receipt shall be considered and held as the actual owner of the property described in the receipt, and no clause of this act shall operate to the detriment or injury of the holder of a warehouse receipt, to the extent of the value of the property specified, made and issued in accordance with and under the provisions of this act; provided, that where the factor, agent or pledger may have wrongfully pledged, in violation of this act, any property, the lien of the owner shall be valid even against the third holder of the warehouse receipt.

SEC. 6. That should the pledger fail to pay his pledge note, secured by warehouse receipts representing the property therein described, on the day of its maturity, the pledgee shall, on the following day after the maturity of such pledge note, notify the pledger of same, and inform him that he may appoint one expert to act jointly with another one to be appointed by the pledgee, which experts shall examine, appraise, and sell the goods or merchandise pledged, or such an amount of the same as they may determine to satisfy the claim of the pledgee, together with costs and the usual expenses. In case of doubt the two experts already selected will be authorized to appoint a third. In the event of the pledger refusing, or for any reason failing to appoint such expert within five days, allowing one additional day for every twenty miles that the residence of the pledgee may be distant from the residence of the pledger, then the pledgee shall be and he is hereby authorized and empowered to appoint two experts, and they to appoint a third, all of whom shall be familiar with the value and management of the character of the merchandise involved; said experts to examine, appraise, and sell to the best possible advantage all of the produce pledged, or such an amount as may be necessary to settle the pledge note in full, together with such costs and necessary expenses as may be or have been incurred. The experts thus appointed shall proceed at once to take action and to complete their duties at the earliest practical day consistent with the usual and customary manner of selling the produce or merchandise in question, and said experts shall make their report immediately thereafter. They shall be authorized to sell at public auction, after five days' notice in a public journal published in the parish in which the pledgee resides, without legal process of any kind or description whatever; and the pledgee or holder of said warehouse receipt shall be in full and complete possession of the merchandise described in the receipt from and after the day on which the pledge note based on the merchandise may have matured; the surrender of the warehouse receipt to the custodian or custodians of the property, and cancellation of same, shall relieve and exonerate them from all further responsibility in the premises.

SEC. 7. That said experts shall make a sworn statement of their proceedings and the disposition of the funds realized, and file said statement in the office of some duly qualified notary public, or in any court of record located in the parish in which the pledgee may reside. Said experts shall receive such fee as may be agreed upon, but they shall not be authorized to exact a fee in excess of the usual commissions charged, according to commercial usage, on the character of the property upon which they may have administered.

SEC. 8. That all warehouse receipts as by this act provided, shall be negotiable by indorsement in blank, or by special indorsement, in the same manner and to the same extent as bills of exchange and promissory notes now are.

SEC. 9. That this act shall take effect from and after its passage, and all laws or parts of laws in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed.

2491. Appointment, Number.-The Governor of this State be, and he is hereby authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as many notaries public in the different

parishes of the State, as may be deemed necessary (Act 117, 1861, 91).

2492. Powers.-Notaries public shall have power, within their several parishes, to make inventories, appraisements, partitions, to receive wills, make protests, matrimonial contracts, conveyances, and generally all contracts and instruments of writing; to hold family meetings and meetings of creditors; to receive acknowledgments of instruments under private signature; to affix the seals upon the effects of deceased persons, and to raise the same; and all acts executed by them, in conformity with the provisions of article two thousand two hundred and thirty-one of the Civil Code, shall be authentic acts (Act 261, 1855, p. 322).

2493. May Administer Oaths.-They shall have the right to administer oaths, quoad the duties of their office, and such oaths as may be necessary to enable citizens of the United States to procure their protection certificates from the regularly authorized officers of the customs of the United States.

Act 7, 1877, p. 10.

AN ACT authorizing Notaries Public to administer oaths and take acknowledg

ments.

SECTION 1. That from and after the passage of this act oaths and acknowledgments, in all cases, may be taken or made by or before any Notary Public duly appointed and qualified in this State.

SEC. 2. That all laws or parts of laws inconsistent herewith be and the same are hereby repealed.

2494. Acts, Where Executed.-All notarial acts shall be made and executed in the office of the notary, unless where the illness of the party, or some other sufficient cause shall prevent him from attending in such office (Act 261, 1855, 322).

2495. Names of Women.-Whenever they shall pass any acts wherein a married woman or a widow is a party, they shall be bound to mention the christian and family name of such woman, adding that she is the wife or widow of the husband's name.

2496. Christian Names to be Given in Full. They shall insert in their acts the christian names of the parties in full, and not with initial letters alone.

2497. Penalties for Certain Violations.-All notaries, or other persons acting as such, contravening the provisions of the two preceding sections, shall be liable to a fine of one hundred dollars, to be recovered before any court of competent jurisdiction, one-half for the benefit of the informer.

2498. Registers to refuse certificates to persons not giving Christian or "first" name. See Sec. 3146.

2499. Offices in New Orleans, Where Kept.-Every notary. public, or other officer in the city of New Orleans, having the custody of public records, shall keep his office in a brick building covered with tiles, slate or terrace, in default whereof he shall be deprived of his office.

2500. Leave of Absence.-The Governor shall be authorized to grant leave of absence to notaries public for a period not exceeding eight months, to date from the day of the permission granted by the Governor.

Notaries public thus permitted to absent themselves shall be required to name and designate another notary public to represent them during their absence.

2501, 2502. Deposit of acts by notaries outside New Orleans Penalty for violation. See R. C. C., Art. 2251, as amended by Act 48, 1890, p. 40.

2503. Qualification, Bond-Any male citizen of the State may be appointed a notary public in and for the parish in which he resides, upon giving bond, with good and solvent security, in the sum of five thousand dollars for the parish of Orleans, and one thousand dollars for the other parishes of the State, conditioned for the faithful performance of all duties required by law toward all persons who may employ him in his profession of notary; and after being examined by any judge of the Supreme Court, Circuit or District Court of the State, and after having received a certificate of having been found competent on such examination, to exercise the profession of notary public (as amended by Act 40, 1886, p. 53).

2504. Bond, How Executed and Deposited.-Said bond shall be executed before the clerk of any of the district courts, and, with the certificate of examination by any judge of the Supreme Court, district or parish courts of the State, be filed with the Auditor of Public Accounts (Act 261, 1855, 322).

A failure to file the bond with the Auditor, may be ground for suspension, but it does not ipso facto vacate the office of the notary. Monroe et als. vs. Administrator et als., 47 An. 155.

2505. Bonds, Renewals, Suspensions.-All notaries shall renew their bonds every five years; and may be suspended by any judge of the Supreme Court or district courts of the State for failure to pay over money entrusted to them in their professional character, for failure to satisfy any final judgment rendered against them in such capacity, or for other just cause.

2506. Present Notaries, Bond.-All notaries now exercising functions as such, as well as those to be qualified under the provisions hereof, are authorized, and shall continue, to act as such so

long as they shall renew their bonds, unless suspended by the Supreme Court.

2507 to 2510. Records of protests and notices of bills and notes; protests, how made, and notices, how given; when to be deposited in postoffice; notices when residence is not known, etc. See Sec. 325 to 328.

2511. Stealing and destruction of notarial records. See Sec. 876. 2512. Duty to Record Acts. And it shall likewise be the duty of notaries public and other officers performing their duties, to cause marriage contracts and other acts which are executed before them, and from which any legal mortgage is derived in favor of a married woman, on the property of her husband, to be recorded in the same manner as aforesaid (Act 253, 1855, p. 312).

2513. Liability of Officers for Failure to Record. The judges, clerks and notaries who shall fail to cause the legal mortgages which exist in favor of minors, interdicted, or absent persons, or in favor of married women, to be recorded as herein provided for, shall be liable in damages towards any person who shall suffer thereby, and shall be subject to be removed from office.

2514. Certificate of Mortgage May Be Dispensed With.The parties to a notarial act may, by written clause in the act, dispense with the certificate of mortgage required by article three thousand three hundred and twenty-eight of the Civil Code, and the notary or parish recorder shall not in such case be entitled to charge for such certificate (Act, 1845, Sec. 4, p. 55).

2515. Notices for family meeting may be delivered by notary. See R. C. C., Art. 288.

2516. To affect third persons, notarial acts concerning immovable property must be recorded. See R. C. C., Art. 2264.

2517. Recording of authentic, of private written acts, and of claims not in controversy. See R. C. C., Art. 3348.

2518. Married women above 21 may renounce matrimonial, dotal, paraphernal rights-mode of proceeding. See R. C. C., Art. 129.

2519. Execution of Acts of Sale Prohibited Where Taxes Are Not Paid. Hereafter neither recorders, sheriffs, notaries, throughout the State, nor other persons authorized to convey real estate by public act, shall pass or execute any act for the sale, transfer or exchange of any real estate unless the State, parish and municipal taxes due on the same for three years next preceding the passage of the act of transfer be first paid, to be shown by the tax collector's receipt or certificate to that purpose (as amended by Act 88 of 1888, p. 148).

2520. Violation of Sec. 2519, Penalty.-The recorders, sher

iffs, notaries public, or other persons violating the provisions of the preceding section shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in a sum of not less than fifty nor more than two hundred dollars for each violation, to be recovered by the district attorney, for the use of the free schools before any competent tribunal (Act —, 1845, Sec. 4, p. 55).

IN NEW ORLEANS AND PARISH OF ORLEANS.

2521. As amended by Acts 4, 1880, and 139, 1888, relates to appointment, bond, etc., of notaries in New Orleans and is superseded by Secs. 4, 5, 6, Act 42, 1890, amended by Act 138, 1896, printed infra.

2522. Release of Certain Mortgages, etc.-The recorder of mortgages of the parish of Orleans be, and he is hereby authorized and required, on the application in writing, of any notary, or legal representative of any notary, in said parish, where bond furnished under the second section of the act of the General Assembly of this State, entitled "An Act relative to notaries in New Orleans," approved March 14, 1855, may have been recorded in the office of said recorder of mortgages, to erase and cancel from his books the mortgage resulting from said inscription; provided, it shall be made to appear to the said recorder, by a certificate of the register of conveyances of said parish, that such notary has furnished and recorded in the office of said register of conveyances a bond, as required by the second section of the act of the General Assembly of the State, entitled "An Act relative to notaries public in and for the parish and city of New Orleans," approved March 12, 1857 (Act 108, 1866, p. 206).

2523. Fees Allowed Recorder.-For the services required by this act the said recorder of mortgages and register of conveyances. shall receive from the party applying therefor the fee established by law for issuing a certificate or erasing a mortgage, and no more.

2524. Duty to record every deed of sale, etc., concerning immovable property within forty-eight hours. See R. C. C., Art. 2255.

2525. Appointment shall not be made unless applicant furnishes certificate from Supreme Court. Superseded by Act 42, 1890, Sec. 4, as amended by Act 138, 1894, printed infra.

2526. Affixing of certificate by Register. See R. C. C. 2256. 2527. Deputies, Notaries May Appoint.-It shall be lawful for each and every notary public in New Orleans to appoint one or more deputies to assist him in the making of protests and delivery of notices of protests of bills of exchange and promissory notes; Provided, that each notary shall be personally responsible for the acts of