summon twelve suitable residents of the said township to be in attendance on such justice as jurors, at a place and on a day and hour, to be designated in the warrant, to make inquisition upon the view of the body of the person named therein, or of a person unknown as the case may be, how such person came to his death; and may, by endorsement on such warrant, or by subpoena, command the officer to whom the same is delivered to summon such witnesses as the justice may designate, or as the constable may be informed or have reason to believe have knowledge of the circumstances attending such death, to be in attendance upon the said inquest at such time as may be desig nated in such endorsement or subpoena. In case of the inability or failure of such justice or constable to act, any other justice or constable of the county may perform the respective duties imposed by this and the succeeding section, and be entitled to the same fees and subject to the same penalties. 2. The subsequent proceedings in any such case as is mentioned in the preceding section, shall be in accordance with and governed by the provisions of the third and following sections of the two hundred and second chapter of the Code of Virginia, second edition, except the last clause of the eleventh section, which is hereby repealed ; and except that the word "coroner," wherever it occurs, shall be construed to mean the justice who issued the warrant as aforesaid; the words "unlawful violence," in the sixth section to mean violence or other unlawful act; the words "county or corporation court," in the ninth section, to mean circuit court of the county in which the dead body was found; and the words "the court of the coroner's county or corporation," and the word "treasury," in the ninth section, to mean, respectively, the board of supervisors and the treasury of such county. For their services under this and the preceding section, the justice shall be entitled to a fee of five dollars, and the constable to a fee of three dollars, to be audited and paid from the treasury of such county as other claims are audited and paid. CHAP. 131.-An ACT for the collection of Taxes. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: 1. The taxes assessed in any county shall be collected by the sheriff or collector thereof. Each sheriff or collector shall commence his collection yearly on the first day of July, or as soon thereafter as he may receive a copy of the assessor's books, and may, after such time, make distress therefor when the tax-payer is about to remove the property from the county. 2. A person not residing in the county in which his land may lie, may, before the first day of October in any year, pay into the treasury, in advance, the taxes assessed on such land for such year, upon a certificate of the auditor, for which a fee of fifty cents shall be paid to that officer. A list of such payments shall be transmitted by said auditor, immediately after the first day of October, to the sheriffs or collectors of the counties wherein such lands shall be situated, who shall be governed accordingly. 3. It shall be the duty of the sheriff or collector to give notice by posting at the public place of meeting of the people of each township, and at two other public places in the township, for at least thirty days before the time appointed, that he will attend at such place, on three several days to be fixed by him, one of which, if practicable, shall be a day fixed for a public meeting of the people of said township, between the first day of September and the first day of November following, for the purpose of receiving taxes due by the people residing or paying taxes in said township, and that he will make a discount of two and a half per centum to all such persons as shall pay all their taxes on or before either of the said days, and not otherwise; which discount the said sheriff or collector shall allow out of the per centage allowed to him for collecting said taxes. 4. No distress shall be made for taxes or levies where the sheriff or collector has had more than two years to collect the same, except in counties where the collection of taxes is rendered unsafe or dangerous by reason of war or other like cause, unless it be for taxes returned delinquent and sent out by the auditor for collection, as provided by law. But a sheriff or collector of a former term may, notwithstanding the expiration of his term of office, by himself or his deputies, have the same powers of distress and sale as he possessed before said term expired, and which right of distress and sale shall continue for the term of two years from the time such right accrued, except in counties where the collection of taxes is rendered unsafe or dangerous by reason of war or other like cause; but no deputy shall be permitted to qualify for such collections after the principal's office has expired. 5. Any goods or chattles in the county belonging to the person or estate assessed with them, may be distrained therefor by the sheriff or collector, after the first day of November in each year. 6. The goods and chattels of the tenant or other person in possession, claiming under the party or estate assessed with taxes on land, may be distrained if found on the premises. But when taxes are assessed wholly to one person on a tract or lot of land, part of which ous become the freehold of another by a title recorded before the commencement of the year for which such taxes are assessed, the property belonging to the owner of that part shall not be distrained for more than a due proportion of said taxes. 7. Where taxes are assessed on a tract of land lying partly in one county and partly in another, the sheriff or collector of the county in which the taxes are so assessed, may distrain on that part of the land lying in the other county, in the same manner as if such part were in his own county. 8. No deed of trust or mortgage upon goods or chattles shall prevent the same from being distrained and sold for taxes assessed against the grantor in such deed, while such goods and chattels remain in the grantor's possession; nor shall any such deed prevent the goods and chattles conveyed from being distrained and sold for taxes assessed thereon, no matter in whose possession they may be found. 9. When the officer cannot find sufficent goods or chattels to distrain for taxes, any person indebted to or having in his hands estate of the party assessed with such taxes, may be applied to for payment thereof out of such debt or estate, and a payment by such person of the said taxes, either in whole or in part, shall entitle him to a charge or credit for so much on account of such debt or estate against the party so assessed. If the person applied to do not pay so much as it may seem to the officer ought to be recovered on account of the debt or estate in his hands, the officer shall, if the sum due for such taxes do not exceed one hundred dollars, procure from a justice a summons directing such person to appear before some justice at such time and place as may seem reasonable; and if the sum due exceed one hundred dollars, he shall procure from the clerk of the circuit court of the county a summons directing such person to appear before the cir cuit court for the county on the first day of the next term thereof. And from the time of the service of any such summons, the said taxes shall constitute a lien on the debt so due from such person, or on the said estate in his hands. 10. If such summons be returned executed, and the person so summoned do not appear, judgment shall be entered against him for the sum due for such taxes, and for the fees of the clerk and of the officer who executed the summons. 11. If the person so summoned appear, he shall be interrogated on oath, and such evidence may be heard as shall be adduced, and such judgment shall be rendered as upon the whole case may seem proper. 12. A tenant from whom payment shall be obtained by distress or otherwise, of taxes due from a person under whom he holds, shall have credit for the same against such person out of the rents he may owe him, except where the tenant is bound to pay such tax by an express contract with such person. 13. Where a tax is paid by a fiduciary on the principal, interest or profits of money of an estate laid out or invested, either under an order of court or otherwise, the tax shall be refunded out of such estate. 14. The sheriff or other collector, after ascertaining which of the taxes assessed in his county cannot be collected, shall as soon as practicable, in each year, after the first day of October, make out lists of three classes: First, a list of property on the assessor's land book improperly placed thereon, or not ascertainable, with the amount of taxes charged on such property; secondly, a list of other real estate which is delinquent for the non-payment of the taxes thereon; and thirdly, a list of such of the taxes so assessed, other than on real estate, as he is unable to collect; which lists shall designate the delinquencies of each township separately. Name of person. 15. In the lists mentioned in the preceding section, the names of the persons charged with the taxes, shall be placed alphabetically. The list mentioned secondly, shall be in the following form: "List of real estate in the county of · delinquent for the non-pay And the sheriff or collector returning such list, shall at the foot thereof make and subscribe the following oath: "I, A. B., sheriff (or collector) of the county of do swear, that the foregoing list is, I verily believe, correct and just; that I have received no part of the taxes for which the real estate therein mentioned is returned delinquent ; and that I have used due diligence to find property within my county liable to distress for the said taxes, but have found none." 16. The lists mentioned first and thirdly in the fourteenth section, shall each of them be verified by the oath of the sheriff or collector, and a copy of that mentioned thirdly, shall be posted at the front door of the court house of the county, on a court day, or during the sitting of the board of supervisors next preceding or during the term, or sitting, at which the list may be presented to the board of supervisors. 17. If by reason of war or other like cause, it be rendered unsafe and dangerous to collect the taxes in any portion of any of the counties within the regular period for the collection of the same, the sheriff or collector shall make out lists of such taxes; not collected from such cause, as provided for in sections fourteen and fifteen, and return the same as required in said sections for other lists; and the sheriffs or collectors of the present year, or of any former term, may, notwithstanding the expiration of their term of office, by themselves or their deputies, make out such lists and return the same at any time within six months after the passage of this act. 18. Each of the before named lists shall be presented to the board of supervisors of the county, and examined by said board. The board having become satisfied of the correctness of the said lists, or having corrected them if erroneous, shall direct their clerk to certify copies thereof to the auditor, and a copy of the first mentioned, to the assessor, who shall correct his books accordingly. The original lists shall be preserved by the clerk in his office. After the said copies are so certified, the sheriff or collector shall not receive any of the taxes mentioned in the said lists, but they may be paid into the treasury, or the personal property tax may be paid to the county treasurer, who shall be accountable therefor in like manner as for any revenues or taxes that may come into his hands. 19. Any officer who shall return in any such list real estate, persons or property, as delinquent for the non-payment of taxes, when such taxes, or any part thereof shall have been actually received by him, shall forfeit, if the return was by design, ten times the amount of taxes so actually received, and if the return was by mistake, twice the amount; one half of which forfeiture shall in each case be to the State, and the other half to the persons charged with such taxes. And any such officer who shall return in such list any real estate, persons or property as delinquent, when he had either found or might have found sufficient property within his bailiwick liable to distress for the taxes for which such real estate, persons or property are returned delinquent, shall forfeit to the State a sum equal to five times the amount of the said taxes. 20. The copies of the lists directed to be certified to the auditor, shall be placed by the clerk in a sealed enclosure directed to that officer, and delivered to the sheriff or collector by whom the lists were returned. The auditor shall credit the sheriff or collector with the amount of taxes mentioned in such lists, if the said lists be presented at his office before the first day of May next after the said taxes were assessed, or within six months after the passage of this act, but not otherwise. 21. The lists required by the fourteenth section of this act to be made out by the sheriff or collector, shall not be allowed unless they have been first submitted to the assessor for the district to which they relate, or in case of his death, to some other assessor, or a commissioner to be appointed by the board of supervisors, or the clerk of the said board, touching the propriety of such lists, and each case therein contained verified by the oath of the sheriff or collector. Copies of the second and third lists heretofore returned, and of the third list mentioned in the said section, when it shall hereafter be allowed, shall be placed by the auditor in the hands of any sheriff or collector of any county for collection, to be returned within one year thereafter, and accounted for as other assessed taxes; or if the auditor see fit, he may place such copy in the hands of any constable as collector, who shall have the same power of distress as sheriffs or collectors, and shall ac· count for the same in like manner, and he and his securities shall be subject to all such remedies as are given the state against sheriffs for failure to pay; and his compensation shall not exceed twenty per cen tum of the amount collected and paid into the treasury. 22. The list mentioned in the seventeenth section of this act shall be returned by the auditor to the sheriff or his successor, whenever the obstructions to the collection of the taxes therein contained shall be removed, who shall proceed to collect and account for the same, as in other cases. |