ments, which in the old are deemed safeguards of the title to real estate.

In Michigan, it is expressly provided that no act or ceremony whatever, shall be required to pass real estate other than the execution, witnessing, acknowledging, and recording, of the instrument which purports to transfer the title. Signing and sealing constitute the valid execution, which, together with the witnessing, will be considered in order.

It must be signed. This requirement pre-supposes an instrument susceptible of being signed, written or printed, or partly written and partly printed on paper, parchment, or some other substance equally capable of uniting within itself, preservation and convenience. It has been judicially held, that a transfer of land written upon white birch bark, was not a deed within the meaning of the law, and it is presumed that a writing upon stone, board, linen, or leather, would not be recognized as a valid deed.

It must be legibly written. A chirography, unsusceptible of being deciphered, conveys no information of its contents, and is void for uncertainty. In the language of Chief Justice Hagaman, "a deed to be valid, must be capable of an intelligent record." It must be so free from ambiguity that the purpose of the grantor may be apprehended from its reading. This is important to the grantee, as he cannot acquire any rights under it by implication, unsupported by its provisions. The revised statutes require the signing to be by "the person having the right to convey, or by his attorney;" but in the act amendatory of the revised statutes, passed April 1, 1840, the words, "or by his attorney," are not retained. As the latter enactment contains nothing in contravention of that provision, and does not repeal the statute which contains it, it is presumed that a deed may be signed, either by the grantor, or by his attorney duly authorized.

The signing should be by writing the name of the grantor in the usual manner; but if he cannot write, he may depute another to do it, as his amanuensis, or special agent, or he may make his mark thereto, in such form as he is accustomed to do, for a signature. Where an attorney signs a deed, he must have had authority in writing therefor, duly executed, witnessed, and acknowledged, in the manner in which the deed itself is required to be executed, witnessed, and acknowledged.

It must be sealed. In Michigan, adhesive and impressive substances are not indispensable to the validity of a seal. By an act passed in 1840, it is provided "that a scroll, or devise, used as a seal on any deed or other instrument, shall have the same force and effect as a seal would have, attached thereto, or impressed thereon, except such official seals as may be provided for by law."

It must be witnessed. Two witnesses, who shall subscribe their names thereto as such, are required to a deed. [Sess. Laws 1840.] Formerly, no deed could be acknowledged to which there was not at least one subscribing witness; but for the prevention of fraud, two are now requisite to its validity, in Michigan. As the acknowledgment or proof of the due execution is a necessary step in the process of alienation of real estate, it follows that all pre-requisites to such acknowledgment or proof, must be observed in conveyancing. Two witnesses are therefore indispensable to a valid conveyance; and they should be persons capable in law of being witnesses of the fact, of the signing and sealing by the grantor, in a court having jurisdiction to try the question. In selecting witnesses to a conveyance, therefore, no person who has been convicted of a felony within the State, and not restored to his former rights, should be called, for such are incapable, in law, of proving the fact. So, also, are those who are rendered incompetent from any other cause. Infancy, while it does not necessarily incapacitate a witness, may be so extreme as

to impeach the understanding, and in that way render an infant witness incompetent. If, however, an infant be so far advanced as to be capable of testifying under an oath, which he or she understands, and for a violation of which he or she apprehends the penalty, and who would be received by a court as a witness in a civil cause, he or she may be a subscribing witness to a deed.

This topic relates nominally to deeds, but as a mortgage is only a defeasible deed, both are denominated conveyances, and are governed by the same rules in respect to their execution. Releases of dower in real estate, are required to be executed in the same manner. In Michigan, the latter are termed deeds, in the statute, and if the right become vested by reason of the death of the husband, the widow, under prohibitions and regulations, conveys as if she were vested with the fee of the land. If, however, her right be only contingent as in the life time of her husband, she must, in addition to the signing, sealing, and witnessing, above mentioned, acknowledge on a separate examination, separate and apart from her husband, that she executed the deed or release, "without fear or compulsion from any one;" a certificate of which fact, by the acknowledging officer, must be endorsed upon the deed.

Powers of Attorney, which authorize another to execute a deed or mortgage, although not required in terms, it is presumed should be executed with all the formalities required in the execution of a deed. So, also, any instrument creating or declaratory of any trust concerning real estate, as "no trust concerning lands, excepting such as may arise or result by implication of law, shall be created or declared, unless by an instrument in writing, signed by the party creating or declaring the same, or by his attorney." [Id., 261, Sec. 27.]

To prevail as against a subsequent purchaser or incumbrancer, such trust must be duly witnessed, sealed, acknow

ledged and recorded; because the three former are indispensable to the latter, and the latter is requisite to afford that notice, which will protect the instrument.

In respect to leases for more than seven years, it is provided, that unless they are executed, acknowledged, and recorded as a deed, they shall be ineffectual, except as against the grantor, his heirs, devisees, and persons, having actual notice. The bearing of this provision will be, therefore, apprehended by land owners and lessees, inasmuch as all leases not so executed may be defeated by a sale to a third person, without notice. It may be further remarked in this connection, that all leases in parol, create only a tenancy at will, and may be terminated at the option of the landlord, if the term of the parol agreement be for more than one year. Parol leases for a longer term than one year, are absolutely void, by the statute of frauds, and confer no right upon the tenant. Leases for more than one and less than seven years, must be in writing, but need not be sealed, acknowledged, nor recorded. Durable, and other leases, for a time beyond the limitation above mentioned, it will be seen, are controlled by the rules which govern in respect to absolute conveyan

ces.

Mortgage defeasances not contained within the body of any conveyance, also come within this regulation. For it is provided, that "when a deed imports to contain an absolute conveyance of any estate in lands, but is made, or intended to be made, defeasible, by force of a deed of defeasance, or bond, or other instrument for that purpose, the original conveyance shall not be thereby defeated or affected, as against any person other than the maker of the defeasance, or his heirs, or devisees, or persons having actual notice thereof, unless the instrument of defeasance shall have been duly executed and recorded in the proper office." [Id., 281, Sec. 30.]

The same method should be pursued in the execution of mortgage discharges; nevertheless, mortgages may be dis

charged by an entry on the margin of the record thereof, in the registry of deeds, signed by the mortgagee, or his executor, administrator, or assignee, acknowledging the satisfaction of the mortgage; and such entry, by statute, will have the same effect as a deed of release or satisfaction.

The foregoing provisions concerning conveyances of real estate, are guarded by others equally important to every land

owner.

"Every conveyance of any estate or interest in lands, or the rents and profits of lands, and every charge upon lands, or upon the rents and profits thereof, made or created with the intent to defraud prior or subsequent purchasers for a valuable consideration, of the same lands, rents, or profits as against subsequent purchasers, shall be void." [Fletch+ er's Revision, 1838, 328, Sec. 1.]

"No such conveyance or charge shall be deemed fraudulent in favor of a subsequent purchaser, who shall have ac tual or legal notice thereof at the time of his purchase, unless it shall appear that the grantee in such conveyance, or person to be benefitted by such charge, was privy to the fraud intended." [Id., Sec. 2.]

"Every conveyance or charge, of or upon any estate or interest in lands, containing any provision for the revocation, determination or alteration of such estate or interest, or any part thereof, at the will of the grantor, shall be void, as against subsequent purchasers from such grantor, for a valuable consideration, of any estate or interest so liable to be revoked or determined, although the same be not expressly revoked, determined or altered by such grantor, by virtue of the power reserved or expressed in such prior conveyance or charge." [Id., Sec. 3.]

"When a power to revoke a conveyance of any lands, or the rents and profits thereof, and to re-convey the same, shall be given to any person other than the grantor in such conveyance, and such person shall thereafter convey the same