cuted, or of a notary public there residing, and if in Great Britain or Ireland, or elsewhere under the dominions of his Majesty, then under the public seal of some corporation there, or by the attestation and certificate of some notary public resident there, certifying that such person so subscribing as a justice of the peace is really and truly so, and that faith and credit is and ought to be given to all such his attestations. If any such deed or writings be executed in any other place out of his Majesty's dominions, then the certificate, attestation, or proof of such execution, shall be according to the forms generally used in such place on the like occasion. (a)

Copies of the register's certificate, and of the deed, duly recorded and authenticated by the register, are admissible in case the original deed is lost, and none of the witnesses thereto are living. (b)

In the event of the death of the grantor and witnesses before the registry thereof, or if they cannot be found, so as to obtain the acknowledgment or proof, the executor of a deceased grantor may execute a memorial of such deed, and it may be registered with the original deed, upon such memorial being acknowledged or proved before the register, or otherwise authenticated, if executed abroad in the manner prescribed. (c)

All powers of attorney, by virtue of which any deed is executed, must be recorded at length in the register's office, and no deed purporting to be executed thereunder has any effect until the power of attorney is recorded. (d)

The effect of a bargain and sale, if the law respecting its probate, acknowledgment, and registration has been complied with, is to transfer the possession, ex vi facti, without livery of seisin, or any other ceremony.

(a) Prince Edward's Island Act, 3 W. 4, c. 10, cl. 4.

(b) Cl. 5.

(c) Cl. 6.

(d) Cl. 14

It will have been perceived that writing forms an essential part of the proof of the transfer of real property; but its necessity is further enforced by the statute of frauds. In Jamaica, Tortola, St. Christopher, Dominica, St. Vincent, Upper Canada, and Prince Edward's Island, that statute is in force, because it was received as part of the law of those settlements on their establishment, and it has been expressly enacted in Barbadoes, Grenada, Bahamas, Antigua, Montserrat, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. (a)

This statute, it has been already stated, is not in force in the Bermuda Islands.

In the transfer of slaves made in the United Kingdom, it was necessary, for some years previous to the abolition of slavery, to observe certain formalities in order to render that transfer valid. By a British statute, the 59th Geo. III., c. 120, no deed or instrument, whereby any slave in any of the colonies was intended to be mortgaged, sold, charged, or in any manner transferred or conveyed, or any estate or interest therein created or raised, was valid in law to pass or convey, charge or affect, any such slave, unless the registered name and description of such slave was duly set forth in such deed or instrument, or in some schedule thereupon indorsed or thereto annexed, according to the then latest registration or corrected registration of such slave in the office of the registrar of slaves.

No deed or instrument can be avoided or impeached by reason of a clerical error in setting forth the names and descriptions of any slaves therein, or in any schedule thereto contained, nor by reason of any disagreement between the names and descriptions, and the entries thereof in the books of registry, or duplicate registry,

Grenada Act, Feb. 20th, Antigua, n. 438, 26 Geo. 3.

(a) Barbadoes, Act, n. 226, Feb. 16th, 1762. 1770, 10 Geo. 3. Bahamas, 40 Geo. 3, c. 2. Montserrat, 26 Geo. 2. Nova Scotia, 32 Geo. 2, c. 18. New Brunswick,

which might have arisen from any error or default of the registrar, his assistant, or clerks, in extracting and certifying the said names and descriptions without the fraudulent contrivance or wilful default of the parties to such deed or instrument. It is also provided that the act should not extend to or be construed to hinder or prevent the transfer or assignment of any security, mortgage, or charge of or upon slaves granted, made, created, or executed antecedently to the passing of the act, nor to avoid any deed or instrument whereby such security, mortgage, or charge should be thereafter transferred, nor to avoid, hinder, or impeach any will, codicil, or other testamentary paper, or any probate or letters of administration, or any bill of sale, assignment, conveyance, or instrument made by or under the authority of any commission of bankrupt, or any public officer appointed to assign or convey any insolvent's estate and effects, or by or under the authority of any court of justice or any officer thereof, or in the execution of any legal process, by reason that the registered names and descriptions of any slaves are not set forth in such deed, will, codicil, testamentary paper, probate, letters of administration, bill of sale, assignment, conveyance, or instrument. (a)

in

The issue of any slave or slaves named or described

any deed or instrument executed in the United Kingdom, or any schedule thereto, born after the return required by law, in the colony in which such slave or slaves may be resident, who shall afterwards be duly registered in the next return required by law in the said colony, shall be deemed and considered to pass, and be conveyed and affected as registered slaves by such deed or instrument as effectually, to all intents and purposes, as if such issue were therein named and described. (b) A case occurred under this act where the owner of a

plantation and slaves had deposited with persons from whom he was borrowing money the conveyance of the plantation of slaves, to which conveyance there was annexed a schedule of the slaves, and had given a memorandum expressing that the conveyance was so deposited as a security for the money borrowed.

There was no such schedule in the memorandum of deposit, nor were the registered names of the slaves inserted in the memorandum. The court of review held that the memorandum was a good equitable mortgage notwithstanding this omission. (a)

This decision was brought under the review of the lords commissioners, and reversed. (b)

(a) Ex parte Rucker, 3 Deacon and Chitty's, Rep. p. 704.
(b) 2 Montague and Ayrton, 398.

SECTION V.

DELIVERY, AND THE INSTRUMENT OR TITLE OF TRANSFER IN THE UNITED STATES.

The statute of frauds.-The forms of conveyance in the several states.—A scroll is in some states equivalent to a seal.-The probate, or acknowledgment and registration of deeds required by the acts of the several states. In what manner made. When the deed is executed in the state or in another state of the Union, or in a foreign state.-The acknowledgment and registration of deeds executed by married women.-The provision made for compelling the grantor, in case of his refusal, to acknowledge the deed. The nature of the proof in case of the death or absence of the grantor or witnesses before acknowledgment.—In what states the records or copies are admitted equally with the originals.-Or only when the non-production of the original is accounted for.-The provisions on these several subjects in the states of New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Maine, Kentucky, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Louisiana.

THE statute of frauds and perjuries of the 29th Charles II. has been either expressly adopted, or is assumed as law throughout the United States. In the last revision of the New York statutes it is extended to every trust or power concerning lands, or any estate or interest therein. The exception as to leases is confined to leases for a term not exceeding one year. It does not apply to trusts by implication or operation of law. (a)

The conveyance of all freehold estates in land must, by the statute law of South Carolina, be by writing, signed, sealed, and delivered. In Virginia and Kentucky all estates or interests in land exceeding a term of five years, and in Rhode Island exceeding one year,

(a) N. Y. Rev. Stat. vol. 2, p. 134, § 6, 7, 8. Ib. p. 137, § 2.