State Ex Rel. Mahaffey v. Batson ( 1945 )

•On petition for rehearing:

We are asked to review our holding that the relator is not entitled to have the real estate involved back-faxed for the years 1942, 1943 and 1944, and the case of Stiles v. Layman, 127 W. Va. 507, 33 S. E. 2d 601, is cited in support of relator’s petition for rehearing. It is true that in that case we held that a transfer had been effected under Section 3 of Article XIII of our Constitution by five years’ possession and payment of taxes, one year’s payment of taxes having been made through back-taxing. We think that case is distinguishable from the case at bar. Here, the relator has not paid the taxes for the years mentioned, and asks to do so through the employment of a method which, in our opinion, is not warranted by statute law or otherwise. The decision in the Stiles case, while recognizing and giving effect to an irregular payment of taxes, does not, in our judgment, justify the contention made that we are thereby bound to recognize the legal right of a claimant to have land back-taxed so that he may thereafter pay taxes. -