the same, a certificate of the clerk or register of the court to which the officer belongs, under the official seal thereof, that at the date of the certificate of acknowledgment such officer was in fact what he purports to be. The official character of a justice of the peace shall be certified in like manner by the clerk of a court of record of the county to which the justice belongs.

SEC. 19. The certificate of acknowledgment shall be under the hand of the officer taking it, and his official seal, where he has one. It shall be endorsed upon, or annexed to, the deed, and shall be in the form following, or substantially to like effect:

SEC. 20.

county, (or corporation.)

"

I, A B, justice of the peace [or other prescribed officer, giving title] in and for the county [or corporation, or parish, or district] aforesaid, in the State [or Territory, or District] of, do hereby certify that C D, a party [or C D and E F, parties] to a certain deed bearing date on the day of and hereunto annexed, personally appeared before me in my county [or corporation] aforesaid, and acknowledged the same to be his [or their] act and deed; the said CD [or CD and E F] being personally well known to me as [or proved by the oath of a credible witness before me to be] the person [or persons] who executed the said deed.

Given under my hand [and seal] this — day of

A B, [SEAL.]

SEC. 21. When any married woman shall be a party with her husband to any deed, it shall be the duty of any officer herein authorized to take acknowledgments, before whom she may appear, to examine her separately and apart from her husband, and to explain to her the deed fully, and on her declaring that she willingly signed, sealed, and delivered the deed, and that she wished not to retract the same, he shall certify such separate examination, acknowledgment and declaration, as provided in section nineteen of this chapter, and in form following, or substantially to like effect:

SEC. 22.

-county, [or corporation,] to wit:

2

I, A B, a justice of peace [or other prescribed officer, giving title] in the county [or corporation, or parish, or district] aforesaid, in the State [or Territory, or District] of do hereby certify that G H, the wife of C D, party to a certain deed bearing date on the day of———————————————, and hereto annexed, personally appeared before me, in my county [or corporation, &c.] aforesaid, and being by me exam

ined separately and apart from her husband, and having the deed aforesaid fully explained to her, acknowledged the same to be her act and deed, and declared that she had willingly signed, sealed, and delivered the same, and that she wished not to retract it. And I further certify that the said G H is personally well known to me as [or is proved by the oath of a credible witness before me to be] the person who executed the said deed.

Given under my hand [and seal] this

day of

A B, [SEAL.]

DEEDS, HOW RECORDED, AND EFFECT OF.

SEC. 23. The recorder shall admit to record any deed, together with its accompanying plats and surveys, relating to land in this District, executed, acknowledged, and certified, according to the provisions of this chapter.

SEC. 24. All such deeds shall take effect as between the parties thereto and their privies, from the date of the certified acknowledgment thereof: provided, that, as against all subsequent purchasers and encumbrancers for a valuable consideration without notice, and all creditors, the same shall take effect and be valid only from the time of their delivery to the recorder for record, acknowledged and certified as before provided, and the indexing thereof.

SEC. 25. Every title, bond, covenant, agreement, or other contract in relation to land, may be acknowledged, certified, and recorded, in the same manner as deeds for the conveyance of lands, and the delivery of the same, so acknowledged and certified, to the recorder for record, shall, on the indexing thereof, be held to be notice to subsequent purchasers of the existence thereof.

SEC. 26. No trust concerning land, whether implied by law or created or declared by the parties, shall defeat the title of a purchaser for a valuable consideration, and without notice thereof, nor prevent any creditor who had no notice of the trust from attaching the premises, or taking them in execution, as if no such trust had existed. But the recording and indexing of any instrument in writing, creating or declaring such trust, among the land records in the recorder's office, shall be constructive notice of the same.

RULES OF CONSTRUCTION AND GENERAL PROVISIONS.

SEC. 27. All real estate shall, as regards the conveyance of the immediate freehold thereof, be deemed to lie in grant as well as in livery.

SEC. 28. By deed of bargain and sale, or by deeds of lease and release, or by covenant to stand seized to the use, or decd operating by way of covenant to stand seized to the use, the possession of the bargainor, releasor, or covenantor, shall be deemed transferred to the bargainee, releasee, or person entitled to the use, for the estate or interest which such person hath in the use, as perfectly as if the bargainee, releasee, or person entitled to the use, had been enfeoffed with livery of seizin of the land intended to be conveyed by such deed

or covenant.

SEC. 29. No words of inheritance or perpetuity shall be necessary to create an estate in fee-simple; and every conveyance of real estate by deed or devise shall be construed to pass all the estate of the grantor, unless a contrary intention shall appear by express terms of such instrument, or be necessarily implied therein.

SEC. 30. Every deed or will conveying land shall, unless an exception be therein made, be construed to include all buildings, privileges, liberties, and appurtenances of every kind belonging to such land.

SEC. 31. All title to real estate acquired by the grantor subsequent to a conveyance in fee by him, shall inure to the grantee in such deed.

SEC. 32. A conveyance made by a tenant for life or for years, granting a greater estate than he possessed or could lawfully convey, shall not work a forfeiture of his estate, but shall pass to the grantee all the estate which such tenant could lawfully convey.

SEC. 33. When a remainder shall by deed or will be limited to the heirs, or heirs of the body of a person to whom a life estate in the same premises shall be given, the persons who, on the termination of the life estate, shall be the heirs, or the heirs of the body of such tenant for life, shall be entitled to take as purchasers, by virtue of the remainder so limited to them.

SEC. 34. A contingent remainder, limited by deed, shall in no case fail for want of the creation of a particular estate to support it, nor shall the same be defeated or barred by any alienation or other act of the owner of the precedent estate, nor by the destruction of the precedent estate by a disseizin, forfeiture, surrender, merger, or otherwise.

SEC. 35. The preceding sections number thirty-two and thirtyfour shall not be construed to prevent the barring of estates tail in the manner before provided in this chapter, nor to prevent any ex

pectant estate from being defeated in any manner provided for or authorized by the party creating the estate.

SEC. 36. A fee-simple or other less estate may be limited by way of contingent remainder, after a fee-simple, by deed, in like manner as is now allowed by law in wills, and with the like limitations and restrictions.

SEC. 37. Any estate of freehold or inheritance may be made to commence in futuro, by deed, in like manner as can now be done by will, and with like limitations and restrictions.

SEC. 38. All conveyances and devises of land made to two or more persons, except such as are made to trustees, shall be construed to create estates in common, and not in joint tenancy, unless it shall be expressed therein that the grantees or devisees shall take the land to them and the survivor of them.

SEC. 39. The lien of a vendor of real estate for unpaid purchasemoney shall remain and be recognised as heretofore, and the same may be transferred by the vendor, and shall, unless it be otherwise agreed, follow the assignment of the claim for the unpaid purchasemoney, or the assignment of the bond, note, or other instrument evidencing the same.

SEC. 40. The lien of a vendor for unpaid purchase-money shall not be impaired by any claim for dower, by the wife of the vendee, in the premises sold, but shall be preferred to the same; and such wife shall have dower, subject to said lien, and, in the event of a sale, shall be endowed of the surplus remaining after the lien has been satisfied.

SEC. 41. When lands are sold and conveyed, and a mortgage or deed of trust is given by the purchaser, at the same time, to secure the payment of the purchase-money, or any part thereof, the same shall be preferred to any previous judgment which may have been obtained against such purchaser, and also to any claim for dower by the wife of the mortgagor or grantor in such deed.

SEC. 42. Unless a mortgage of real estate specially provides that the mortgagee shall have possession of the mortgaged premises, he shall not be entitled to the same.

SEC. 43. Every power to an agent or attorney to execute a conveyance of real estate shall, unless it contain restraining words, be taken to empower such agent or attorney to enter into, for his principal, all

covenants for title that might be demanded by the purchaser of the principal.

SEC. 44. All lands within this District are declared to be allodial, so that, subject only to the liability to escheat, the entire and absolute property is vested in the owners according to the nature of their respective estates.

SEC. 45. Every limitation in any deed or will contingent upon the dying of any person without heirs, or heirs of the body, or issue, or issue of the body, or children, or offspring, or descendants, or other relative, shall be construed as a limitation, to take effect when such person shall die, not having such heir, or issue, or child, or offspring, or descendant, or other relative, as the case may be, living at the time of his death, or born to him within ten months thereafter, unless the intention of such limitation be otherwise plainly declared on the face of the deed or will creating it.

OF COVENANTS, AND SHORT FORMS THEREOF.

SEC. 46. No covenants shall be implied in any conveyance of real estate, except where it is otherwise specially provided.

SEC. 47. Lineal and collateral warranties, with all their incidents, are abolished; but any covenant allowed by law may be inserted in a deed of real estate, and the heirs, devisees, and personal representatives of any covenantor, shall be liable to the extent of assets devised or descended, according to the terms of the covenants contained in the deed.

SEC. 48. When a deed uses the words "the said covenants," such covenant shall have the same effect as if it was expressed to be by the covenantor for himself, his heirs, personal representatives, and assigns, and shall be deemed to be with the covenantee, his heirs, personal representatives, and assigns.

SEC. 49. A covenant, by the grantor in a deed, "that he will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed," shall have the same effect as if the grantor had covenanted that he, his heirs, personal representatives, and devisees, will forever warrant and defend the said property unto the grantee, his heirs, personal representatives, and assigns, against the claims and demands of all persons whom

soever.

SEC. 50. A covenant by any such grantor, "that he will warrant specially the property hereby conveyed," shall have the same effect as if