however remote from the intestate the common degree of consanguinity may be. If all the brothers and sisters of the intestate be living, the inheritance will descend to such brothers and sisters; if any of them be living, and any be dead, then to the brothers and sisters and every of them who are living, and to the descendants of such brothers and sisters as shall have died; so that each brother or sister who shall be living, shall inherit such share as would have descended to him or her, if all the brothers and sisters of the intestate who shall have died leaving issue, had been living, and so that such descendants shall inherit the share which their parent would have received if living.

In respect to the other lineal descendants of the brothers and sisters of the intestate, to the remotest degree, it is provided that the same law of inheritance shall prevail. [Id., Sec. 91.] But if there be no heir entitled to take under any of the above provisions, and the inheritance came to the intestate on the part of the father, the same descends to the father's brothers and sisters and their heirs; or if it came to the intestate on the part of the mother, the inheritance will descend to the mother's brothers and sisters and their heirs. In either case, if the parent through whom the estate came to the intestate, have no brothers or sisters, nor descendants of brothers or sisters, the estate will go to the brothers and sisters of the other parent, and to their descendants. [Id., Sec. 11, 12.] Where the estate came from neither the father or mother of the intestate, then the brothers and sisters of both will take in equal shares the same as if they were brothers and sisters of the intestate. If any be dead, their descendants inherit the share that their parent would have received if living. [Id., Sec. 13.] If the intestate shall have been an illegitimate, and shall have died without issue, his mother, or if she be dead, the relatives on the part of his mother, inherit the estate. [Id., Sec. 14.]

Relatives of the half blood inherit equally with those of

the whole blood, and the same rule applies to their descendants; unless the inheritance came by descent, devise, or gift of some one of his ancestors, in which case all who are not of the blood of such ancestor, are excluded. Posthumous children inherit the same as if born in the life-time of the intestate and had survived him. [Id., Sec. 18.] Illegitimate children and relatives cannot inherit under any of the foregoing provisions, as they are said to have no inheritable blood. [4 Kent, 400.]

XXI. LAND TAXES IN NEW-YORK.

All lands in the State, except such as belong to the State, or the United States, public library associations, or whereon colleges, academies, seminaries, churches, schools, courthouses, jails, poor-houses, alms-houses, houses of industry, of refuge and for correction are erected, are subject to taxation. The levy is made by the Board of Supervisors of each county, and the rate bill is apportioned from the assessment rolls prepared by the Assessors of towns, between the first days of May and July in each year. In preparing assessment rolls the Assessors are required to enter thereon the name of every taxable inhabitant in the town, with the quantity and full value of the land to be taxed to each person, together with all non-resident lands, properly described and distinguished. [1 R. S., 382.]

The statute requires the assessment rolls to be completed on or before the first day of September, in every year, and a fair copy thereof to be made and left with one of their number; and notices setting forth that such Assessors have completed the roll, and that a copy has been left with one of their number, naming him, at some place to be specified therein, where the same may be seen and examined by any inhabitant of the town or ward for twenty days, and that at the expiration thereof, the Assessors will review their assessments on the application of any person conceiving himself

aggrieved, to be posted in three public places in the town. [Id., 384, Sec. 19.] At the time and place specified in the notice, the Assessors are required to meet and review their assessments, and to alter and correct the same on due proof of any error therein, and upon the completion thereof to certify to their correctness, and deliver the roll to the Supervisor of their town before the first day of October, who is required to deliver the same to the Board of Supervisors at their next meeting, which is on the second Tuesday of November, in each year. [Id., 20 to 27.]

The Board of Supervisors of each county, at their annual meeting, are required to examine the rolls of the several towns, and to equalize the same, so that the valuations in one town shall bear a just relation to those in another; and also to determine the amount of money to be levied for State, county and town purposes, to apportion the same among the several towns of the county, and to prepare, sign, and cause to be delivered to the several Collectors of towns, warrants for the collection thereof. [Id., 28 to 31.]

The Collector, upon receiving any warrant for the collection of taxes, is required to cause notices of the reception thereof to be posted up in five public places in the ward or town, designating therein some central and convenient place in such town, where he will attend from nine o'clock in the forenoon, till four o'clock in the afternoon, at least once in each week for thirty days, on a day also to be specified in such notice, for the purpose of receiving payment of taxes; at which time and place he is required to attend accordingly, and receive any taxes offered to be paid, with one per cent. fees. And if any taxes remain unpaid, at the expiration of said thirty days, it is then his duty to proceed and collect the same of the several and respective persons named in the tax list, with five per cent fees. [Sess. Laws 1845, 189.] On the first day of February next succeeding the time when he shall have received his warrant, he is required to pay over

the money collected to, and settle with, the County Treasurer of his county. [1 R. S., 386, Sec. 37.]

It is further provided, that in case any person shall refuse or neglect to pay the tax imposed on him, the Collector shall levy the same by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the person who ought to pay the same, or of any goods and chattels in his possession, wheresoever the same may be found within the district of the Collector, and that no claim of property made by any other person shall be effectual to prevent a sale. In default of payment or collection of taxes on any farm assessed to a resident, the Collector is required to return the same to the Supervisor, who will cause the same to be added to the assessment of the following year. [Id., 392, Sec. 27.] If the taxes of non-resident lands are not paid to the Collector in the life-time of his warrant, the amount thereof is required to be credited to the Collector, by the County Treasurer, who thereupon and before the first day of April ensuing, is required to transmit a certificate thereof to the Comptroller of the State, who, thereupon, is required to credit the county with the amount of said taxes in his account with such county, for taxes due the State. [Id., Sec. 30.]

"Whenever any tax, charged on lands returned to the Comptroller, and the interest thereon shall remain unpaid for two years from the first day of May following the year in which the same was assessed, the Comptroller shall proceed to advertise and sell such land in the manner hereinafter pro[vided. Id., Sec. 52.]

Taxes are perpetual liens upon real estate, and take precedence of all other incumbrances.

XXII. LAND TAX FORFEITURES AND REDEMPTIONS IN NEW-YORK.

A forfeiture of lands is the penalty of non-payment of land taxes and neglect of redemption. It however is rather the

result of a valid conveyance by the Comptroller, and a compliance with the statute by the purchaser, than of any law declaring such penalty. The people, through their organs, having the right to impose taxes upon lands, and to transfer the same to a stranger, in case of non-payment of such tax by the owner, a forfeiture is wrought out for the latter as destructive to his interests as any which might have been, in terms, declared. The forfeiture is not absolute until title in another through the Comptroller's deed becomes perfect. If the owner have neglected to pay his taxes to the Collector, he may pay them to the County Treasurer, at any time before he shall have made his returns thereof to the Comptroller, and to the State Treasurer thereafter within two years from the ensuing first day of May, or before actual sale by the Comptroller. If payment be not then made, the sale takes place under the sixty-third section of title three of chapter thirteen of the Revised Statutes, which is as follows: "On the day mentioned in the notices, the Comptroller shall commence the sale of such lands, and shall continue the same from day to day until so much of each parcel assessed shall be sold as will be sufficient to pay the taxes, interest, and charges thereon. The purchasers at such sales, shall pay the amount of their respective bids to the Treasurer, within forty-eight hours after the sale; and if any such purchaser shall refuse or neglect to pay the same within that time, the Comptroller shall state an account against him, and shall deliver it to the Attorney General, who shall be entitled to recover the same from the purchaser by auction, in the name of the People of this State; and for that purpose, he shall forthwith cause a suit to be instituted therefor. After such payment shall have been made, the Comptroller shall give to the purchaser of any such lands, a certificate in writing, describing the lands purchased, the sum paid, and the time when the purchaser will be entitled to a deed." But, as has been intimated, the owner or occupant, or any other person,