By clerks of circuit, county,

courts

list of all deeds for the partition and conveyance of land (except deeds of trust and mortgages made to secure the payment of debts), which may have been admitted to record in the clerk's office of such court, within the year ending on the thirty-first day of December preceding, which list shall state the date of the deed, when admitted to record, the names of grantors and grantees, the quantity of land conveyed, the specified value thereof, and a description of the same.

18. The clerk of every circuit, county, and corporation court, and corporation shall make out a list of all judgments and decrees for the partition or recovery of lands which may have been rendered, and of all lands absolutely devised by wills, which may have been recorded in such court within the same and the next preceding year, which list shall state the date of the decree, the land which is the subject of the partition, and between whom, and in what proportion it is divided, and the date of the will containing the devise; when admitted to record, the names of the devisor and devisee, and a description of the land devised.

What lists to be transmitted to auditor, &c

Collateral in

heritances and

19. Every list mentioned in either of the two preceding sections, shall, immediately after the fifteenth day of January, be transmitted to the auditor of public accounts, and a copy thereof delivered by the clerk to the commissioner for his county or corporation; or, if there be more commissioners than one, the clerk shall deliver to each a copy, or at least so much thereof as relates to lands within the district of each. If any clerk shall fail for one month after the expiration of the said year to perform any of the duties required of him by this section, or either of the two next preceding sections, he shall for such failure forfeit one hundred dollars.*

20. If any estate of a decedent shall, under his will or by descent, devises to be re- pass to any person other than his lineal descendants, or to his ported by cl'ks father, mother, husband, wife, or sister, or to or for their use, the clerk of the court in which the will is recorded, and the clerk of the court of the county or corporation in which such estate is situated, or in which the persons, or any of them, taking the same reside, upon ascertaining the fact, shall report the same to the proper commissioner of the revenue, and the judge of the court of probate shall examine the will, and inform the clerk as to such estate, if any such there be, liable to taxation under this section. On such estate the commissioner shall, in addition to the annual tax, charge a specific tax to the person or persons taking under the will or by descent as aforesaid.†

*It is alleged that many of the irregularities in the land books grow out of the failure of the clerks to furnish the lists required in these sections. It is earnestly hoped that this matter will receive the attention its importance demands. The penalty for failing to comply with the provisions of either section is $100.

†The attention of judges of the several courts of this commonwealth is respectfully called to a provision of this section, which requires them to "examine the

office

21. An abstract shall be made out by the register of the land Abstracts to be furnished by office on or before the fifteenth day of January of each year, or as register of land soon thereafter as practicable, for the auditor of public accounts, and for each county or corporation, of all grants issued for lands therein from his office within the year ending the thirty-first day of December preceding. The register shall direct every such abstract, other than that for the auditor, to the commissioner of the revenue for the proper county or corporation; and where, in any county, there are more commissioners than one, the register shall direct a copy of the abstract for such county to the clerk of the county court for each commissioner therein. The same shall be directed to the proper courthouse, and mailed within one month after the expiration of said year; and the register shall pay the postage, and receive credit therefor, in his settlement with the auditor.

22. Any person interested may also procure, at his cost, a state- Parties interested may proment of any such grant, judgment, decree, or devise, and deliver cure such abthe same to the proper assessor or commissioner.

Form of land book.

stracts

23. The commissioner shall make out his land book in such form Form of land book as the auditor of public accounts may prescribe. And the auditor shall so arrange such book, that it may show in one table the tracts of land, and in a separate table the town lots, and the district, city, or town in which they are located, as follows, to wit:

What is to be shown in the table of tracts of land.

lands in coun

24. In the table of tracts of land, the commissioner shall enter What table of each tract separately, and set forth in as many separate columns as ties to contain may be necessary, the name of the person who, by himself, or his tenant, has the freehold in possession, his place of residence, the nature of his estate, whether in fee or for life, the number of acres in the tract, the name of the tract, if it has a name, and a description of it with reference to contiguous tracts, or to the water courses, mountains, or other places, on or near which it lies, the distance and bearing from the courthouse, the value of the land per acre, including buildings, the value of the lands and buildings, the sum included in the value on account of buildings, the amount of tax on the whole tract at the legal rate, and from whom, when, and how the owner derived the land, where this is known, with a note and explanation of any alteration made, showing why, and upon what authority it was made.

will" when offered for probate, and inform the clerk whether there be any estate devised by it liable to the collateral inheritance tax.

What table of town lots to contain

Changes to be noted by commissioners

To enter lands appearing on register's abstract

Real estate sold

for taxes to be noted

What is to be shown in table of town lots.

25. In the table of town lots he shall enter separately each lot, and shall set forth in as many separate columns as may be necessary, the name of the person, his residence and estate, as in the table of tracts of land. The commissioner shall set forth in other columns the number of each lot in the town, with the name of the town, if not previously placed in the caption or heading of the table, a description, where the person does not own the whole lot,. of the part which he owns, the value of the buildings on the lot, the value of the lot, including buildings, the amount of tax at the legal rate, and like notice of the source of the title, and explanation of alterations as in the table of tracts of land.

What changes in commissioner's land book shall be made.

26. Such changes as may happen within the district, city, or town of any commissioner, shall be noted by him in his land book; and for each failure to make explanatory notes of such changes, and showing why and upon what authority such change was made, the commissioner shall forfeit not less than twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, and in addition thereto may have his pay suspended until such notes are so made.*

27. He shall enter in the said book, and assess the value of all lands in his district, city, or town, appearing by the register's abstract to have been granted. If he shall fail to enter any grant (mentioned in the register's abstract) on the first land book made out after the abstract shall have been received by him, he shall for such failure forfeit twenty dollars to the commonwealth, and a like sum to the grantee, which shall be recoverable in a separate proceeding.

28. When real estate is sold for taxes to individuals, or is purchased for the commonwealth at a sale for taxes, the commissioner shall note on his land book the number of acres sold, and to whom, but shall continue the whole tract of land upon his land book in the name of the former owner, until the purchaser obtains a deed therefor, or until the owner shall redeem the same from the commonwealth. The owner shall not be permitted to redeem the said land until he shall produce evidence to the auditor that he has paid all the taxes due thereon which have accrued subsequent to Relief provided said sale; and when real estate has been sold as aforesaid, and the present owner claims that there is error in the return of such lands as delinquent, and the sale thereof which has not been or could not be corrected under the twenty fifth section of chapter three hundred and ninety-one of the Acts of the General Assembly of

for owner of land on com

plaint of error

* Explanatory notes should be made in the column on the margin of each page of the land book.

eighteen hundred and seventy-two and seventy-three, it shall be lawful for said claimant or owner to file his petition before the county court of his county, in which shall be set out the errors which he desires to be corrected; and if it appear to said court from proper evidence adduced before it, that the taxes due upon said real estate for the year or years for which said estate had been so returned delinquent were paid at the time, either by the petitioner, or those from whom he derived title, and that the taxes subsequently accruing thereon have all been regularly paid, it shall be lawful for said county court to make such order as may be right in the premises, to protect alike the interests of the state and the rights of the owner thereof; but when at said sale, a person other than the commonwealth become the purchaser thereof, said purchaser shall have notice of the filing of said petition, and unless the present owner shall have paid to the purchaser the amount of purchase money, with interest thereon in the time required by law, no order shall be made affecting the rights of said purchaser, unless it appear that the taxes had been actually paid for the year or years for which he so purchased it. The county treasurer, commissioner Notice to treasof the revenue, and attorney for the commonwealth, shall have sioner of revenotice of the filing of said petition; and no order made by the nue, and attorcounty court shall have any validity, unless it appear in said order monwealth that the commonwealth's attorney appeared and defended the interests of the state. The county judge shall certify an order made under this section to the auditor of public accounts.

urer, commis

ney for com

How land di

vided in parcels among several owners to be

dissatisfied owner

29. The lands appearing on the lists or statements mentioned in Transfers, how charged the seventeenth, eighteenth, and twenty-first sections of this act, shall be transferred accordingly on the land book, and charged to the person to whom the transfer is made or the grant has issued. 30. When a tract or lot becomes the property of different owners in several parcels, the value at which the whole has been assessed shall be divided by the commissioner amongst the several parcels, Passessed having regard to the value of each parcel compared with that of the whole tract or lot, and the tax upon the whole shall be apportioned accordingly amongst the owners of the different parcels. If any per- Remedy for son interested shall be dissatisfied with such apportionment, he may apply to the commissioner to make a reassessment, and the commissioner shall make the same according to the best of his skill and judgment. Any person feeling himself aggrieved by any such reassessment, may apply to the court of the county or corporation to review the commissioner's decision, which court may affirm the same or order it to be corrected. Ten days' notice shall Notice be given, in writing, to the parties in interest, or such of them as may be in the county or corporation, before the commissioner shall proceed to make such reassessment, or before such application shall be made to the court to review the commissioner's decision.

Where surface

is owned by one

or oil, by another, how assessed

31. If the surface of land is held by one person, and the mineand minerals, rals, mineral water, or oil under the surface be held in fee simple mineral water, by another, the commissioner shall determine the relative value of each, and shall assess the respective owners with the value of their respective interests; but if minerals, mineral water, or oil are being mined or worked, they shall not be assessed with taxes under the provisions of this section. If the surface and minerals, mineral water, or oil be owned by the same person, and the minerals, mineral water, or oil are being mined and worked, the commissioner shall ascertain the value of the land, exclusive of the minerals, mineral water, or oil, by reference to the assessed value of contiguous lands for agricultural purposes, and assess the same at such ascertained value. The commissioner shall make the assessment under the provisions of the acts referred to in section fourteen of this act, providing for the reassessment of lands throughout the commonwealth.

Mistakes in books to be corrected

Changes on

where chargeable to estate; what liable for tax

32. Every commissioner, in making out his land book, shall correct any mistake made in any entry therein. But land which has been correctly charged to one person shall not afterwards be charged to another without evidence of record that such charge is proper, except in cases arising under the provisions of the next succeeding section.

33. When the owner dies intestate, the commissioner may ascerdeath of owner; tain who are the heirs of the intestate, and charge the land to such heirs. When the owner has devised the land absolutely, the commissioner may charge the land to such devisee. If, under the will, the land is to be sold, it shall continue charged to the decedent's estate until a transfer thereof. While it continues charged to the estate, the personal property shall be liable for the tax on all so charged, and subject to distress or other lawful process for the recovery of the same. Any assets in the hands of the personal representatives of the decedent shall be likewise liable therefor.

Errors correct

ed where lands

and assessed in another

34. If land lying in one district, city, or town, be erroneously lie in one place assessed in another, the commissioner on whose book it is erroneously assessed, shall certify the owner's name, and the quantity, description, and value of the land to the proper commissioner, who shall enter the same on his book and charge the tax thereon, and the commissioner on whose book it was erroneously entered, shall strike the same therefrom upon being advised of the entry thereof by the proper commissioner.

Tracts lying in different dis

tricts of different counties, how assessed

35. Tracts of land containing more than two thousand acres, lying partly in a district of one county and partly in that of another, shall have the quantity lying in each county estimated by the commissioner of said district; and the quantity estimated as lying in each of said districts, shall be entered by the commissioner of each of such districts respectively: provided that all tracts of land containing two thousand acres or less, lying partly in a district of one