the party or parties to such conveyance reside within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or the dominions thereto belonging, the same may be acknowledged or proved before the Mayor of the city of London; the Mayor or Chief Magistrate of Dublin, or the Provost or Chief Magistrate of Edinburgh, or before the Mayor or Chief Magistrate of Liverpool, or before the Consul of the United States, appointed to reside at London. [Id., Sec. 6.] Such proof or acknowledgment duly certified, under the hand and seal of office of such Consul, Mayors or Chief Magistrates, respectively, or of such Minister or Charge d'Affaires, shall have the like force and validity, as if the same were taken before a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State. [Id., Sec. 7.] Commissioners may be appointed to take proof of deeds without the State, and the acknowledgment or proof taken before them shall be of the like force and validity as if the same were taken before the proper officer within this State. But no acknowledgment of any conveyance having been executed, shall be taken by any officer, unless the officer taking the same shall know, or have satisfactory evidence, that the person making such acknowledgment is the individual described in and who executed such conveyance."

"The acknowledgment of a married woman residing within this State, to a conveyance purporting to be executed by her, shall not be taken unless, in addition to the requisites contained in the preceding section, she acknowledge on a private examination apart from her husband, that she executed such conveyance freely and without any fear or compulsion of her husband; nor shall any estate of any such married woman pass by any conveyance not so acknowledged." [1 R. S., Sec. 10.]

"When any married woman not residing in this State shall join with her husband in any conveyance of any real estate situate within this State, the conveyance shall have the same effect as if she were sole; and the acknowledgment

or proof of the execution of such conveyance by her, may be the same as if she were sole." [Id., Sec. 2.]

The proof of the execution of any conveyance shall be made by a subscribing witness thereto, who shall state his own place of residence, and that he knew the person described in and who executed such conveyance; and such proof shall not be taken unless the officer is personally acquainted with such subscribing witness, or has satisfactory evidence that he is the same person who was a subscribing witness to such instrument. [Id., Sec. 12.]

"Upon the application of any grantee in any conveyance, his heirs or personal representatives, or of any person claiming under them, verified by the oath of the applicant, that any witness to the conveyance, residing in the county where such application is made, refuses to appear and testify, touching the execution thereof, and that such conveyance cannot be proved without his evidence, any officer authorized to take the acknowledgment or proof of conveyances, except a Commissioner of Deeds and Justices of the Peace, may issue a subpoena, requiring such witness to appear and testify before such officer, touching the execution of such conveyance." [Id., Sec. 13.]

Every person who, being served with such subpoena, shall, without reasonable cause, refuse or neglect to appear, or appearing shall refuse to answer upon oath, touching the matters aforesaid, shall forfeit to the party injured one hundred dollars; and may also be committed to prison by the officer who issued such subpoena, there to remain without bail, and without the liberties of the jail, until he shall submit to answer upon oath as aforesaid. [Id., Sec. 14.]

"Every officer who shall take the proof or acknowledgment of any conveyance, shall endorse a certificate thereof, signed by himself on the conveyance; and in such certificate shall set forth the matters herein before required to be done, known, or proved, on such acknowledgment or proof,

together with the names of the witnesses examined before such officer, and their places of residence, and the substance of the evidence by them given." [Id., Sec. 15.]

Inattention to the latter provision on the part of acknowledging officers, commonly proves vexatious, and frequently disastrous. A deed, although in fact perfectly acknowledged, but which has endorsed upon it a certificate which does not fully set forth every fact requisite to a perfect acknowledgment, can neither be read in evidence nor recorded. Indeed, an imperfect certificate is of no avail whatever to the grantee or his assigns, but may induce a reliance, as upon a broken reed, until it is too late to retrieve the error. The statute is very explicit in this respect, and requires the certificate to set forth all the matters required to be done, in order to constitute a perfect acknowledgment. In terms, it requires the officer to know, or have satisfactory evidence, that the person making an acknowledgment is the person described in and who executed the conveyance. These are matters required, and hence the certificate must set forth the fact. If the proof be made by a subscribing witness thereto, that is, to the conveyance, the statute requires that such witness state his own place of residence, and that he knew the person described in and who executed the same. This, also, is a matter required to be done, and must be set forth fully. In no case can a deed be proved by a subscribing witness unless the officer know such witness, or have satisfactory evidence that he is the subscribing witness whose name appears to the deed. This, as well as the name of the witness, is material matter and must be embraced in the certificate. If a married woman residing within this State desire to acknowledge a deed, she must, in addition to other requirements, acknowledge on a private examination apart from her husband, that she executed such conveyance freely and without any fear or compulsion of her husband. This, also, must be set forth, to the end that a court, or recording officer, may have the

official declaration of the acknowledging officer that the statute has in all respects been complied with; and so in respect to every other provisional requirement concerning acknowledgments or the proof of deeds and mortgages. It were better that the certificate embrace redundant matter than omit a word that is material.

To the certificate when written, should be subscribed not only the proper name of the acknowledging officer, but his official title at length. If the officer be a Judge, it should appear of what court; if a Commissioner, that he is a Commissioner of Deeds of the city and county of New-York, or other place as thecasemay be; and if he be a Minister Plenipotentiary or Charge d'Affaires, to what Government he is accredited.

Abbreviations in official signatures are sometimes allowed, but when they fail to express definitely the official capacity in which the act in question is performed, or to contradistinguish the officer from any other officer of the government, the signature is defective: as for instance, "Comr." is an accepted abbreviation of "Commissioner;" but unless it be accompanied with the words "of Deeds," it may be construed to mean as well-a "Commissioner of Excise," or a "Commissioner of Highways," as a "Commissioner of Deeds," who alone can take the acknowledgment and proof of deeds, among the list of "Commissioners." Hence such a signature would be insignificant, and consequently defective. So where the officer has a local jurisdiction, as in case of a Justice of the Peace, the county which limits that jurisdiction should be annexed, in order that the court, or the recording officer, may determine whether any further authentication is requisite. This, however, is otherwise, where the official name and title appear at length in the body of the certificate, for in that case, the signature or proper name of the officer is alone necessary.

XVI. THE RECORDING OF DEEDS AND MORTGAGES IN NEW-YORK, AND THE EFFECT THEREOF.

THE practice of requiring muniments of title to be placed in the archives of the government, although somewhat onerous upon grantees, was attended with an advantage which countervailed all arguments to the contrary.

In the earlier days of this commonwealth, much vexation, fraud and disaster grew out of its disregard. Upon the organization of the State by counties, with a Clerk and a seal, that officer was charged as keeper of the archives of his county, and required to record in books, to be by him provided and kept, all conveyances of land within his county, provided the same were duly executed, acknowledged, or proven, and authenticated. The County Clerks are now the recorders for their respective counties. The statutes regulating the recording of deeds are as follows: "Every conveyance of real estate within this State [hereafter made] shall be recorded in the office of the Clerk of the county where such real estate shall be situated; and every such conveyance not so recorded shall be void, as against any subsequent purchaser in good faith, and for a valuable consideration, of the same real estate, or any portion thereof, whose conveyance shall be first duly recorded." [1 R. S., 746, Sec. 1.

Before the Revised Statutes went into operation, there existed a different rule in relation to the recording of mortgages than that which prevailed in respect to deeds; but the revisers placed deeds and mortgages on the same footing. Deeds and mortgages are now denominated "conveyances," and the same rules are applicable to both. "Every conveyance of real estate shall be recorded," is now the language employed, and includes as well defeasible as indefeasible titles.