All judgments, orders, decrees and findings made prior to July 28, 1903, by any district court in the State of Nebraska, in any action wherein any county in the state prosecuted actions to foreclose tax liens and sell lots or lands in Nebraska for the taxes levied thereon and delinquent, without having first purchased a tax certificate from the county treasurer, but on the contrary were based solely on the taxes assessed and delinquent, and purported to have been bought for the county in its own behalf, and as trustee for the State of Nebraska and the several municipalities interested in such taxes, and all sheriff's deeds made in said proceedings, are legalized and made valid, to the same extent and purpose as though the statute had specifically authorized such foreclosures without the purchase of a treasurer's tax certificate.