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§ 162-64 of assessment a petition of appeal, duly verified according to law, stating specifically the grounds upon which the appeal is taken and the reasons why the tax is considered excessive or unjust; the state board of assessors shall thereupon proceed to investigate the contentions raised by the said petition of appeal; and for the purpose of such hearing, the officers of said corporation may be summoned to appear before said board, either in person or by attorney, and questioned as to the statements set forth in the said petition of appeal; if, in the opinion of a majority of the board, it shall appear that the tax so levied as aforesaid is excessive or unjust, they shall thereupon require the officers of the corporation to file with the board a corrected return, and upon said corrected return the assessment shall be adjusted and the tax reduced or amended as in the opinion of the board shall seem proper.

(SI of Supplement of April 8, 1897; P. L.,

p. 178.)

In People's Inv. Co. v. State Board of Assessors, 48 Atl. Rep., 579, the Supreme Court held that the method of review prescribed by this act was not exclusive; that certiorari would still lie.

163. Right of appeal waived after three months.

If the petition of appeal shall not be filed within three months from the date of assessment, as aforesaid, the right to appeal to the state board shall be considered and treated as having been waived and the amount of tax levied shall be payable and collected as other taxes levied by said board.

(§ 2 of Supplement of April 8, 1897; P. L., 1897, p. 178.)

164. Taxes illegally assessed to be refunded.

When any corporation upon which taxes have been or shall be levied under the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement shall afterwards be found by the state board of assessors to be not liable under the said act for such tax, it shall be the duty of the said board to report and certify to the comptroller of the treasury the fact that such corporation has been found to be exempt from the tax imposed by the said act, and to cancel and declare null and void any taxes which may have been or shall be imposed upon such exempted corporation, and if any corporation has paid or shall pay the tax so improperly levied, the comptroller of the treasury shall be and is hereby authorized upon receipt of such certificate, to draw his warrant upon the state treasurer in favor of the proper officer of such

corporation for any and all of such taxes which have been or § 165 shall be paid into the state treasury.

(Supplement of March 1, 1888; P. L., p. 118.)

"We understand this supplement to be applicable to cases in which this court, on certiorari, adjudges the tax imposed to be unlawful in whole or in part, and to enable the court in such cases, by proper proceedings against the state board of assessors and the financial officers of the state, to compel the restoration of the unlawful tax paid. Thus the court can administer complete justice between the state and the corporation, without restraining the collection of the tax." (Singer Sewing Machine Co. v. Assessors, 54 N. J. Law, 90.)

165. Error.eous assessments; court may fix amount. That no tax, assessment or water rate, imposed or levied in this state, shall be set aside or reversed in any court of law or equity in any action, suit or proceeding for any irregularity or defect in form, or illegality in assessing, laying or levying any such tax, assessment or rate, or in the proceeding for collecting the same, if the person against whom, or the property upon which such tax, assessment or rate is assessed or laid is, in fact, liable to taxation, or assessment or imposition of such water rate, in respect of the purposes for which such tax, assessment or rate is levied, assessed or laid; and the court in which any action, suit or proceeding is or shall be pending to review any such tax, assessment or water rate is required to amend all irregularities, or errors, or defects, and is empowered, if need be, to ascertain and determine for what sum such person or property was legally liable to taxation, or assessment, or water rate, and by order or decree to fix the amount thereof; and the sum so fixed shall be the amount of tax, assessment or water rate for which such person or property shall be liable, and the same shall be and remain a first lien or charge upon the property and persons, and collectible in the manner provided by law, the same as if such tax, assessment or water rate had been legally levied, assessed or imposed in the first instance by the city, town, township, commission, board or other authority attempting to make, impose or levy the same; it shall be the duty of the court to make a proper levy, imposition or assessment in all cases in which there may lawfully be an assessment, imposition or levy; and such court is hereby given full and ample authority to make a lawful levy, assessment or imposition.

(Act of March 23, 1881; Gen. Stat. § 3404.)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND RECORDING

OF DEEDS, &C.

Provisions of An Act respecting conveyances (Revision of 1898)," P. L. 1898, p. 670.

170*. What instruments may be acknowledged.—All deeds or instruments of the nature or description following, of or affecting the title to any lands, tenements or hereditaments, lying and being in this state, or any interest therein, may be acknowledged or proved and then recorded in the office of the clerk of the court of common pleas of the county where the said lands, tenements or hereditaments are situated, that is to say: conveyances, releases, declarations of trust, mortgages, defeasible deeds or other conveyances in nature of a mortgage, releases or deeds in which the intention to operate as releases from the lien and effect of any mortgage or judgment is plainly manifested, assignments and discharges or satisfaction pieces of mortgages, assignments of judgments, letters of attorney for any sale, conveyance, assurance, acquittance or release, leases for life or any term not less than two years, or any assignments thereof absolute, or by way of mortgage, or security, agreements for sale, or written consents of any person to the execution by an executor, administrator with the will annexed, or trustee, of a power for sale, conveyance, acquittance, or release, or writings to declare or direct any use or trust of real estate, or which though made for some other purpose, are yet by the terms of any recordable deed or will which refers to such writings, made to operate as such declarations or directions, and all other instruments that may have been heretofore or may be hereafter directed by any statute to be acknowledged or proved and recorded, and also in the office of the clerk of the court of common pleas of the county in which the goods, chattels and * Arbitrary section number, see footnote, p. 118.

personal property lie, unless otherwise directed in this or any § 171 other act, the following deeds and instruments not of or affecting the title to land, but of or affecting goods, chattels and personal property in this state, that is to say: chattel mortgages, assignments, releases and discharges thereof, contracts for the conditional sale of goods and chattels, deeds of personal property to literary, benevolent, religious or charitable institutions upon particular trusts therein specified or otherwise.

($ 21.)

Original and amended certificates of incorporation are required to be proved or acknowledged as required for deeds of real estate. (General Corporation Act, ante, sections 9, 26a, 27 and 134.)

Acknowledgment by Corporation.-There has been some controversy in New Jersey as to whether a corporation could acknowledge a deed, or whether the execution had to be proved by a subscribing witness. The Court of Errors and Appeals in 1890 decided that the deed of a corporation may be lawfully acknowledged by the representative of the corporation, having authority to execute the deed in its behalf. (Hopper v. Lovejoy, 47 N. J. Eq., 573.)

The usual practice, however, is to prove the execution of the deed by a subscribing witness. An affidavit proving the signature of the president of the corporation to a conditional bill of sale, and the affixing of the corporate seal, were held to be a sufficient compliance with P. L. 1895, p. 158 (2 G. S., p. 706), requiring such contracts to be " acknowledged.” (General Electric Co. v. Transit Equipment Co., 57 N. J. Eq., 460.)

171. Acknowledgments taken in this state.-If any deed or instrument of the nature or description set forth in the twentyfirst section of this act, heretofore made and executed, or hereafter to be made and executed, shall be acknowledged by the party who shall have executed or shall execute it, such party then having happened or happening to be in this state, whether residing here or elsewhere, before the chancellor, one of the justices of the supreme court, one of the masters in chancery of this state, one of the attorneys at law admitted by the supreme court to practice in the various courts of this state, one of the judges of the court of common pleas of any county in this state, one of the commissioners of deeds appointed for any county in this state, a clerk of the court of common pleas of any county, a deputy county clerk, a surrogate or deputy surrogate of any county, or a register of deeds of any county of this state, whether such officer was or is

172 appointed for, or whether he was or is in the said county where such lands, tenements or hereditaments are situate or where such acknowledgment was or is taken or not, such officer having first made known the contents thereof to such party making such acknowledgment, and being also satisfied that such party is the grantor in such deed or instrument, of all which the said officer shall make his certificate on, under, or annexed to said deed or instrument, or if it shall have been or shall be proved, by one or more of the subscribing witnesses to it, such witness or witnesses then having happened or happening to be anywhere in this state, whether residing here or elsewhere, that such party signed, sealed and delivered it as his voluntary act and deed, before any one of the above-named officers then having been or being anywhere in this state, and if a certificate of such proof signed by such officer shall be written upon, or under, or be annexed to such deed or instrument, then every such deed or instrument shall be received in evidence in any court of this state, as if the same were then and there produced and proved.

(§ 22, as amended by Chap. 138, Laws of 1901, P. L. 1901, p. 295.) For forms of acknowledgment and proof by subscribing witness, see Forms 7, 8, post. See also p. 23, ante.

172. Acknowledgments taken out of this state, but within the United States.—If the party who shall have executed or who shall execute any such deed or instrument of the description or nature above set forth in the twenty-first section of this act, or the witnesses thereto shall have happened or shall happen to be in some other state in the union or territory thereof, or in the District of Columbia, whether such party or witnesses resided or reside in this state or in such state, territory, or district, or elsewhere, then such acknowledgment or proof as is above prescribed, made before and certified by the chief justice of the United States, or any associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, or any master in chancery of this state, or any circuit or district judge of the United States, or any judge or justice of the supreme or the superior courts, or the chancellor, of any state in the Union, or territory thereof, or District of Columbia, or any foreign commissioner of deeds for New Jersey, duly certified, under the official seal of such commis

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