Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 12.djvu/49

THE ELEMENT OF CHANCE IN LAND TITLE. . 29 (6) Distinct from the operation of lis pendens is the operation of a judgment. Title may, of course, be devested orquahfied by a judgment, as well as by deed. Yet, in many of the States, there is no provision for convenient notice of such judgments. In Massa- chusetts, notwithstanding the passage, in 1877, o^ ^^e lis pendens statute, no provision was made in respect of convenient notice of change of title by judgment until 1892, when such notice was re- quired to be filed in the registry of deeds ; ^ and even this statute would appear to reach only domestic judgments of the courts of Massachusetts. (7) The Federal lien for internal revenue taxes ^ is, at least in the East, ordinarily ignored. There are in this country thousands of landowners who are manufacturers of tobacco, or distillers, or brewers, and there must be frequent and important sales of land by them. All real estate, of whatever nature and wherever situated, owned by any such person, is subject to a lien for internal revenue taxes due from him.^ The tax rate is heavy, and a tax may, in a given case, amount to a large sum.^ The lien is not subject to State legislation, in respect of requirement of record notice,^ and is effectual as against an innocent purchaser for value." In the case last cited the facts were as follows : The defendant was, in 1878, a tobacco manufacturer in New Orleans, and became indebted for taxes in the sum of several thousand dollars. He was the owner of real estate in Louisiana. The Constitution of that State provided that no " privilege" on real estate should be effectual unless registered in a certain State office. It was not denied that the word '* privilege" included liens ; and the lien in question was not registered in accordance with the requirements of the State Constitution. In i88r,the tax remaining unpaid, Snyder sold and conveyed his property to an innocent purchaser. Four years later the United States began suit to enforce the lien, making the pur- chaser a defendant. It was contended that the lien was ineffectual as against the purchaser; but the court held otherwise, and en- forced it. (8) The matter of divorce has been alluded to above, with refer- ence to its bearing on dower and on the validity of subsequent marriage. There is another aspect of it, material to the question 1 St. 1892, c. 289. 2 U. S. Rev. Sts., § 3186, as amended by Act of March i, 1879, § 3 ; § 3207. 8 Sts. above cited. ♦ U. S. Rev. St., §§ 3251, 3368. fi United States v. Snyder, 149 U. S. 210. * Ibid.