William Burnham Woods

“ But under the Iowa law the purchaser at a tax sale, who can find no one in possession against whom to bring his suit, has a plain way to make his title indefeasible, and that is by taking possession himself. ”

“ The legislature might have declared that the title of the purchaser at the tax sale should be divested without his consent by the repayment to him within a prescribed period, by the former owner, of the amount of his bid, or the tax and the interest and penalty thereon. The right to redeem the title of lands sold for taxes is one commonly reserved, and the right is favored by the policy of the law. ”

“ The right of the legislature to prescribe what shall be the effect of a tax sale and deed cannot be questioned. The legislature of Iowa, in the enactments brought to our notice in this case, has exercised that right with great liberality to the purchaser at the tax sale. ”