then the Christian name. Finally, the name of the grantee. The arrangement of the grantee index is practically the same, though, of course, the grantee's name would appear before the grantor's, as follows:

All of the modern indexes, both mortgagor and mortgagee as well as judgment indexes of the prothonotary's office follow this arrangement.

173. Kinds of Searches.

At the outset it should be remembered that a title may be bad because of its doubtful origin, as where a man purports to convey title to land which he never owned. On the other hand, while it may be without defect as far as derivation and origin is concerned, it may still be bad because it is so encumbered by mortgages and other liens as to be practically valueless. Thus searches are naturally divided into two kinds or classes. A conveyance search, which is a search to ascertain the sources from which a grantor derived his title, and an encumbrance search made to ascertain whether a title is subject to any mortgages, judgments or other liens.

174. Conveyance Searches.

Conveyance searches are made at the recorder of deeds' office by examination of the grantor and grantee index. In Pennsylvania the source of all title is a grant by William Penn, or, latterly, the State. Usually the recital in the deeds will provide a rapid method of reaching the source of title and making a rough brief without the aid of the index. Should a recital, however, be missing, recourse must be had to the index to supply the missing link. After ascertaining the source of title to be proper, search

for adverse conveyances against every person whose name appears in the chain of title from a time prior to his acquisition of title until six months after the recording of the deed, as the vendor may have conveyed to another purchaser by deed executed outside of this State. Search against the present owner from the time he acquired title to date. The search should not only be made against the owners of the fee but against all having an interest therein, such as executors, administrators, trustees, assignees, receivers, guardians, committee of lunatics, etc. Also, against such as have a power of sale. Search now in the office of the courts of common pleas for possible sheriff's sales, by which the owner may have lost title. Since 1893 (Act of May 24, 1893, P. L. 127), however, sheriff's sales are now recorded in the recorder of deeds office, indexed both under name of grantee and the person whose title was divested by the sale. Search also at the office of the clerk of the United States courts for sales by the United States marshal, and for possible bankruptcy of

owner.

Searches of title for ground rents are made as in the case of conveyance searches, and since they are real estate they must be searched also as encumbrances and liens.

175. Search at Registry Bureau.

In Philadelphia, by Act of March 14, 1865 (P. L. 320), all deeds must be registered before being recorded. This is done at the registry bureau and forms an additional means of verifying the title of a vendor. Search should, therefore, be made at the registry bureau which is established in Philadelphia, and since 1899, in all countries having a population over 500,000 and since 1901 in all cities of the third class. In Philadelphia, the registry bureau is a department of the city survey bureau.

176. Encumbrance Search. (a) Mortgages.

Having found the title to be without defect the next step is to see if it is encumbered. Search first for possible mortgages.

Search for mortgages is made at the recorder of deeds' office. The mortgages are indexed in a separate index called the mortgage index. Search should be made in this index as follows:

Search in the mortgage index against every name in the chain of title back to time prior to the year 1830, for prior to that date a sheriff's sale discharged mortgages. Before 1887, an orphans'

court sale also discharged a mortgage, so that if you come to orphans' court sale before that time you need go no further. Since 1830 a sheriff's sale will only discharge a mortgage upon its foreclosure, or if it be not prior to all other liens except other mortgages, ground rents, purchase money due the Commonwealth, municipal claims and taxes.

Of course, in searching for mortgages against persons in the chain of title you need only search against any one of them from the time he conveyed title back to the time he took title. Where the present owner against whom the search is being made took title within sixty days there is a possibility that a purchase money mortgage may be recorded later, for a purchase mortgage has sixty days to be recorded in (See Par. 88). In such case the declaration of the present owner must be secured as well as of his immediate grantor that no purchase money mortgage formed part of the consideration.

All assignments of mortgages and any proceedings or actions commenced therein will be found noted on the margin of the mortgage record in the mortgage books.

177. Encumbrance Search. (b) Judgment Liens.

Having ascertained the title to be good and marketable and free from any mortgage liens it is necessary to prosecute a further search in order to ascertain whether there are any judgment liens against the property. A judgment is a decree of a court of competent jurisdiction determining that the one person is indebted to another in the amount stated. The party in whose favor a judgment is rendered can, if it is not paid, proceed to sell the other's property. A judgment by law (Act of March 21, 1772, I Sm. L. 390, Secs. 2, 3) is a lien against all of the real estate of the person against whom it is entered from the time of its entry. It is not a lien against personal property, but against real estate only. Its lien binds any freehold estate in land, whether a fee, life estate (Hoffman's Estate, 2 Pears. 317), or curtesy (Beard v. Dietz, 1 Watts 309), whether absolute or in common. It binds a ground rent but not a leasehold, which is a chattel (Krause Appeal, 2 Whart. 398), nor a mortgage, which is also personal property. A judgment binds all of defendant's real property and interests therein unless it be restricted to a particular piece of real estate by agreement filed of record, signed by the party in whose favor it is rendered (Hendrick v. Thomas,

106 Pa. 327). So, too, the lien of a judgment may be released as to a particular part of a party's real estate without effecting its lien against the rest (Kirk Appeal, 87 Pa. 243). It is only a lien upon the interest in real estate owned by the defendant at the time of its entry and does not effect real estate sold before its entry (Bitting's Appeal, 17 Pa. 211), or acquired thereafter (Kemmerer v. Tool, 78 Pa. 147). To make it a lien on after acquired real estate, a scire facias must be issued to revive it as of a later date (Clippinger v. Miller, 1 P. & W. 64; Stewart v. Peterson Exec'rs, 63 Pa. 230). The duration of the lien of a judgment is five years. At the expiration of that time it may by appropriate proceedings be revived for another period of five years, and so on.

178. Where to Search for Judgment Liens.

Judgments are rendered by various courts, but are only a lien when entered by the following specified courts: Supreme Court, Superior Court, Common Pleas Court, Quarter Sessions Court-Oyer and Terminer, United States Courts. Except as hereinafter mentioned, a United States Court judgment to be a lien must be entered in the county where the land lies. It may, however, be transferred to any other county by filing an exemplification or transcript thereof. Since a judgment is only a lien for five years it is only necessary to prosecute the search for that period. Search against every person who has held title during the five years prior to the times of making the search. Judgments of magistrates' court are not liens against the land. To become liens, transcripts thereof must be filed in the Common Pleas Courts.

179. Appellate Courts' Judgments.

While few judgments are entered in the Supreme Court which are not also entered in the Common Pleas Courts, good practice (Directions for Making Searches, by Eli Kirk Price, edited by Edw. F. Pugh, Dunlop's Forms 1071) requires a separate search to be made there. The search in the Supreme Court must be made at the office of the prothonotary of said court. No separate search need be made in the Superior Court, since the law provides that no judgment thereof shall become a lien until the record is returned to the court below (common pleas court) and entered upon the proper dockets (Act of June 25, 1895, P. L. 219,

Sec. 8). Thus, any judgment entered in the Superior Court will be disclosed when search is made in the common pleas court.

180. Common Pleas Judgments.

By far the greatest number of judgments are entered in the courts of common pleas. Search must, therefore, be made in the common pleas of the county wherein the land lies. The index of judgments is to be found at the office of the prothonotary of the common pleas courts, is called the judgment index. This index is arranged similar to the indexes of the recorder of deeds' office (See Par. 172). If searching against Andrew Gallagher, take the G book and turn to the subdivision of the A's. The index will show besides the name of the defendant, the name of the party in whose favor the judgment was entered, his attorney and the amount of damages if liquidated (Note a judgment is a lien from the date of its entry regardless whether the amount of damages have been liquidated or not), together with the name of the court, and term and number of the proceedings. The entry will appear as follows:

If the judgment has been paid, released or otherwise satisfied, the fact will be noted in the first column which in the above entry is blank. If more detailed information is wanted, the name, term and number of the court will furnish a clue to the proper docket, which sets forth the proceedings in detail. Both prothonotary and recorder of deeds of Philadelphia county will issue certificates of search if asked to, although they are not authorized or required to do so by any act of assembly. When they issue such certificates they are liable on their official bond for any error to the person to whom certificates are issued (McCarher v. Commonwealth, 5 W. & S. 21).

181. Criminal Court Judgments.

The Courts of Quarter Sessions and Oyer and Terminer are criminal courts. Judgments of fines, costs and forfeited bail bonds are entered in these courts and become a lien from the