justly due, no sale shall be set aside, except on condition that the amount due shall be paid to the holder of the certificate of sale by the person applying to set it aside. Where the sale shall be set aside, the municipality shall refund to the purchaser the price paid by him on the sale, with lawful interest, upon his assigning to the municipality the certificate of sale and all his interest in the tax, assessment or other charges and in the municipal lien therefor, and the municipality may readvertise and sell if the municipal lien remains in force. (P. L. 1918, p. 898.)

continued.

154. Sec. 54. Where a sale is made in the enforcement of Liens any municipal lien or liens, the lien or liens shall pass, with the title, to the purchaser, and where such sale shall be set aside for defect in the proceedings to sell, the lien shall be thereby continued. (P. L. 1918, p. 899.)

liens.

155. Sec. 55. All municipal liens in existence or created Enforcement of municipal on or before July first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, shall be enforced as hereinbefore provided within one year thereafter, and all municipal liens thereafter accruing shall be enforced within one year from the date herein provided, but the failure of any municipal officer to enforce any municipal lien within the time herein provided shall not impair any lien, nor prevent a sale thereunder after the time herein provided, except as to persons who may have acquired an interest in the premises in reliance upon an official tax search not disclosing such lien, as hereinbefore provided. (P. L. 1918, p. 899.)

Lapse of

time not

a bar.

156. Sec. 56. The lapse of time shall not bar any proceedings to enforce any municipal lien heretofore, hereby or hereafter created, but where any interested person claims the lien has been paid and satisfied, the lapse of twenty years shall afford a presumption of payment, which may be rebutted by proof to the contrary. (P. L. 1918, p. 899.). 157. Sec. 57. Any lien which may have heretofore lapsed Revival of by reason of delay in enforcement is hereby revived to the end that the same may be enforced under the provisions of this act, but such revival shall not operate as against any person

liens.

Acts performed by deputies valid.

How act construed.

Constitutionality of act.

Repealer.

Proviso.

Act effective. Extension of provisions.

who has acquired an interest in said property for value subsequent to such lapse, and without notice of the claim of the municipality. (P. I. 1918, p. 899.)

158. Sec. 58. Any act herein authorized or directed to be done by any officer may be done or performed by a deputy thereunto specially deputized for such purpose. Such officer and his sureties shall be liable for any and all acts of such deputy. (P. L. 1918, p. 899.)

159. Sec. 59. This act shall be deemed and taken to be a remedial act, and to operate both prospectively and retrospectively, and be liberally construed to effectuate the remedial objects thereof. (P. L. 1918, p. 899.)

160. Sec. 60. If any provision of this act is declared or held to be unconstitutional, no other portions of the act shall be affected thereby, but the unconstitutional provision shall be exscinded and the remaining provisions of this act shall continue in force. (P. L. 1918, p. 900.)

161. Sec. 61. All acts, general and special, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed, but this repealer shall not affect any rights heretofore established or created; provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to prevent the continuance and completion under the laws in force at the time such proceedings were commenced of any other proceeding or proceedings not herein mentioned which may have been or may be pending and remain unfinished, and incomplete at the time this law shall take effect. (P. I. 1918, p. 900.)

L.

162. Sec. 62. This act shall take effect on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and its provisions shall extend to proceedings on and after that date relating to any taxes, assessments for improvements or other municipal charges, heretofore or hereafter assessed, or imposed or which became a lien before or after that date. (P. L. 1918, p. 900.)