Fund Commissioners of Muskingum County v. Glass
Fund Commissioners of Muskingum County v. Glass
Opinion of the Court
The only question raised in this case is whether, where a deed is acknowledged before a Notary Public, the acknowledgment is void, unless the same is certified under the official seal of the officer taking the acknowledgment. That such acknowledgment is void, is earnestly insisted upon by the counsel for the defendant, and they base their argument upon the act “ for the appointment of Notaries Public,” which took effect May 1, 1816. (tíwan’s Stat. 601.) The third section of this act provides that “ each Notary shall provide a notarial seal, with which he shall authenticate his official acts,” &c., “ which seal, together with the registers and official documents, shall not be liable to be seized on by execution.” The duties to be performed by the Notary are not by the statute prescribed in express terms, but at the close of the second section it is prescribed that “ due faith and credit shall be given to his protestations, attestations, and other instruments of publication.” Taking the whole act together, it is apparent that the
We have been referred to two cases in Indiana, one reported 4th Blackford, 185, and the other 6th Blackford, 356, which are supposed to have a bearing upon this case, and to be conclusive to show that this acknowledgment is defective. Those cases were decided under the statute of Indiana, and counsel suppose the statute of that State is like our own, but from the cases referred to, and especially the one in 4th Blackford, I should take them to be materially different. By our statute, heretofore referred to, all the certificates of the Notary, as to the acts therein contemplated to be done, must be under his official seal. But as before said, taking the acknowledgment of a deed is not one of those acts. By that law he had no power to perform any such act.
This power however was conferred upon a Notary Public by the “ act to provide for the proof, acknowledgment, and recording of deeds and other instruments of writing,” which took effect June 1, 1831. (Swan’s Stat. 265.) The first section of this act, after specifying the manner in which a deed shall be executed, by signing, sealing, &c., provides that “such
The acknowledgment in this case having been certified in conformity to the law under which it was taken, we hold it to be sufficient, and there being no other defence in the case, the complainants may take a decree.'
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Fund Commissioners of Muskingum County v. Samuel Glass and others
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published