444 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



the first section of the Fourteenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United 

 States. But the referee sustained the plaintiff's objection to the evidence, and directed judgment 

 for the plaintiff, which was accordingly rendered by the court, and affirmed by the Court of 

 Appeals. 145 N. Y. 451. The defendant sued out this writ of error. 



[October 18, 1897.] 

 Mr. Justice Gray, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court. 



On May 15, 1885, the legislature of New York, by the statute of 1885, c. 283, declared that 

 all the lands then owned or thereafter acquired by the State of New York within certain counties 

 (one of which was Franklin county) should constitute and be known as the Forest Preserve ; 

 and established a forest commission of three persons, styled forest commissioners, to " have the 

 care, custody, control and superintendence of the forest preserve," and "to maintain and 

 protect the forests now in the forest preserve, and to promote as far as practicable the further 

 growth of forests thereon "; and authorized them to appoint a warden and other officers, and 

 to exercise various powers to carry out its object. 



At the date of the passage of that statute, the time allowed by law for the redemption of 

 lands from sale by the Comptroller for nonpayment of taxes was two years from the time of sale. 

 New York Stat. 1855, c. 427, §50. 



On June 9, 1885, the legislature of the State passed the statute of 1885, c. 448, to take 

 immediate effect, which provided that all conveyances, thereafter executed by the Comptroller, 

 of lands, in the same counties, sold by him for non-payment of taxes and having been recorded 

 for two years in the clerk's office of the county in which the lands lay, should, " six 

 months after this act takes effect, be conclusive evidence that the sale and all proceedings prior 

 thereto, from and including the assessment of the land, and all notices required by law to be 

 given previous to the expiration of the two years allowed by law to redeem, were regular " and 

 as required by law ; but that all such conveyances and the taxes and tax sales on which they 

 were based, should "be subject to cancellation, as now provided by law, on a direct application 

 to the Comptroller, or in an action brought before a competent court therefor, by reason of the 

 legal payment of such taxes, or by reason of the levying of such taxes by a town or ward having 

 no legal right to assess the land on which they are laid." 



and all notices required by law to be given previous to the expiration of the two years allowed by law 

 to redeem, were regular and were regularly given, published and served according to the provisions of 

 this act, and all laws directing or requiring the same or in any manner relating thereto ; and all other 

 conveyances or certificates heretofore or hereafter executed or issued by the Comptroller, shall be 

 presumptive evidence of the regularity of all the said proceedings and matters hereinbefore recited, 

 and shall be conclusive evidence thereof from and after the expiration of two years from the date of 

 recording such other conveyances, or of four years from and after the date of issuing such other 

 certificates. But all of such conveyances and certificates and the taxes and tax sales on which they 

 are based shall be subject to cancellation, as now provided by law, on a direct application to the 

 Comptroller, or in an action brought before a competent court therefor by reason of the legal payment 

 of such taxes, or by reason of the levying of such taxes by a town or ward having no legal right to 

 assess the land on which they are laid. 



Sect. 2. The provisions of this act are hereby made applicable only to the following counties, 

 viz., Clinton, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saratoga, St. 

 Lawrence, Sullivan, Ulster, Warren and Washington, but shall not affect any action, proceeding or 

 application pending at the time of its passage; nor any action that shall be begun, proceeding taken 

 or application duly made within six months thereafter for the purpose of vacating any tax sale or any 

 conveyance or certificate of sale made thereunder. 



Sect. 3. This act shall take effect immediately. 



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