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, ac

* Arbitrary section number; see footnote, p. 247,

quittance, 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 personal property lie, unless otherwise directed in this or any 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 contract of sale, and the affixing of the corporate seal, were held to be a sufficient compliance with P. L. 1895, p. 158, G. S., p. 2706, 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 twenty-first section of this act heretofore made and executed, or hereafter to be made and executed, shall have been or 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 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 in this state, whether such officer was or is 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. Law 1901, P. L. 1901, p. 295, and further amended by Chap. 247, Laws 1906, P. L. 1906, p. 524.

For forms of acknowledgment and proof by subscribing witness see Forms, p. 350.

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 attorney-at-law 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 commissioner, or before and by any mayor or other chief magistrate of any city, borough, or corporation in such state, territory, or district, duly certified under the seal of such city, borough, or corporation, of which he was or is mayor or chief magis

trate, such circuit or district judge, judge or justice of such supreme or superior court, or chancellor of such state, foreign commissioner of deeds, mayor or other chief magistrate then having been or being anywhere within the circuit, district, state, territory, district, city, borough, or corporation, for which he was or is appointed, or before and by any judge of any court of common pleas of such state, territory, or district, such judge then having been or being within the county or district in and for which he was or is such judge, duly certified that he was or is such judge under the great seal of such state, or under the seal of the county court of the county or district in which it is made and in and for which he was or is such judge, or before and by any officer in any such state of the Union, territory thereof, or District of Columbia, then residing, and being anywhere in such state, territory or district, authorized at the time of such proof or acknowledgment by the laws of such state, territory, or district, to take the proofs and acknowledgments of deeds or conveyances of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, lying and being in such state, territory, or district; provided, in such case the certificate of acknowledgment or proof shall be accompanied by a certificate under the great seal of such state, territory, or district, or under the seal of some court of record of the county in which it was or shall be made, that the officer before whom such acknowledgment or proof was or shall be made was, at the time of the taking of said proof or acknowledgment, authorized by the laws. of such state, territory, or district, to take the acknowledgments and proofs of deeds or conveyances for lands, tenements, or hereditaments in such state, territory, or district, shall be as good and effectual as if such acknowledgment or proof had been made within