Chap. 548.—An ACT to provide for the sale of lands delinquent for
taxes and county levies.

Approved March 19, 1884.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the auditor of public accounts be and he is hereby author-
ized and instructed to cause all real estate in his state, delin-
quent for state, county and municipal taxes to be sold in ac-
cordance with the laws now in force, except so far as the said
laws may be changed and amended by the provisions of this
act.

2. On or before the first day of July, eighteen hundred and
eighty-five, the auditor of public accounts shall cause to be
delivered to the treasurer of each county or municipal corpo-
ration in the commonwealth, a list of the real estate therein,
which since the first day of April, eighteen hundred and
sixty-five, shall have been returned delinquent for the non-
payment of state taxes and county levies for all purposes
thereon, and on which state and county taxes remain unpaid,
with a statement showing, in different columns, in such form
as may be prescribed by the said auditor, the amount due
for such taxes on each tract or lot so returned delinquent for
each year, and for interest on such taxes, whether or not the
same has heretofore been sold and purchased by the common-
wealth, and the said auditor shall employ such additional
clerical force to prepare the said lists as he may deem suffi-
cient, at a salary not exceeding that now paid the clerks in his
office for similar services.

3. The clerk of each county court shall forward to the
auditor of public accounts, as soon as may be, but not later
than July first, cighteen hundred and eighty-four, a state-
ment of the rate of taxation on lands assessed for all county
purposes, road tax, school and district tax, and any special
tax for each and every year from eighteen hundred and sixty-
five to eighteen hundred and cighty-three, both inclusive, and
as soon as the auditor of public accounts shall receive from
the respective clerks of the county courts the said statement
of the rate of taxation assessed for county purposes, he shall
cause to be entered on the list of lands delinquent for state
taxes, in appropriate columns, the taxes for all counties for
which said lands are delinquent, treating all lands delinquent
for state taxes, as also delinquent for county taxes, subject to
such correction as the party liable for the tax shall show
himself entitled to.

4, Within thirty days after receiving such lists from the
auditor of public accounts, the treasurer shall make out, or
cause to be printed, at least four copies thereof, upon or in
conformity with blanks to be furnished him by the said
auditor, and set up one of them at the front door of the court-
house, on the first day of the next county or corporation
court, and one of said lists he shall cause to be posted at two
ot the most public places in his county or corporation, and
elsewhere therein, if he shall deem it proper so to do; to each
copy he shall subjoin a notice, that the real estate therein
mentioned, or so much thereof as shall be sufficient to satisfy
the taxes on the same and the interest, and commissions of
five per centum to the treasurer, will be sold at public auc-
tion, between the hours of ten in the morning and four in
the evening, on the first day of the court of his county or
corporation, which is held after said notice shall have been
so posted twenty days, designating in said notice, said time,
at the front of the courthouse thereof, unless the said taxes,
interest, and commissions shall be previously paid. One of
said copies he shall return to the clerk’s office of his county
or corporation court, which shall be preserved by the clerk,
and shall be accepted as conclusive evidence of the proper
advertisement of the lands or lots therein mentioned, should
the regularity of such advertisement be thereafter drawn in
question in any court: provided that such lists and notice
shall, if ordered by the court of the county or corporation in
which such real estate lies, be advertised in some convenient
newspaper for two successive wecks, the expense of which
shall be apportioned among the delinquents, according to the
amount of taxes due by them respectively.

5. After the auditor of public accounts shall have sent
such lists to the treasurer for any county or corporation, he
shall not reccive any taxes embraced in said list, but the
same may be paid to the treasurer of such county or corpora-
tion prior to the day of sale.

6. If the taxes, interest and commissions be not previously
paid, the said treasurer shall proceed to make sale of all the
lands returned delinquent for taxes, or so much of each tract
as may be necessary, in the discretion of the treasurer, for
cash, accordingly, and the sale may be adjourned from day
to day, and proceed between the hours aforesaid, until it shall
be completed. If, however, the sale be not completed on the
last day of the court, it shall be adjourned until the first day
of the next court; it may then proceed and be adjourned in
like manner as at the previous term. Whenever there is an
adjournment to the next court, notice thereof shall be given
by proclamation to the bystanders then present, and it shall
not be necessary, in any court, when the regularity of such
sale is drawn in question, for any purchaser at such sale, or
the commonwealth, to prove that such adjournment was
regularly made.

7. The treasurer, on or before the first day of sale required
under this act, is fully authorized and empowered, upon
proper evidence adduced before him, to correct any error that
may appear in the lists of delinquents, by allowing to the
claimant or owner of such lands or lots credit for any pay-
ment of taxes made by him to the proper officer for the year
or years for which said lands were returned delinquent. The
treasurer shall make out correct lists in such form as the
auditor may prescribe, of all errors corrected by him under
this section, which he shall return to the court of his county
or corporation on the first day of the next term, after such
corrections are made, and the court, if satisfied of the cor-
rectness of said list, shall order a copy of the list, to be cer-
tified to the auditor of public accounts, who shall correct the
list recorded in the book provided for in section two ac-
cordingly.

8. The treasurer conducting the sale shall not, directly or
indirectly, purchase any real estate sold. If he does, he shall
forfeit fifty dollars for every such purchase, and the same
shall be null and void.

9. The treasurer, on receiving from any purchaser the
amount of purchase moncy, shall grant to him a receipt for
the same, in such form as may be prescribed by the auditor,
showing date of sale, name of person charged with taxes for
which the land was returned delinquent, quantity of land
charged with taxes, local description of land, amount of state
taxes due, with interest and commissions, amount of county
taxes duc, with interest and commissions, quantity of land
sold, and description of same, name of purchaser, and amount
of purchase money; and the auditor shall furnish the several
treasurers blank forms of such receipts.

10. For a receipt made out according to the said form and
signed by the treasurer, he shall be entitled to receive from
the purchaser a fee of twenty-five cents.

11. The treasurer shall make out a list of all the sales,with
the following caption:

List of real estate within the county (or corporation) of
, 8old in the month of —————, eighteen hundred
, for the non-payment of taxes thereon for the

and

years

Underneath shall be the several columns mentioned in the
second section, with the additional columns showing the date
of sale.

12. Subjoined to the said list shall be the following oath:

I, A B, treasurer (or deputy treasurer) of the county (or
corporation) of —, do swear that the above list con-
tains a true account of all the real estate within my county
(or corporation) which has been sold by me during the
present year for the non-payment of taxes, and that I am
not directly or indirectly interested in the purchase of the
said real estate. So help me God. Which oath shall be
taken and subscribed before a justice or notary public.

13. Before the auditor of public accounts shall deliver the
list mentioned in the first section, he shall cause the same to
be carefully and legibly recorded in a well-bound book kept
in his office for the purpose. In addition to the columns
prescribed by section two of this act, the said book shall con-
tain additional columns for showing amount and description
of land or lot sold, name of purchaser and amount paid.

14. Upon receipt by the auditor of public accounts of the
lists of sales from the treasurer of any county, or corporation,
he shall cause so much thereof as relates to three last col-

umns of the foregoing section to be recorded in a book de-
scribed in said section.

15. The auditor of public accounts shall prescribe the form
of the deed to be executed by the clerk, in pursuance of sec-
tion twenty of chapter thirty-cight, of the Code of eighteen
hundred and seventy-three, and the recitals of the said deed
shall be held as conclusive evidence of all the facts therein
stated in all courts wherein the regularity of the sale of the
land conveyed therein shall be brought in question.

16. No irregularity, omission, or error, in returning said
lands delinquent, or in complying with the forms required by
law, shall in any manner vitiate or affect the sales provided
for by this act, and the lien created by the assessment of said
lands for taxes is hereby confirmed, notwithstanding any
such irregularities.

17. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed.

18. This act skall be in force from its passage.