TAX SALE. A sale of lands for the non payment of taxes assessed thereon.
The power of sale does not attach until ev ery prerequisite of the law has been complied with ; Minor v. Natchez, 4 Smedes & M. (Miss.) 602, 43 Am. Dec. 488.
There must be a substantial complianc4 with the law authorizing the sale ; Marx v. Hanthorn, 148 U. S. 172, 13 Sup. Ct. 508, 37 L. Ed. 410.
There are important details connected with the auction itself and the duties of the offi cer intrusted with the conducting thereof. The sale must be a public, and not a private, one. The sale must take place at the precise time and place fixed by the law or notice. A tax sale is vitiated by a failure to give the notice required by law of the place where the sale will occur ; Henderson v. White, 69 Tex. 103, 5 S. W. 374.
The sale must be made to the highest bid der. This is the rule in Pennsylvania ; but in most of the states the highest bidder is he who will pay the taxes, interest, and costs due upon the tract offered for sale for the least quantity of it. The sale must be for
cash and must be according to the parcels and descriptions contained in the list and the other proceedings.
When a tract of land is assessed against tenants in common, and one of them pays the tax on his share, the interest of the other may be sold to satisfy the residue of the assessment.
Where several parcels of land belonging to the same person are separately assessed, each parcel is liable for its own specific tax and no more.
A tax sale is void if any portion of the tax for which it was made was illegal; Tillotson v. Webber, 96 Mich. 144, 55 N. W. 837 ; Gra ham v. Mortgage Co., 33 Fla. 356, 14 South. 796. See Culbertson v. Witbeck Co., 127 U. S. 326, 8 Sup. Ct. 1136, 32 L. Ed. 134; TAx DEED.