Collusive recov ery of dower not to prejudice infant heirs. Husband entitled to estate by curtesy. amount she would otherwise be entitled to recover from such grantee; and any amount recovered as damages from such grantee shall be deducted from the sum she would otherwise be entitled to recover from such heir. SEC. 55. When a widow not having a right of dower shall, during the infancy of the heirs of the husband, or any of them, or of any other person entitled to the lands, recover dower by the default or collusion of the guardian of such infant heirs, or such other person, such heir or other person so entitled shall not be prejudiced thereby, but when he comes of full age he shall have an action against such widow to recover the lands so wrongfully awarded for dower. SEC. 56. When any man and his wife shall be seized in her right of any estate of inheritance in lands the husband shall, on the death of his wife, hold the lands for his life as tenant thereof by the curtesy, although such husband and wife may not have had issue born alive. CHAPTER NINE. OF GENERAL PROVISIONS CONCERNING ESTATES IN LANDS. Sec. Sec. Person in pos rent. 57. Person in possession liable for rent. 59. Last two sections not to exclude other 60. Determination of estates at will and by sufferance. 61. Action for injury to inheritance. 62. Remedy of tenants in common. SEC. 57. Every person in possession of land out of which any rent session liable for is due, whether it was originally demised in fee, or for any other estate of freehold, or for any term of years, shall be liable for the amount or proportion of rent due from the land in his possession, although it be only a part of what was originally demised. Rent, how recovered. Last two sections other remedies. Determination of estates at will and by sufferance. SEC. 58. Such rent may be recovered in an action, and the deed or demise, or any other instrument in writing, if there be any, showing the provisions of the lease, may be used in evidence by either party to prove the amount due from the defendant. SEC. 59. Nothing contained in the two preceding sections shall not to exclude deprive landlords of any other legal remedy for the recovery of their rents, whether secured to them by their leases or provided by law. SEC. 60. All estates at will or by sufferance may be determined by either party, by three months' notice in writing given to the other party; and when the rent reserved in a lease at will is payable at periods of less than three months the time of such notice shall be sufficient if it be equal to the interval between the times of payment; and in all cases of neglect or refusal to pay the rent due on a lease at will fourteen days' notice to quit, given in writing by the landlord to the tenant, shall be sufficient to determine the lease. Action for injury to inheritance. Remedy of tenants in common. SEC. 61. A person seized of an estate in remainder or reversion may maintain a civil action for any injury done to the inheritance, notwithstanding any intervening estate for life or years. SEC. 62. A tenant in common may maintain any proper action or proceeding against his cotenant for receiving more than his just proportion of the rents or profits of the estate owned by them in common; and joint tenancy is abolished, and all persons having an undivided interest in real property are to be deemed and considered tenants in common. 63. Separate property of wife not subject 67. Liability for civil injuries. to husband's debts. 64. Property acquired during coverture. 65. District court may adjudge that husband has abandoned wife; effect of, 66. Return of husband not to abate action. 68. Wife's contracts binding upon her. SEC. 63. The property and pecuniary rights of every married woman at the time of her marriage, or afterwards acquired by gift, devise, or inheritance, shall not be subject to the debts or contracts of her husband, and she may manage, sell, convey, or devise the same by will to the same extent and in the same manner that her husband can property belonging to him. Separate prop erty of wife not subject to hug band's debts. Property ac erture. SEC. 64. All property, either real or personal, acquired by any mar ried woman during coverture by her own labor shall not be liable for quired during cov the debts, contracts, or liabilities of her husband, but shall in all respects be subject to the same exemptions and liabilities as property owned at the time of her marriage or afterwards acquired by gift, devise, or inheritance. Adjudication of abandonment of -effect of. SEC. 65. When any married man residing in the district shall abandon his wife without making suitable provision for her support for a wife. period of one year the district court may, upon her petition setting up the facts of such abandonment, verified by her own oath, summarily proceed to hear the petition and adjudge the fact as to such abandonment, which adjudication shall be conclusive as to such fact as to third persons; and if such abandonment shall be adjudged thereupon, such married woman, during the absence of her husband, may in all respects contract in relation to, sell, convey, and deal with her separate property, real and personal, in the same manner as if she were a feme sole, and may in her own name, without being joined with her husband, sue and be sued in relation to her separate property on any contract made by her after such adjudication and before the return of her husband. SEC. 66. No action wherein a married woman shall be a party, under the provisions of this code, shall be abated on the return of her hus- band not to abate band into the district, but he may, on his application, be admitted to prosecute or defend such action jointly with her. -return of hus action. Wife liable for SEC. 67. For all civil injuries committed by a married woman damages may be recovered from her alone, and her husband shall not be civil injuries. responsible therefor, except in case where he would be jointly responsible with her if the marriage did not exist. -for separate SEC. 68. Contracts may be made by a wife, and liabilities incurred, and the same enforced by or against her to the same extent and in the contracts. same manner as if she were unmarried. SEC. 69. All laws which impose or recognize civil disabilities upon Civil disabilities a wife which are not imposed or recognized as existing as to the hus- removed. band are hereby repealed; and for any unjust usurpation of her property or natural rights she shall have the same right to appeal in her own name alone to all courts for redress that the husband has. Register of per SEC. 70. The commissioner for each precinct shall keep a register, in which he shall enter a description of the personal estates of married sonal property. women, as hereinafter directed. SEC. 71. A married woman possessed of or owning any personal property or pecuniary rights may make a descriptive list of the same, and make and subscribe on the said list an oath that the property and rights therein described belonged to her at the time of her marriage, Effect of regis tration. Certified copies of register. made. or that she has acquired the same by her own labor, or by bequest, inheritance or by the gift of some person named other than her husband; and the list and affidavit shall be recorded in the register, and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated, and property not so registered shall be deemed prima facie to be the property of the husband rather than of the wife. SEC. 72. A certified copy of the register shall be original evidence equally with the original list and affidavit, and the fees for recording and for making the certified copies of the register shall be the same as in the case of deeds. 73. Conveyance, how made. 74. Conveyance of wife's property. 76. Word "heirs" not necessary to con- 77. Conveyance by tenant for life or years. 79. Mortgage not to imply covenant to pay money. 80. Conveyance of lands held adversely 81. Joint conveyance to create cotenancy. 83. Same in States. 84. Certificate of official character. 86. Acknowledgment by married women. 88. Officer taking acknowledgment must 89. Proof of execution by subscribing 90. Proof when witnesses dead or absent. 92. Penalty for refusing to appear to tes- 93. Certificate of proof to be indorsed on 94. Deed proved may be read in evidence. Sec. 97. Index of records. 98. Unrecorded conveyance, when void as to third persons. 99. Record or transcript evidence. 100. Record of deeds of defeasance. 101. Record of assignment of mortgage. 102. Discharge of mortgage by marginal entry. 103. Discharge upon certificate of mortgagee. 104. Certificate of mortgagee to be recorded. 105. Penalty for refusing to discharge mortgage. 106. Power of attorney and contract may be recorded. 107. Instrument so recorded, how re- 108. Deeds heretofore made, etc. 110. Record of such instrument. 113. Other defective deeds cured. 115. Defectively executed sales by exec- 117. Defective execution of conveyances Conveyance of SEC. 73. A conveyance of lands, or of any estate or interest therein, real property, how may be made by deed, signed and sealed by the person from whom the estate or interest is intended to pass, being of lawful age, or by his lawful agent or attorney, and acknowledged or proved, and recorded as directed in this chapter, without any other act or ceremony whatever. SEC. 74. A husband and wife may, by their joint deed, convey the real estate of the wife, in like manner as she might do by her separate deed if she were unmarried. Conveyance of wife's property. Effect of quitclaim. Word "heirs" not necessary to convey fee simple. SEC. 75. A deed of quitclaim and release of the form in common use shall be sufficient to pass all the real estate which the grantor could lawfully convey by a deed of bargain and sale. SEC. 76. The term "heirs," or other words of inheritance, shall not be necessary to create or convey an estate in fee simple; and any conveyance of any real estate hereafter executed shall pass all the real estate of the grantor, unless the intent to pass a less estate shall appear by express terms or be necessarily implied in the terms of the grant. tenant for life or years. Covenants not implied. SEC. 77. A conveyance made by a tenant for life or years purporting Conveyance by to grant a greater estate than he possessed or could lawfully convey shall not work a forfeiture of his estate, but shall pass to the grantee all the estate which such tenant could lawfully convey. SEC. 78. No covenant shall be implied in any conveyance of real estate, whether such conveyance contain special covenants or not. SEC. 79. No mortgage shall be construed as implying a covenant for the payment of the sum thereby intended to be secured; and when there shall be no express covenant for such payment contained in the mortgage, and no bond or other separate instrument to secure such payment shall have been given, the remedies of the mortgagee shall be confined to the lands mentioned in the mortgage. SEC. 80. No grant or conveyance of land or interest therein shall be void for the reason that at the time of the execution thereof such lands shall be in the actual possession of another claiming adversely. SEC. 81. Every conveyance or devise of lands or interests therein made to two or more persons, other than to executors and trustees, as such, shall be construed to create a tenancy in common in such estate, unless it be expressly declared in such conveyance or devise that the grantees or devisees shall take the lands as joint tenants. Mortgage not to imply covenant to pay money. Conveyance of lands held adversely by another. Joint conveyance to create cotenancy. Execution and acknowledgment SEC. 82. Deeds executed within the district of lands or any interest in lands therein shall be executed in the presence of two witnesses, of deeds. who shall subscribe their names to the same as such; and the persons executing such deeds may acknowledge the execution thereof before any judge, clerk of the district court, notary public, or commissioner within the district, and the officer taking such acknowledgment shall indorse thereon a certificate of the acknowledgment thereof and the true date of making the same, under his hand. SEC. 83. If any deed shall be executed in any State, Territory, or District of the United States, such deed may be executed according to the laws of such State, Territory, or District, and the execution thereof may be acknowledged before any judge of a court of record, justice of the peace, or notary public, or other officer authorized by the laws of such State, Territory, or District to take the acknowledgment of deeds therein, or before any commissioner appointed for such purpose. -in States. Certificate of of SEC. 84. In the cases provided for in the last section, unless the acknowledgment be taken before a commissioner appointed for that ficial character. purpose, or before a notary public certified under his notarial seal, or before the clerk of a court of record certified under the seal of the court, such deed shall have attached thereto a certificate of the clerk cr other proper certifying officer of a court of record of the county or district within which such acknowledgment was taken, under the seal of his office, that the person whose name is subscribed to the certificate of acknowledgment was at the date thereof such officer as he is therein represented to be, and that he believes the signatnre of such person subscribed thereto to be genuine, and that the deed is executed and acknowledged according to the laws of such State, Territory, or District. SEC. 85. If such deed be executed in any foreign country it may be Acknowledgexecuted according to the laws of such country, and the execution ment of deeds in thereof may be acknowledged before any notary public therein, or foreign country. before any minister plenipotentiary, minister extraordinary, minister resident, chargé d'affaires, commissioner, or consul of the United States appointed to reside therein, which acknowledgment shall be certified thereon by the officer taking the same, under his hand; and if taken before a notary public his seal of office shall be affixed to such certificate. SEC. 86. When a married woman residing in the district shall join by married with her husband in a deed of conveyance of real property situated women. within the district she shall acknowledge that she executed such deed freely and voluntarily. Conveyance by married woman SEC. 87. When any married woman not residing in the district shall join with her husband in any conveyance of real estate situated within residing out of dis- the district 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. trict. Officer taking SEC. 88. No acknowledgment of any conveyance having been exeacknowledgment cuted shall be taken by any officer unless he shall know or have satismust know grant- factory evidence that the person making such acknowledgment is the individual described in and who executed such conveyance. or. Proof of execuSEC. 89. Proof of the execution of any conveyance may be made tion by subscrib- before any officer authorized to take ackowledgment of deeds, and ing witnesses. 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. -when wit sent. SEC. 90. When any grantor is dead, out of the district, or refuses nesses dead or ab- to acknowledge his deed, and all the subscribing witnesses to such deed shall also be dead or reside out of the district, the same may be proved before the district court, or any judge thereof, by proving thể handwriting of the grantor and of any subscribing witness thereto. subpoena of witness refusing to appear, etc. Penalty for refusing to appear or testify. Certificate of dorsed on deed. SEC. 91. Upon the application of any grantee, or of any person claiming under him, verified by the oath of the applicant, setting forth that the grantor is dead, out of the district, or refused to acknowledge his deed, and that any witness to such conveyance refuses to appear and testify touching the execution thereof, and that such conveyance can not be proven without his evidence, any officer authorized to take the acknowledgment or proof of conveyance, except a commissioner of deeds, may issue a subpoena requiring such witness to appear and testify before such officer touching the execution of such conveyance. SEC. 92. Every person duly served with such subpoena who shall, without reasonable cause, refuse or neglect to appear, or appearing shall refuse to answer upon oath touching the matter aforesaid, shall forfeit to the injured party one hundred dollars, and may also be committed to prison as for a contempt by the officer who issued such subpoena, there to remain until he shall submit to answer on oath as aforesaid. SEC. 93. Every officer who shall take the proof of any conveyance proof to be in- shall indorse his certificate thereon, signed by himself on the conveyance, and in such certificate shall set forth the things herein before required to be done, known, or proved, 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. Deed proved SEC. 94. Every conveyance acknowledged or proved or certified in may be read in the manner hereinbefore prescribed by any of the officers before named may be read in evidence without further proof thereof, and shall be entitled to be recorded in the precinct in which the lands lie. evidence. Record of deeds and mortgages. Certificate on conveyance. SEC. 95. Separate books shall be provided by the commissioner in each recording district or precinct for the recording of deeds and mortgages, in one of which books all deeds left with such commissioner shall be recorded at full length, with the certificates of acknowledgment or proof of the execution thereon, and in the other all mortgages left with the commissioner shall in like manner be recorded. SEC. 96. The commissioner, shall certify upon each conveyance recorded by him the time when it was received and the reference to the book and the page where it is recorded, and every conveyance shall be considered as recorded at the time it was so received. |