by John Marshall Harlan

“ If Congress had intended to prescribe a formal suit in equity as the only mode by which the government could sell real estate upon which it had a lien for internal revenue taxes, and upon which private parties also had liens by mortgage or deed of trust, it would have done so in clear words, particularly as Congress knew at the time of the then-existing remedy by distraint. ”

“ We are clear that whatever the legal effect of the fact, it must be taken that the lien of the United States for its unpaid taxes attached before the trust deed was executed and recorded. That the government acquired a lien on the property in question after the failure of the distiller to pay, upon demand, the taxes due to the United States, is too manifest, under the words of the statute, to admit of doubt. ”

“ In that case the principal question was, What title passed by a collector's sale for delinquent taxes due from a distiller who held, at the time of sale, only a leasehold interest in the property seized? It was held that the collector could only sell by distraint the interest of the distiller, and that his deed to the purchaser should be regarded as conveying only such interest as the collector was entitled to sell; the court, in that case, recognizing the right of the government to enforce by distraint whatever lien it had for unpaid taxes, subject to the rights of other lienholders. ”