the surveyors receiving the same respectively shall cause to be personally served on the aforesaid persons respectively, or left at their usual places of abode; and shall cause an affidavit thereof, by the person serving or leaving the same as aforesaid, with the time of such service or leaving, to be immediately transmitted to the aforesaid collector: and if such persons being notified in manner aforesaid, shall not, within sixty days thereafter, pay the said taxes to the collector of the collection district where the said lands, dwelling houses, or slaves, shall be situated, or transmit to him a receipt for the said taxes in the manner herein provided, then the said collector shall proceed to collect the said tax by distress and sale as is herein directed: and if the persons owning or having the care and superintendence of any such lands, dwelling-houses or slaves, shall not be known, then the aforesaid collectors shall cause the said copies, statements and notifications to be published for sixty days in four gazettes of the state, if there be so many; after which publication, if the said taxes shall not be paid, the said collectors shall proceed to collect the same by distress and sale in the manner herein provided.
Sec. 12. Provided always, and be it further enacted,Taxes may be paid in the district where the possessor resides. That if any person owning, or having the superintendence or care of any dwelling-houses, lands, or slaves, in a collection district other than that in which he resides, and being served with such copy, statement and notification as is aforesaid, shall, within sixty days thereafter, pay the said taxes to the collector of the collection district within which he resides, and transmit a receipt therefor to the collector sending the said copy, statement and notification, such receipt shall be a discharge to the said last mentioned collector for the said taxes, and he shall thereupon forbear to collect them; and the collector giving such receipt shall become chargeable with the said taxes, and shall account therefor in the final settlement of the accounts of his collection.
Sec. 13. And be it further enacted,Lands and houses may be sold for taxes remaining unpaid for one year. That when any tax assessed on lands or houses, shall have remained unpaid for the term of one year, the collector of the collection district within which such land or houses may be situated, having first advertised the same for two months, in six different public places within the said district, and in two gazettes in the state, if there be so many, one of which shall be the gazette in which the laws of such state shall be published by authority if any such there be, shall proceed to sell at public sale, and under the direction of the inspector of the survey, either the dwelling house, or so much of the tract of land, (as the case may be) as may be necessary to satisfy the taxes due thereon; together with costs and charges, not exceeding at the rate of one per centum, for each and every month the said tax shall have remained due and unpaid. Provided,But the owner may redeem within two years. that in all cases, where any lands or tenements, shall be sold as aforesaid, the owner of the said lands or tenements, his heirs, executors or administrators, shall have liberty to redeem the same at any time within two years, from the time of sale, upon payment, or tender of payment, to the collector for the time being, for the use of the purchaser, his heirs or assignees of the amount of the said taxes, costs and charges, with interest for the same, at the rate of twelve per cent. per annum; and upon payment or tender of payment as aforesaid such sale shall be void. And no deed shall be given in pursuance of any such sale, until the time of redemption shall have expired.[1]- ↑ A collector selling land for taxes, must act in conformity with the law from which his power is derived; and the purchaser is bound to inquire whether he has so acted. It is incumbent on the vendee to prove the authority to sell. Stead’s Ex’rs v. Course, 4 Cranch, 403; 2 Cond. Rep. 151.Under the act of Congress to lay and collect a direct tax, (July 14, 1798,) before the collector could sell the land of an unknown proprietor, for the non-payment of the tax, it was necessary that he should advertise the copy of the lists of lands, &c., and the statement of the amount due for the tax; and the notification to pay, for sixty days, in four gazettes of the state, if there were so many. Parker v. Rule’s Lessee, 9 Cranch, 64; 3 Cond. Rep. 271.In the case of a naked power not coupled with an interest, every prerequisite to the exercise of that
