by John Marshall Harlan

“ Of course, the defendant knew that ex parte affidavits, filed to procure a deed, would not be conclusive evidence in a suit between the owner of the land and the holder of the tax-title in respect to the notice of the tax-sale.
There is another circumstance not without weight. The agent and attorney of Gage, in his affidavit in support of the application for a deed, stated that there were them in existence 'the original memoranda of service of the respective parties making the same,' and that the affidavits of Westerfield, Bunker, and Taylor were correct, according to such memoranda. ”

“ If it be proper or necessary, under any circumstances, to serve notice of the sale upon the wife where the husband owns and occupies the land, and it is taxed in his name, no such circumstances are disclosed in the present case. ”

“ Under all the circumstances disclosed by the record, we are not prepared to say that the court below erred if it proceeded upon the ground-as it may well have done-that the proof failed to show satisfactorily or with sufficient certainty such notice by the purchaser or his assignee as the statute required before he could receive a deed. The right of an occupant of land sold for the non-payment of taxes or special assessments to personal notice of the fact of sale before the time of redemption expires is expressly given by the constitution of Illinois, and is fundamental ”