§ 312. Contents of certificate of authentication. An officer authenticating a certificate of acknowledgment or proof must subjoin or attach to the original certificate a certificate under his hand, and if he has, pursuant to law, an official seal, under such seal. Except when the original certificate is made by a judge of a court of record in Canada, such certificate of authentication must specify that, at the time of taking the acknowledgment or proof, the officer taking it was duly authorized to take the same; that the authenticating officer is acquainted with the former's handwriting, or has compared the signature to the original certificate with that deposited in his office by such officer; and that he verily believes the signature to the original certificate is genuine; and if the original certificate is required to be under seal, he must also certify that he has compared the impression of the seal affixed thereto with the impression of the seal of the officer who took the acknowledgment or proof deposited in his office, and that he verily believes the impression of the seal upon the original certificate is genuine. A clerk's certificate authenticating a certificate of acknowledgment or proof, taken before a judge of a court of record in Canada, must specify that there is such a court; that the judge before whom the acknowledgment of proof was taken, was, when it was taken, a judge thereof; that such court has a seal; that the officer authenticating is clerk thereof; that he is well acquainted with the handwriting of such judge, and verily believes his signature is genuine.

Formerly section 261, Real Property Law of 1896, chapter XLVI, General Laws:

§ 261. Contents of certificate of authentication.- An officer authenticating a certificate of acknowledgment or proof must subjoin or attach to the original certificate a certificate under his hand, and if he has, pursuant to law, an official seal, under such seal. Except when the original certificate is made by a judge of a court of record in Canada, such certificate of authentication must specify that, at the time of taking the acknowledgment or proof, the officer taking it was duly authorized to take the same; that the authenticating officer is acquainted with the former's handwriting, or has compared the signature to the original certificate with that deposited in his office by such officer; and that he verily believes the signature to the original

certificate is genuine;64a and if the original certificate is required to be under seal, he must also certify that he has compared the impression of the seal affixed thereto with the impression of the seal of the officer who took the acknowledgment or proof deposited in his office, and that he verily believes the impression of the seal upon the original certificate is genuine.65 A clerk's certificate authenticating a certificate of acknowledgment or proof, taken before a judge of a court of record in Canada, must specify that there is such a court; that the judge before whom the acknowledgment of proof was taken, was, when it was taken, a judge thereof; that such court has a seal; that the officer authenticating is clerk thereof; that he is well acquainted with the handwriting of such judge, and verily believes his signature is genuine.66

Section 260 was formerly chapter 270, section 4, Laws of 1850; chapter 136, section 2, Laws of 1875; chapter 195, section 2, Laws of 1848, as amended by chapter 557, Laws of 1867; chapter 208, section 1, Laws of 1870.67

Note on this Section. The law touching certificates of authentication was formerly embodied in several acts.68

Defects in Authentication. Some defects in a certificate of authentication may be helped out by intendment.69

Effect of Omission of Certificate. Where a certificate of authentication is requisite, its omission renders a deed ineffectual as a conveyance of a marketable title.70 Nothing is better settled than that a purchaser is entitled to a deed or conveyance which will constitute a good record title in his favor. If a deed is not so acknowledged or authenticated as to entitle it to be recorded (if authentication be required), then it is not such a conveyance as satisfies a covenant or contract to convey, and the title may be rejected by the purchaser. Thus it becomes of the first importance that a conveyance shall be well and sufficiently acknowledged, and if authenti

64a § 312, Real Prop. Law. €5 The word genuine is printed gunuine in the Session Laws of 1896, vol. 1, p. 613.

66 Repealed by Real Prop. Law of 1909, § 460, art. 14, chap. 50, Consolidated Laws. See below, § 460.

67 Note of Commissioners of Statutory Revision to this section.

68 Laws of 1848, chap. 195, § 2, as amd. by Laws of 1867, chap. 557 (as to certificate to acknowledgment taken out of the State but in the

Union); Laws of 1858, chap. 308 (N. Y. commissioners); Laws of 1863, chap. 246; Laws of 1865, chap. 421 (consuls); Laws of 1870, chap. 209 (in Canada).

€9 Thorn v. Mayer, 12 Misc. Rep. 487.

70 Williamson v. Banning, 86 Hun, 203; Freedman v. Oppenheim, 80 App. Div. 487.

71 Irving v. Campbell, 121 N. Y. 353; Jay v. Wilson, 91 Hun, 391.

cation of a certificate of acknowledgment or proof be required, that it shall also be well and sufficiently authenticated.

Contents of Certificate. The certificate should state that the authenticator is we!! acquainted with the handwriting of the officer taking the acknowledgment, and verily believes that the signature to the certificate of proof or acknowledgment is genuine.72

72 Goddard v. Schmoll, 24 Misc. Rep. 381; Freedman v. Oppenheim, 80 App. Div. 487.

§ 313. Recording of conveyances acknowledged or proved without the state, when parties and certifying officer are dead. When the execution of a conveyance of real property within this state is acknowledged or proved according to the laws of any other state of the United States, and a certificate of the acknowledgment or proof signed by the officer taking it is annexed to or indorsed upon the instrument, if such officer and the grantor or mortgagor be dead and the death of all of them be proved by affidavit, sworn to in such state before an officer authorized by its laws to administer an oath therein, the conveyance, with the affidavit or affidavits annexed thereto, on being authenticated as required by this section, may be read in evidence and recorded in the same manner, and with like effect, as if the conveyance was acknowledged or proved and certified as required by the laws of this state. To entitle such convey

ance and affidavits to be read in evidence, or recorded, a certificate of the clerk, recorder, register or prothonotary of the county in which the deceased officer resided, authenticating his signature, and also certifying that the conveyance is acknowledged or proved in all respects, as required by the laws of such state, must be annexed to the original certificate; and a like certificate of such clerk, recorder, register or prothonotary, authenticating the signature of the officer, before whom the affidavits proving the deaths were taken, must be annexed to such affidavits. The affidavits on being recorded, are presumptive evidence of the matters of fact, required to be stated therein.

Formerly section 262 of the Real Property Law of 1896, chapter XLVI, General Laws:

§ 262. Recording of conveyances acknowledged or proved without the state, where parties and certifying officer are dead.- Where the execution of a conveyance of real property within this state is acknowledged or proved according to the laws of any other state of the United States, and a certificate of the acknowledgment or proof signed by the officer taking it is annexed to or indorsed upon the instrument, if such officer and the grantor or mortgagor be dead and the death of all of them be proved by affidavit, sworn to in such state before an officer authorized by its laws to administer an oath therein, the conveyance, with the affidavit or affidavits annexed thereto, on being authenticated as required by this section, may be read

in evidence and recorded in the same manner, and with like effect, as if the conveyance was acknowledged or proved and certified as required by the laws of this state. To entitle such conveyance and affidavits to be read in evidence, or recorded, a certificate of the clerk, recorder, register or prothonotary of the county in which the deceased officer resided, authenticating his signature, and also certifying that the conveyance is acknowledged or proved in all respects, as required by the laws of such state, must be annexed to the original certificate; and a like certificate of such clerk, recorder, register or prothonotary, authenticating the signature of the officer, before whom the affidavits proving the deaths were taken, must be annexed to such affidavits. The affidavits on being recorded, are presumptive evidence of the matters of fact, required to be stated therein.73

Section 262 was formerly chapter 259, Laws of 1858, as follows: AN ACT in relation to the proof or acknowledgment of deeds and other conveyances by persons residing out of this state.

Passed April 15th, 1858.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Any deed or conveyance or other written instrument, affecting real estate within this state, proved or acknowledged in any other state or territory of the United States, according to the laws of such state or territory, where the grantor or grantors of such deed or conveyance and the officer before whom the same shall be proved or acknowledged shall be dead; and when such proof or acknowledgment shall be certified as herein provided, may be recorded in any county of the state, and may be read in evidence in any court of this state, in the same manner and with the like effect as though the same had been proved or acknowledged as required by the laws of this state, provided that the death of the grantor or grantors, and of the officer before whom the same shall be proved or acknowledged, shall be proved by the affidavit of one or more persons, sworn to before some officer authorized by law to administer oaths in such state or territory, and certified as herein provided.

§ 2. To entitle74 such deed or conveyance, or other written instrument, to be read in evidence or recorded in this state, there shall be annexed to the certificate of proof or acknowledgment, signed by such officer, a certificate under the name and official seal of the clerk or register of the county in which such officer resided, specifying that such officer was, at the time of taking such proof or acknowledgment duly authorized to take the same, and that such clerk or register is well acquainted with the handwriting of such officer, and verily believes that the signature to said certificate of proof or acknowledgment is genuine, and that such deed or conveyance or written instrument, is proved or acknowledged in all respects, as required by the laws of such state or territory. There shall also be a like certificate of such clerk or register, attached to the jurat or affidavit, proving the death of the 74 So in original Session Laws of 1858.

73 Repealed by Real Prop. Law of 1909, § 460, art. 14, chap. 50, Consolidated Laws. See below, § 460.