Castillo v. McConnico, 168 U.S. 674 (1898)

Castillo v. McConnico

No. 48

Argued October 19-20, 1897
Decided January 8, 1898
168 U.S. 674

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA

Syllabus

This action was brought and prosecuted to final judgment in the state courts of. Louisiana. Its object was to recover land in New Orleans which had been sold for nonpayment of taxes and had passed from the purchaser at the tax sale by sundry mesne conveyances to the defendant. The grounds on which it was sought to avoid the sale were alleged defects in the statement of the name and of the sex of the owner in the advertisements of sale. The judgment of the trial court was in favor of the defendant, and that judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state. Touching the objections made to the proceedings the latter court said:

The act of 1884 makes the deed conclusive of the sufficiency of the assessment of the property sold under it. The question of the competency of this legislation in this respect has been before this court on repeated occasions. The argument now addressed to us against the constitutionality and interpretation of the act must be viewed as directed against a series of decisions of this court. To those decisions we must adhere.

It was claimed in argument here that, though no federal question was directly raised in the trial in the state court, one was necessarily involved in the decision. Held that this Court had no jurisdiction to review the decision of the supreme court of the state.

The case is stated in the opinion.