out of which a specific part belonging to some other person shall have been sold for taxes charged on the whole tract or lot, may exonerate himself from all liability to contribute to the owner of the part sold, by paying to the comptroller at any time before the expiration of the time allowed for the redemption thereof, such proportion of the purchase-money and interest as his quantity of acres shall bear to the whole quantity taxed, and such payment shall operate as a redemption of his proportionate part of the lands sold according to the amount paid. Upon a partial redemption under this section, the quantity sold shall be reduced in proportion to the amount paid on such partial redemption and the comptroller shall convey accordingly.

128. Redemption of lands conjointly assessed. If the lands of one person shall be sold for taxes assessed conjointly on his lands and lands of another, and the latter shall not pay his due proportion required for the redemption of his lands, the former may redeem the same on paying to the comptroller the purchase-money and interest, and he shall be entitled to recover, after the expiration of the time allowed for redemption, from the other person whose lands were assessed with his, a just propor tion of the redemption moneys paid, with interest. If the lands of one person so sold for taxes assessed conjointly on his lands and the lands of another person, shall not be redeemed, and they shall be conveyed by the comptroller, the former may recover from the latter the same proportion of the value of the lands sold and conveyed, that the latter ought to have paid of the tax and interest and charges for which the land shall have been sold. Every judgment obtained under this section shall have priority as against the lands of the defendant therein, on which the tax was assessed, and for which such proportionate part ought to have been paid, over all mortgages and judgments, if at the time of docketing such judgment the plaintiff cause an entry to be made by the clerk in the docket thereof, specifying that such judgment has priority as a lien on certain lands, over mortgages and other judgments, pursuant to the tax law, which entry shall be a part of such docket. In all actions under this section, the certificate of the state treasurer, countersigned by the comptroller, stating the facts in relation to such redemption, or sale and conveyance, shall be presumptive evidence of all facts therein stated.

§ 129. Prohibition of the despoliation of land sold.-Neither

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the owner, occupant nor any other person shall have the right to despoil any lands sold for taxes by the comptroller of their value, by the removal of buildings, or by cutting, removing or destroying timber, or other valuable products, growing, existing or being thereon at the time of sale. The purchaser of any wild, vacant, or unoccupied land at the sale thereof by the comptroller, whose bid therefor shall have been fully paid, or his assigns or representatives may at any time before obtaining his deed, cause to be served a notice on any person despoiling such lands or interested in such despoliation, either personally or by leaving the same at the residence of such person, or with any member of his family of suitable age and discretion. The notice shall describe such lands substantially as sold, shall state that it was sold for taxes by the comptroller, and that an action to recover the value of the buildings, timber or other products destroyed or removed therefrom, after the date of sale thereof, will be instituted against all persons concerned in such despoliation. If such lands shall not be redeemed, every person engaged or interested in making such despoliation, upon whom service of the notice shall have been made, shall be liable to pay to the holder of the tax sale certificate therefor the full value of any buildings so destroyed or removed therefrom, and of all the timber, bark, or other products so cut or destroyed or removed therefrom, from the date of the sale of such land to the termination of such action, and may be restrained by injunction from committing any waste thereon.

$130. Notice of unredeemed lands.-The comptroller shall, at least three months before the expiration of one year allowed for the redemption of lands sold by him for taxes, cause a notice to be published once in each week for at least six weeks successively, the last publication to be at least six weeks before expiration of the year, in the newspapers designated by the board of supervisiors of the county in which such lands are situated, to publish the session laws, containing a list of the lands in such county sold for taxes and unredeemed, specifying particularly every parcel unredeemed, and the amount necessary to redeem the same, calculated to the last day in which such redemption can. be made, and stating that, unless such lands are redeemed by a certain day, they will be conveyed to the purchaser. If more than two newspapers in any county are designated in pursuance of law to publish the session laws, such publication shall be

made in two of the newspapers so designated to be selected by the comptroller, representing different political parties. If no newspaper shall have been so designated in any county such publication shall be made in two newspapers in the county, to be selected by the comptroller, and if there shall not be two newspapers published in the county, then in two newspapers which the comptroller shall determine to be most generally circulated in such county, representing each of the political parties casting the largest number of votes therein at the general election next preceding such designation. The expense of such publi cation shall be audited and paid by the board of supervisors of the county in which such lands are situated.

§ 131. Comptroller's deed. After the expiration of one year from the time of sale, the comptroller shall execute in the name of the people of the state, to the purchaser thereat, his heirs or assigns, a conveyance of any lands so sold by him for taxes and not redeemed, under his hand and official seal, and witnessed by the deputy comptroller or state treasurer, which shall vest in the grantee an absolute estate in fee simple, subject to all claims which the state may have thereon for taxes or other liens or incumbrances, and which shall be presumptive evidence that the sale and all proceedings prior thereto, from and including the assessment of the lands sold, and that all notices required by law to be given previous to the expiration of the time allowed by law for the redemption thereof, were regular and in accordance with all the provisions of law relating thereto. After two years from the date of such conveyance such presumption shall be conclusive. The comptroller may receive evidence of the loss or wrongful detention of any certificate, and on satisfactory proof of the fact may execute and deliver a deed to such person as may appear to be the rightful owner of such certificate. Every certificate of conveyance executed by the comptroller under this act may be recorded in the same manner and with like effect as a conveyance of real estate properly acknowledged or proven. (As amended by chap. 339 of 1898.)

132. Effect of former deeds. Every such conveyance heretofore executed by the comptroller, county treasurer or county judge and all conveyances of the same lands by his grantee or grantees therein named, which have for two years been recorded in the office of the clerk of the county in which the lands conveyed thereby are located, and all outstanding certificates of a

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tax sale heretofore held by the comptroller, that shall have remained in force for two years after the last day allowed by law for redemption from such sale, shall be conclusive evidence that the sale and proceedings prior thereto, from and including the assessment of the lands, and all notices required by law to be given previous to the expiration of the time allowed for redemption, were regular and were regularly given, published and served according to the provisions of all laws directing and requiring the same or in any manner relating thereto, but all such conveyances and certificates, and the taxes and tax sales on which they are based, shall be subject to cancellation, by reason of the payment of such taxes, or by reason of the levying of such taxes by a town or ward having no legal right to assess the land on which they are laid, or by reason of any defect in the proceedings affecting the jurisdiction upon constitutional grounds, on direct application to the comptroller, or in an action brought before a competent court therefor; provided, however, that such. application shall be made, or such action brought, in the case of all sales held prior to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, within one year from the passage of this act; and in the case of the sale of eighteen hundred and ninety-five and of all sales hereafter held, that such application shall be made, or such action brought, within five years from the expiration of the period allowed by law for the redemption of lands sold at the particular sale sought to be canceled.

133. Possession of lands by the state. The comptroller may advertise once a week, for at least three weeks successively, a list of the wild, vacant and forest lands to which the state holds title, from a tax sale or otherwise, in one or more newspapers to be selected by him, published in the county in which the lands are situated, and from and after the expiration of such time, all such wild, vacant and forest lands are hereby declared to be and shall be deemed to be in the actual possession of the comptroller, and such possession shall be deemed to continue until he has been dispossessed by the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction.

134. Notice to occupants.--If any lot or separate tract of land sold for taxes by the comptroller and conveyed, or any part thereof shall, at the time of the expiration of one year given for the redemption theref,* be in the actual occupancy of any per* So in the original.

son, the grantee to whom the same shall have been conveyed, or the person claiming under him shall within one year from the expiration of the time to redeem, serve a written notice on the person occuping such land, either personally or by leaving the same at the dwelling-house of the occupant, with a person of suitable age and discretion belonging to his family. The term "occupant" shall be construed to mean a person who has lawfully entered upon the land so occupied, and is in possession of the same to the exclusion of every other person. And the term " occupancy" shall mean the actual lawful and exclusive use and possession of such lands and premises by such an occupant. The notice shall state in substance, the sale and conveyance of the land, the person to whom made, the amount of consideration money mentioned in the conveyance, with the addition of thirtyseven and one-half per centum thereon, and of the sum paid for the deed, and that unless such consideration money and percentage with the sum paid for the deed, shall be paid into the state treasury for the benefit of the grantee, within six months after the time of filing in the comptroller's office of the evidence of the service of such notice, the conveyance shall become absolute and the occupant and all others interested in the land be forever barred from all right or title thereto. No conveyance made in pursuance of this section shall be recorded until the expiration of the time mentioned in such notice, and the evidence of the service of such notice shall be recorded with such conveyance.

§ 135. Certificate of nonredemption and completion of title.— Within one month after the service of any such notice, the grantee or person claiming under him, in order to complete his title to the land conveyed shall file with the comptroller a copy of the notice served, with the affidavit of a person, certified as credible by the officer before whom the affidavit is taken, that the notice was duly served specifying the mode of service. If the comptroller shall be satisfied that the proper notice has been duly served, and if the moneys required for the redemption of such land shall not have been paid within the six months, he shall under his hand and official seal, certify such facts, and the conveyance before made shall thereupon become absolute and the occupant and all others interested in such lands shall be forever barred from all right and title thereto.

§ 136. Redemption by occupant and certificate of redemption. The occupant, or any other person having an interest