Hiatt's Heirs v. Calloway's Heirs
Hiatt's Heirs v. Calloway's Heirs
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
A judgment in ejectment was recovered for 100 acres of land, by the heirs of Peter and Susannah Calloway, claiming title under their mother, against Hiatt’s heirs, upon the ground that their mother, who had owned the same, had not, by any valid conveyance upon privy examination, duly certified and recorded, parted with her title in her lifetime. The heirs of Hiatt filed their bill in chancery, enjoining the judgment, praying a confirmation and surrender of the title, and that they may be quieted in their possession, upon allegations that a deed of conveyance had been duly and properly executed by the joint conveyance of the father and mother of the heirs of Calloway, upon the privy examination of their mother, by two Justices of the Peace of Missouri, acting under a commission properly issued, from the County Court of Garrard, where the land lies, and the same, together with the certificates and dedimus, was transmitted to, and recorded in the proper county, except that the Clerk, in recording the certificate of privy examination of the wife, had made a mistake and recorded it as of the 5th day of October, 1823, instead of the 5th day of October, 1822, its true date, and the date of the acknowledgment of the husband, made before the same Justices, and duly certified by them. And if they cannot obtain a correction of the mistake, they pray a confirmation of their title under the 11th section of the act of 1831, (1 Stat. Laws, 453,) and conclude by a general prayer for relief.
The complainants are not entitled to relief under the section of the statute relied on, as has been just decided by this Court in the case of Pearce’s heirs vs Patton et al. It appearing that their mother was covert at the passage
But it appears that Peter Calloway, in 1818, sold and conveyed the land in question, which belonged to his wife, to John Hiatt, the ancestor of the complainants, for eight hundred dollars, which was paid to him. That in 1821 a dedimns poteslatem was properly issued, directed to two named Justices of the Peace of Madison county Missouri, requiring them to take the privy examination of the wife, to a deed of conveyance stated to be attached to the commission, from Peter Calloway and Susannah, his wife, for the hundred acres of land in question, to the heirs of John Hiatt, deceased, naming them in the commission. That said commission was presented to the two Justices named, and on the 5th day of October, 1822, they certify the signing and acknowledgment of the husband endorsed on the deed, filled up as of the same date, over their signatures and seals as Justices, and certify in like manner, the signing, privy examination and acknowledgment of the wife, in due form, endorsed on the commission, which they certify as attached to the deed acknowledged, and the deed attached to the commission, with the certificates endorsed, was sent to the Clerk’s office of the proper county, and recorded in due time, to-wit, on the 25th of October, 1822, together with the certificates of the Justices and commission, but the certificate of the Justices of the wife’s privy examination and acknowledgment, is, through the obvious mistake of the Clerk, recorded as of the 5th of October, 1823, instead of the 5th of October, 1822, which postpones the date of privy examination and acknowledgment to a time beyond that within which the deed, under the statutes as heretofore construed by this Court, should have been spread on the record.
The certificate recorded is in every respect, verbatem with the certificate endorsed, except as to the date so; are the certificate of the acknowledgment of the husband, the commission attached, and deed recorded verbatem, the same as the originals, which were produced to the Chancellor below, and is also produced to this Court. And it is perfectly obvious from an inspection of the originals.
2d.. The complainants are in possession, and have a right to- resort toa Court of Equity to quiet their title, and secure them in the peaceable enjoyment of their purchase.
If it were conceded, which we are not prepared to do, that to pass effectually the fee of the wife, the deed, with the certificates and commission, should not only be-deposited- for record- in due time, but should also be recorded, yet as in this case, all were duly recorded, which the statute requires, verbalem et literalem, with the originals, except as to the single mistake alluded to, we eannot concede that the error of the clerk shall have the violating effect of forfeiting the title of the complainants, so that relief eannot be afforded against its consequences, by the powers of a Court of Chancery. To allow the heirs to take advantage of this clerical mistake, would be a species of bad. faith, which-a court of conscience would
The two Justices who are to take the.privy examination of the wife, may also take the acknowledgment of the husband, and their certificates and seals are sufficient to authorize the admission of the deed to record, without any other or further authentication.
We are also satisfied that the commission was sufficiently descriptive of the conveyance, to which the acknowledgment and privy examination was to be taken. Though it described a deed as having been executed by the husband and wife, the deed is attached to the commission, and is otherwise identified as the deed intended, and though drawn out in form, was no doubt filled up as to the date, and was in fact, as certified, signed and sealed by the husband and wife, on the day of its date. The description of the deed as an executed deed, cannot vitiate the commission, or mislead the Justices or parties as to the deed intended, and the more especially as the deed could not have been executed by the wife in any other manner than by privy examination, to obtain which was the object of the commission.
Upon the whole, we are satisfied that the complainants are entitled to relief. The decree of the Chancellor is therefore reversed, and cause remanded, that their injunction against the judgment at law may be perpetuated, and that as the means of effectually securing the title to them, and quieting them in the possession against all casualties which might by any possibility accrue, by the loss or destruction of the original deed and certificates-, that the defendants, the heirs of Susannah Calloway, their mother, may be decreed to convey, release and conffrm, all claim to the land to the complainants, and pay'
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