one year, and until their successors are qualified. Their terms commence on the first day of January. [Sess. Laws of 1840 and 1841, 35.]

All deeds and mortgages affecting the title to real estate in Wisconsin are required to be recorded in the Register's of fice of the county in which the land so conveyed or affected shall be situated.

Unrecorded deeds and mortgages are presumed fraudulent and void as against subsequent bona fide purchasers, and mortgagees for a valuable consideration, without notice of such unrecorded deeds and mortgages.

But to entitle any deed or mortgage to be recorded, it must be executed in all respects according to law, and duly attested, proven or acknowledged; and when executed in a foreign State, the certificate of proof or acknowledgment must be authenticated, as indicated, ante 311. [Stat. Wis. T., 180.]

IX. THE EXECUTION OF WILLS OF REAL ESTATE IN WISCONSIN.

The Statutes of Wisconsin provide that all wills of real estate shall be in writing, and shall be signed by the testator or testatrix, or by some one for him or her, in his or her

Non-residents are informed, that on the first of January, 1847, there were the following counties, or recording districts in Wisconsin, of which those having county seats annexed, are organized for county purposes. The statement is given on the authority of Gen. Rufus King, of the Milwaukie Sentinel and Gazette, and George W. Foster, Esq., Counsellor, at Port Washington, and may be relied upon. The name of each county is presented in small capital letters, and the county seats of such as are organized, thereto annexed, in Roman letters, viz: BROWN, Green Bay; CALUMET, ; CHIPPEWA, ; COLUMBIA, Columbus; CRAWFORD, ; DANE, Madison; DODGE, Oak Grove; FOND DU LAC, Fond du Lac; GRANT, —; GREENE, Monroe; Iowa, Mineral Point; JEFFERSON, Jefferson; LAPOINT, -; MANITOWOC, - —; MARQUETTE, - -; MILWAUKEE, Milwaukee; PORTAGE, -; RACINE, Racine; RICHLAND, Rock, Janesville; SHEBOYGAN, Sheboygan; ST. CROIX, du Sac; WALWORTH, Elk Horn; WASHINGTON, Grafton; WAUKESHA, Prairieville; WINNEBAGO, The counties of CRAWFORD, RICHLAND and LA POINT are attached at present to GRANT; the counties of WINNEBAGO and CALUMET to FOND DU LAC.

; SAUK, Prairie

presence, and by his or her direction. No prescription exists concerning the form of wills of real estate, wherefore the general rule on that subject prevails. They must be legible, intelligible, and clearly indicative of the purpose of the testator, in respect to the disposition to be made of his real estate, after his decease. They must not create trusts unknown to, or prohibited by law, or suspend the power of alienation for a period longer than shall be warranted by the statutes.

They must be signed-signed by the testator, or testatrix, or by some one for him or her, in his or her presence, and by his or her direction. The signature should be the writing of his or her name at length, at the bottom of the instru ment; but if the testator or testatrix be unable to write his or her name, he or she may make his or her mark thereto, in such form as he or she has been accustomed to do, or as he or she shall choose to adopt for a signature.

They must be attested. Not only do the statutes require wills to be in writing, and signed by the testator or testatrix, as the case may be, or by some one for him or her, in his or her presence, and by his or her direction; but that such signing shall be attested by three or more credible witnesses, who shall subscribe their names thereto, in the presence of the testator or testatrix, as subscribing witnesses. The witnesses should be persons who are competent to understand the nature of the act performed, and whether the testator or testatrix, at the time of executing the will, possesses a sound mind and memory, and whether the will is the free and voluntary act of the person executing it. They should be also legally competent to testify of the facts, in the Probate Court, before which the will is required to be proved.

Wills may be altered or revoked by a codicil or writing, executed and attested in the same manner as wills are required to be executed and attested; or by burning, tearing, cancelling, or obliterating the same by the testator

or testatrix, or by some other person in his or her presence, and by his or her direction. [Stat. Wis. T., 296.]

For other regulations concerning the execution of wills of real estate, see ante, 314.

X. THE PROBATE OF WILLS IN WISCONSIN.

By the Session Laws of Wisconsin, passed in 1843, it was provided, that there shall be elected in each of the counties organized for judicial purposes, and the counties attached to them for judicial purposes, at the general election in said counties biennially, commencing in 1844, a Judge of Probate, whose term of service shall commence on the first of January next after his election.

Such Judge is invested with the usual powers of Probate Judges, to issue all necessary process to witnesses, and to parties, and to take the probate of wills, and to record the same in books, to be provided for that purpose, and to issue letters testamentary or of administration with the will annexed, thereon. [Stat. Wis. T., 296.]

As these statutes are about to undergo a revision, any further mention of them is omitted.*

XI.

THE LEVY AND COLLECTION OF LAND TAXES IN

WISCONSIN.

That the reader may apprehend the method adopted in Wisconsin for the imposition and collection of taxes, without a recital of all the enactments bearing upon that subject, it is necessary to observe that some counties are only "organ

*The statute of descents in Wisconsin is substantially the same as in the State of Michigan, as may be seen ante 322. Both were grounded on the ordinance of 1787, and do not vary essentially from the regulations in that behalf, contained in that instrument. As Wisconsin is about entering upon the condition of a sovereign State, it is believed that her Legislature will cause a revision of her laws, most of which are ambiguous or imperfect.

If this volume meet with such favor as to warrant a further publication, the Revised Statutes may be looked for in a future edition.

ized counties," whilst others are "organized counties for town government"-that the supervisory power in the former is conferred upon a Board of County Commissioners, and in the latter, upon a Board of Supervisors, one of whom is elected in each town.

Such Boards, wherever they exist, respectively, are invested with the power to audit the public accounts in their counties, and to determine the amount of taxes to be levied.

The statute provides that "it shall be the duty of County Assessors of the several counties which have not adopted the provisions of an act to provide for the government of the several towns in this territory, and for the revision of county government, and of town Assessors of the several towns in those counties which have adopted the provisions of the said act, to assess all lands, town lots, and out lots, at their cash value, which are not exempt from taxation by the laws of the United States, or this territory, not including any improvements made thereon, in building or otherwise, but including all merchandize and stock actually paid in any incorporated company, separately from other property, and to enter the valuation of the same separately on their assessment rolls." [Sess Laws 1845, 1, Sec. 1,]

It is the duty of Assessors, after completing their assessment rolls of the property in their districts or towns, to return the same, so that they may come before, and be considered by, the Board of Commissioners, or Supervisors, as the case may be, to the end that a tax may be determined.

In cases where the county is organized only, "the Commissioners shall, at their regular session, in July, or as soon thereafter as the assessment roll is filed, levy a per centage on the real estate and personal property (not exempt) sufficient, when added to the amount that will probably be received by the county from other sources of revenue, to defray the current expenses of such county, and to liquidate its debts for the year." [Stat. Wis. T., 44, Sec. 2.]

Whereupon the Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners of each county so organized, is required to calculate and to carry out the amount of taxes upon the roll, including the territorial tax to be raised, and deliver the same to the County Treasurer, and to deliver a duplicate thereof, with a warrant, under the seal of the Board, to the Collector of the county, commanding him to collect all the taxes charged in such transcript, by demanding payment of the persons charged therein; and to make return of his doings, and pay over the money by him collected, by virtue of said warrant, to said Clerk, on or before the first day of January next ensuing the date of the precept. [Id., 47, Sec. 13.

All persons in possession of any land charged with such tax are primarily liable to pay the same; but they have a remedy over against the owner, or other person, who ought to pay the said taxes, with twenty per cent damages. [Id., Sec. 14.]

If such taxes are not paid to the Collector on or before the first Monday of November, he may proceed to collect the same by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the person charged, or of the person found in possession of the lands or town lots charged with such unpaid taxes, giving at least six days notice of the time and place of such sale, by written notices, posted in three of the most public places in said county. But if no goods nor chattels can be found, whereof to make the amount of such taxes, he is required to give notice in some weekly newspaper published in his county, or if no such newspaper be there published, then in some paper published in the county nearest thereto; also, by posting up four written notices, one on the court house door, and the others in three of the most public places in said. county, for four weeks preceding the second Monday in December next thereafter, notifying all whom it may concern, that he will, on the second Monday in December next ensuing the date of said notice, commence selling, at the court