State v. Snyder

Summary

The State filed a bill to sell a 1,000-acre Randolph County tract as forfeited for non-entry in the names of William A. and Henry Snyder, while the Snyders sought redemption and Eli M. Upton claimed title under a chain rooted in an 1870 tax sale to T. F. Cherry. The circuit court dismissed the bill and adjudged title in Upton. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that section 29 of chapter 31 of the Code estops the State from claiming the former owner's forfeited title against the tax-deed grantee, even if the deed is void as to the former owner, because the statute makes the deed conclusive against all persons except the former owner and those claiming under him, a class that must be construed to include the State. The decree for Upton was held clearly right, though on a different ground than the one adopted below.