Gustine v. Westenberger
Gustine v. Westenberger
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The defense in 'this case was that the mortgage was a forgery, and, under evidence that could not fairly have led to any other conclusion, the jury so found. On this appeal the chief complaint of the appellant is that the judge failed in his charge to give due weight to the notary’s certificate of acknowledgment. The mortgage was offered in evidence with no other proof of its execution than this certificate. It was admitted by the court as the duly executed act and deed of the appellee, and, but for the defense that followed, judgment would have been directed for the appellant.
The excluded offers of the plaintiff which are the subjects of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth assignments of error were
The assignments of error are all overruled and the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Syllabus
- Mortgage — Acknowledgment—Forgery—Evidence. 1. On the trial of a scire facias sur mortgage where forgery is set up as a defense, it is proper for the court to refuse to charge that the notary’s certificate of acknowledgment is sufficient and strong evidence of the genuineness of the mortgage, where the defendant denies that he executed the paper, the notary is unable to identify the defendant as the man who had signed it, three other persons testify that they saw the mortgage signed and that the person who signed it was not the defendant, and the wife of the defendant testifies that she procured her brother to personate her husband in the execution of the mortgage. Such a case is not one of a certificate of a notary before whom the real mortgagor actually appeared and an effort is made to contradict that to which the officer certifies. 2. There is no rule of law which permits a husband’s property to be taken from him by a deed forged by his wife, or the forgery of which was procured by her.