WOODS
v.
FREEMAN
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A tax judgment against land was void because the court record failed to show the amount of taxes for which the judgment was rendered, lacking any mark, word, or character to indicate what the numerical figures represented. The Supreme Court affirmed that under Illinois law, a tax judgment is fatally defective without clear indication of the tax amount, and therefore properly excluded evidence of the judgment from jury consideration.
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Mr. Justice DAVIS delivered the opinion of the court, and after stating facts, proceeded thus:
There was no “ mark, word, or character” on the record of the judgment to indicate the amount of taxes for which it was rendered against the land, which was undoubtedly the rea • son why the court rejected the evidence.
In the construction of local statutes affecting the titles to real estate, this court recognizes the binding force of the interpretation given by the highest judicial tribunal of a State. This question has been expressly decided by the Supreme Court of Illinois. That court has held,* “ that a judgment for taxes-is fatally defective which fails to show the amount of tax for which it was rendered, and that the use of numerals, without some mark indicating for what they stand, is insufficient.” The judgment was therefore void, and the court was right in excluding the evidence from the jury.
Judgment is
Affirmed with costs.
*
Lawrence v. Fast, 20 Illinois, 340; Lane v. Bommelmann, 21 Id., 147.
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Ballard v. Hunter, 204 U.S. 241 (U.S. 1907)…ich we have already said or do not involve jurisdictional questions. Decree affirmed. Mr. Justice BbeweR concurs in the judgment. French v. Edwards, 13 Wall. 506, 514; Walker v. Turner, 9 Wheat. 541; Moore v. Brown, 11 How. 414; Woods v. Freeman, 1 Wall. 398; McClung v. Ross, 5 Wheat. 116; Thatcher v. Powell, 6 Wheat. 119; Gage v. Pumpelly, 115 U. S. 454; Dick v. Foraker, 155 U. S. 404.…
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Hunter Glover Co. v. Harvey Steel Prods. Corp. (W.D. Tenn. 1924)…ece of property and the value thereof as well as the amount of taxes due based upon such valuation, and that the matter should not be left to conjecture or inference. Furthermore, the Supreme Court of the United States has held in Woods v. Freeman, 68 U. S. 398, 17 L. Ed. 543, that the matter cannot be left to conjecture or inference, and that the use of numerals without some mark indicating for what they stand is insufficient. This case is cited but distinguished in Ballard v. Hunter, 204 U. S. 259, 27 S.…