§ 379. Contents of application for registration; other papers to be filed. The application for registration shall be made by filing a complaint, as required by section three hundred and seventy of this chapter. Except as otherwise specified herein, the complaint (and the summons in the action) shall name as parties to the action all persons having or claiming any right or interest in or lien upon the property, or any part thereof, as shown by the examiner's certificate of title hereinafter described, and such additional parties as may be designated by the court in its order directing the issuance and service of the summons, and the complaint and summons shall have the forms and effects prescribed for them by the code of civil procedure. The complaint shall set forth, in addition to any other proper allegations:

a. The name and post-office address of each of the plaintiffs, and when made by one acting in behalf of another, the name and post-office address and capacity of the person so acting.

b. Whether or not each of the plaintiffs (except in case of a corporation) is married, and, if married, the name and post-office address of the husband or wife, and, if unmarried, whether he or she has been married, and if so, when and how the marriage relation terminated, and, if the marriage was terminated by annulment or divorce, when, where and by what court the annulment or divorce was granted, and for the misconduct, if any, of which party it was granted.

c. That each of the plaintiffs is of the full age of twentyone years and free from any disability, or, if he is a minor or under disability, his age or the nature of such disability, and the authority of the person by whom his application is made.

d. The names and post-office addresses of the defendants (and whether or not any of them are infants or otherwise incapacitated) as far as known or reasonably ascertainable; a description of those whose names are unknown, as prescribed by section four hundred and fifty-one of the code of civil procedure; and a designation of all other possible

owners and claimants of the property or any right or interest in or lien upon the property or any part thereof as "all other persons, if any, having any right or interest in or lien upon said property (herein described) or any part thereof." In addition to the defendants above specified, the complaint shall specifically name as defendants the people of the state of New York, and also all persons who have filed any caution or cautions against the registration of such property, as provided for by section three hundred and eighty-three of this chapter.

e. A proper reference to the official examiner's certificate of title; and to the survey, map or plan of the property; each of which is to be annexed as an exhibit to the complaint, and made and declared by the complaint to be a part thereof.

f. A statement, when such is the case, that the complaint is made by, or on behalf of, the owner of the contract to purchase said property.

g. A prayer that the title be duly registered, as belonging to and vested in the plaintiff or plaintiffs, or as the facts may require at the time of such registration, in the manner set forth in the said certificate of title or otherwise; and that the court may order the issuance of the summons and service of the summons and the proper notice, as hereinafter directed, on all the defendants who have not duly appeared in the action. The court may require additional facts to be stated in the complaint, and may require the filing of any additional paper or evidence. It may also require the complaint to be amended and reverified as the circumstances of the case may demand or make proper.

Formerly section 11, chapter 444, Laws of 1908.58

Comment. It is highly essential, under any proceeding to register a title, that the application for registration shall describe the premises to be affected with particularity.59 Otherwise confusion ensues and adjoining owners may be greatly prejudiced. But the land affected may be described by affixing the official examiners" 58 Repealed. See § 460, infra.

59 Glos v. Bragdon, 229 Ill. 223.

certificate of title referred to in the next section.60 This act requires also an official survey,61 and it seems to avoid some of the dangers of loose descriptions, apparent under the registration acts of some other countries.

Very lately there was an action brought in this State by an owner of land adjoining a parcel sought to be registered, claiming that the description of such parcel affected his rights adversely. Unless great care is taken in applications for registration such actions are likely to arise, as the registration will be most prejudicial in the end to such adjoining owners whose property is included either through error or design.

60 See 380, infra.

61 See 381, infra.

§ 380. Examiner's certificate of title; other evidences of title. The official examiner's certificate of the title referred to in section three hundred and seventy-nine shall accompany the complaint as an exhibit, and be made a part thereof. An individual examiner, who makes the certificate, shall annex thereto his affidavit that the same is true in every particular, to the best of his knowledge and belief, and that he has employed all usual means and methods for ascertaining the truth thereof, and all the facts and circumstances affecting and concerning the title to said property. A corporate official examiner, that makes the certificate, shall annex thereto its policy of guarantee or insurance of the title as shown by the certificate, for an amount to be fixed by it and the plaintiff or plaintiffs, which amount shall not be less than the last valuation of the property or interest insured, for the purpose of local annual taxation, or its proper proportion thereof; which guarantee or insurance shall be made in favor of the plaintiff, and the people of the state of New York, and shall inure to the benefit of, and be recoverable upon by, any one who may be injured in any way within ten years after the filing of said policy of guarantee or insurance, because of any error, fraud, omission or misdescription in said certificate. Said official examiner's certificate shall set forth the exact state and condition of the title sought to be registered in the action, and the names and post-office addresses as far as known or reasonably ascertainable, and the rights or interests, or claimed rights or interests, of the plaintiff and all other persons having or claiming any rights or interest in or liens upon said property or any part thereof, and the names and post-office addresses of the owners in fee simple of the surrounding contagious properties, as far as they are known or can be reasonably ascertained by inquiry on said properties; and, as to actual or possible owners or claimants of the property sought to be registered, not known or not found, it shall state fully what search and efforts have been made to find them. All possible owners and claimants of the property sought to be

registered, or any right or interest therein or lien thereon or in or on any part thereof, who cannot be otherwise described, shall be designated in the certificate, and in the summons and complaint, by the expression, "all other persons, if any, who have any right or interest in or lien upon said property or any part thereof." By the statements of fact contained in said certificate of title, or by separate accompanying affidavits, or by any other or additional evidence, if necessary, stating the facts, or by any or all of these, sufficient facts must be shown to satisfy the court that all owners and claimants of the property sought to be registered, or of any right or interest in or lien upon the same or any part thereof, who could be found by diligent inquiry are duly and specifically named and made parties to the action. The question of the sufficiency of the proof that all such owners and claimants. who could be found by diligent inquiry are duly and specifically named and made parties to the action shall be for the court; its decision that such proof is sufficient shall be shown by its making the order for the service of the summons and the commencement of the action as prescribed in this article, and such decision or order shall not be drawn in question after six months from the time when the final judgment in the action is entered. There shall be filed, with said certificate of title, the abstract of title and the searches made or used by the official examiner in the process of his work of examining the title; also all the other proper evidences of the due examination of the title, and all original muniments of title within the plaintiff's control. Such original muniments of title as affect land not included in the action may be withdrawn upon filing certified copies thereof. After final judgment, or other termination of the action, the plaintiff or other owner may, with the consent of the court, withdraw original muniments of title, abstracts, or searches. The examiner's certificate of title shall contain a short form of description of the property, the title to which is sought to be registered, which form is to be used in the notice to accompany and be served with the sum