XVIII. THE PROOF AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF DEEDS AND MORTGAGES.

Not only are all deeds and mortgages required to be signed and sealed by the grantor, but to be acknowledged in the presence of two witnesses. The phraseology of the statute seems to contemplate an acknowledgment before witnesses. The language is, "such signing and sealing shall be acknowledged by such grantor in the presence of two witnesses, who shall attest such signing and sealing, and subscribe their names to such attestation; and such signing and sealing shall also be acknowledged by such grantor or grantors, maker or makers, before a Judge of the Supreme Court, or of the Court of Common Pleas, a Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Mayor, or other presiding officer of an incorporated town or city, who shall certify such acknowledgment on the same sheet on which such deed, mortgage or other instrument of writing may be printed or written." It is presumed that it was not the intention of the General Assembly to require the witnesses to attend before the acknowledging officer in cases where the grantor or grantors are personally known to him, yet the language employed requires it. If the officer be personally acquainted with the grantors he may take their acknowledgment at once upon their appearance before him, but where he is unacquainted with them and caunot from personal knowledge determine whether they are the persons named in and who executed the deed or mortgage in question, it is his duty to examine on oath one or both of the witnesses to the instrument as to their identity, and thus became legally informed in respect thereto, to his satisfaction. He must be satisfied of the fact.

"And when a husband and wife, (she being eighteen years of age or upwards,) shall within the State of Ohio,

execute any deed, mortgage, or other instrument of writing for the conveyance or incumbrance of the estate of the wife, or her right of dower in any land tenement or heriditament situate within this state, such deed, mortgage or other instrument of writing shall be signed and sealed by the husband and wife; and such signature and sealing shall be attested and acknowledged in the manner hereinbefore prescribed; and in addition thereto, the officer before whom such acknowledgment shall be made, shall examine the wife separate and apart from her husband, and shall read or otherwise make known to her, the contents of such deeds, mortgage or other instrument of writing, and if upon such separate examination she shall declare that she did voluntarily sign, seal, and deliver the same, and that she is still satisfied therewith, such officer shall certify such examination and declaration of the wife, together with the acknowledgment aforesaid of such deed, mortgage or instrument of writing, and subscribe his name thereto." Every acknowledgment must be certified, whether of husband and wife, or otherwise, and that the officer is "satisfied from personal knowledge, or from the testimony of some witness, (naming him) that the person or persons making such acknowledgment is, or are, the person or persons whom they represent themselves to be, and shall subscribe his name to such certificate." All the facts requisite to a lawful acknowledgment must be certified. A certificate that a deed was acknowledged according to law has been held to be defective.*

The foregoing directions relate exclusively to acknow

*The laws of the territory northwest of the Ohio of 1795 and 1302, virtually repealed the ordinance of Congress of 1739 so far as relates to the execution, proof and acknowledgment of deeds. [1 Ham., 12.]

An United States Judge may, in any part of the Union, take acknowledgments of deeds of land in the territory over which his powers extend. [Id., 14.]

If the person taking an acknowledgment of a deed gives himself no official character, either in his certificate or subscription, it is insufficient, and the record is irregular and inoperative. [2 Ham., 55.]

ledgments taken within the State of Ohio. In relation to foreign acknowledgments the statute provides "that all deeds, mortgages, powers of attorney, and other instruments. of writing for the conveyance or incumbrance of any lands, tenements or hereditaments situate within this State, executed acknowledged or proved in any other State in conformity with the laws of such State, territory or country, or in conformity with the laws of this State, shall be as valid as if executed within this State in conformity with the foregoing provisions." To entitle a deed so executed in another State to be read in evidence or recorded, there must be attached thereto a certificate under the official seal of the County Clerk, or other officer who keeps the rolls of office, signed by the acknowledging officer, setting forth the fact that the person whose name appears to the certificate of acknowledgment, was at the time of taking the same, a Judge, Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, or Mayor, as the case may be, duly commissioned and sworn, and that by the laws of the State, he was empowered to take said acknowledgment, and further, that he is acquainted with the hand writing of such acknowledging officer, and that he believes his signature to said certificate annexed, to be genuine.

XIX. THE RECORDING OF DEEDS AND MORTGAGES IN OHIO AND THE EFFECT THEREOF.

A County Recorder is provided by the laws of Ohio, who is required to keep an office at the county seat, and in proper books to be provided for that purpose, to record all deeds, mortgages and other instruments in writing affecting the title to land in the same county, which shall have been executed attested and acknowledged according to law. This duty is however subject to the payment of his fees, which he may require on entering any deed in his office. The recording of deeds is a safe method of preserving munimentsof title; enables the owner to produce at all times documentary ev

idence thereof, and protects him against stealthy conveyances, by his grantor, to others.

Deeds are required to be recorded in the proper office within six months from the time of their execution. Unrecorded deeds are good as against the grantor and his heirs, and void as to subsequent bona fide purchasers whose deeds shall have been recorded.*

The act provides that mortgages "shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county in which such mortgaged premises are situated, and shall take effect from the time of presentation for record; the first presented shall be the first recorded and the first recorded shall have preference." +

*In Ohio, a deed to a bona fide purchaser need not be recorded as against a prior unrecorded deed. [1. Pet., 552.]

In general, notice of an unrecorded deed is equivalent to a record of a deed, and will destroy the effect of a deed subsequently registered. [1. Ham., 264.]

But an implied notice of a prior unregistered deed, will not be sufficient to set aside a subsequent deed. [Idem.]

+ Ohio contains the following counties, each of which is a recording district for all conveyances affecting land therein, and the county seat therein the location of the recorder's office. For the benefit of non-resident land owners, both are given; the former in small capital letters, the latter in Roman letters, viz: ADAMS, West Union; ALLEN, Lima; ASHTABULA, Jefferson; ATHENS, Athens; BELMONT, St. Clairsville; BROWN, Georgetown; BUTLER, Hamilton; CARROLL, Carrollton; CHAMPAIGN, Urbanna; CLARK, Springfield; CLERMONT, Batavia; CLINTON, Wilmington; COLUMBIANA, New-Lisbon; COSHOCTON, Coshocton; CRAWFORD, Bucyrus; CurAHOGA, Cleveland; DARKE, Greenville; DELAWARE, Delaware; ERIE, Sandusky City; FAIRFIELD, Lancaster; FAYETTE, Washington; FRANKLIN, Columbus; GALLIA, Gallipolis; GEAUGA, Chardon; GREENE, Xenia; GUERNSEY, Cambridge; HAMILTON, Cincinnati; HANCOCK, Findlay; HARDIN, Kenton; HARRISON, Cadiz; HENRY, Napoleon; HIGHLAND, Hillsboro': HOCKING, Logan; HOLMES, Millersburg; HURON, Norwalk; JACKSON, Jackson; JEFFERSON, Steubenville; KNOX, Mount Vernon; LAKE, Painesville; LAWRENCE, Burlington; LICKING, Newark; LOGAN, Belle Fontaine; LORAIN, Elyria; LUCAS, Toledo; MADISON, London; MARION, Marion; MEDINA, Medina; MEIGS, Chester; MERCER, Celina; MIAMI Troy; MONROE, Woodfield; MONTGOMERY, Dayton; MORGAN, McConnelsville; MUSKINGUM, Zanesville; OTTAWA, Port Clinton; PAULDING, Charloe; PERRY, Somerset; PICKAWAY, Circleville; PIKE, Piketon; PREBLE, Eaton; PORTAGE, Ravenna; PUTNAM, Putnam; RICHLAND, Mansfield; Ross, Chillicothe; SANDUSKY, Lower Sandusky; SCIOTO, Portsmouth; SENECA, Tiffin; SHELBY, Sidney; STARK, Canton; SUMMIT, Akron; TRUMBULL, Warren; TUSCARAWAS, New-Philadelphia; UNION, Marysville; VAN WERT, Van Wert; WARREN, Lebanon; WASHINGTON, Marietta; WAYNE, Wooster; WILLIAMS, Bryan; WOOD, Perrysburg.

XX. WILLS OF REAL ESTATE IN OHIO.

Intimately connected with the subject of conveyances by deed, are devises by will. In Ohio, every person of full age, and of sound mind and memory, except femmes covert, may devise real estate. As both affect, or may affect, the title to lands, the regulations concerning them are alike important to land owners.

Less formality is required in the execution of wills which bequeath personal estate only, than in respect to those which devise real estate, yet both (with the exception of death-bed testaments of personal estate,) are required to be in writing, and signed at the end thereof by the party making the same, or by some other person in his or her presence, and by his or her direction.

They must be in writing. No prescription exists concerning the form, nor have there been any adjudications which go further than to require wills to be legible, intelligible, and so consistent in their provisions as to be capable of construction and execution by executors. They may be written on paper, parchment, or any similar material.

They must be signed-signed at the end thereof by the party making the same, or by some other person in his or her presence, and by his or her direction. "Qui facit per alium facit per se," is a maxim which holds as well in cases of wills as deeds, except that the person acting as amanuensis for the testator, or devisor, must act in his presence. The signing may be done by making a mark, but it should be by writing the name at length.

They must be attested. The statute requires all written wills to "be attested and subscribed in presence of such party (that is the testator,) by two or more competent witnesses who saw the testator subscribe it (them,) or heard him acknowledge the same." The witnesses are not required to be present at the execution. If they heard the testator state that