Case ID: ny_10/html/0422-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Gardiner, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Van Winkle against Constantine.
    The decision in Constantine v. Van Winkle ( 6 Sill, 177,) that the deed of a married woman in conjunction with her husband, executed in 1760 to a purchaser who was in possession when the act of February 16,1771, “ to confirm certain ancient conveyances,” was passed, is valid and operative against those claiming under the wife, though she had never acknowledged it in any form, re-affirmed as well upon the authority of that case as upon an examination of tlie subsequently discovered evidence in respect to the colonial laws and usages.
    This court will not reverse a decision of the court of last resort adopting an opinion long prevalent, sanctioned by the courts, acquiesced in by the profession and which had become to some extent a rule of property, although it should be satisfied that the assumption of a repeal of a colonial statute, upon which the decision proceeded, has been disproved as a matter of fact.
    Appeal from the superior court of the city of New-York. Ejectment for a lot on Ful ton-street. It was admitted that Jane Van Winkle, from whom both parties claimed to deduce their title, was seised in fee of the premises, on and before May 5,1760. She was the wife of John Van Winkle, and on the day last mentioned joined with him in the execution of a deed of the lot to Jacob Van Winkle, under whom the defendant claimed. This deed is set out in full in the report of this case under the name of Constantine v. Van Winkle (6 Hill) 
      178), (where a new trial was ordered) except that the covenant for quiet possession in the deed, as proved upon the trial now brought up for review, was in these words: “ and the said John Van Winkle and Jane, his said wife, for themselves, &c., do covenant and grant,” &c., while in the report in 2 Hill the words are stated to be “grant and grant.” The deed was not acknowledged, but was proved on the trial by evidence of the death of the two subscribing witnesses, and of the genuineness of their signatures. The only questions of interest were whether the deed was in form sufficient to convey the estate of the wife, and whether it was valid and operative to bind her without an acknowledgment. These were raised by exceptions to the judge’s charge affirming both propositions, in accordance with the decision of the court of errors.
    The defendant had a verdict and judgment which being carried by writ of error to the supreme court, was there affirmed, and the plaintiff appealed to this court.
    
      Davi Dudley Field, for the appellant,
    argued that the decision of the court of errors in 6 Hill, 178, was based upon errors in law and in fact, and that it was therefore the duty of this court to examine the questions de novo. One error was in the assumption that the word covenant was not contained in the covenant for peaceable possession. A typographical error occurred in substituting “ grant and grant,” in the printed error book for “ covenant and grant” which appear in the original paper on file in the clerk’s office. Another was that the court of errors acted upon the belief that the three statutes of the province, concerning the acknowledgment of deeds, which, as he contended, were in force on the 5th of May, 1760, viz., the Duke's Laws, published March 1, 1665; the act of November 2, 1683, and that of October, 22, 1684, were abrogated by the first colonial assembly held after the revolution of 1688 (6 Hill, 181, where the provisions of the several statutes are stated). Since that decision the researches of Mr. Brodhead, the agent of the state for that purpose, among the colonial documents in the British state paper offices, have brought to light what the plaintiff contends is evidence of the ratification of these statutes, and takes them out the operation of the rescinding resolution of 1691, that “ all the laws consented to by the general assembly under James, Duke of York, and the liberties and privileges therein contained, granted to the people and declared to be their rights, not being observed and not ratified by his royal highness nor the lute king, are null and void,” &c. One of the evidences of such ratification is in the instructions of the Duke of York to Governor Dongan, accompanying his commission in 1692, that the laws then in force (to wit, the Duke’s Laws), “ be continued until abrogated or changed in such manner as is above directed.” (Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, vol. 8, j>. 334.) Another is the instructions sent by James, after his accession to the throne in 16S5, to Governor Dongan, with his new commission, by which, after repealing and disallowing the charter of liberties of 1683, which declared that no estate of a feme covert should be sold or conveyed but by deed acknowledged by her in some court of record upon secret examination as to her voluntary execution, the king proceeds:
    “ § 13. And our further will and pleasure is, that all other laws, statutes and ordinances already made within our said province of New York shall continue and be in full force and vigour so far forth as they do not in any wise contradict, impeach or derogate from this commission or the orders and instructions herewith given you, till you shall, with the advice of our council, pass other laws in our name for the good government of our said provinces, which you are to do with all convenient speed.” (Documents relating to Colonial History, vol. S, p. 370.) On the 14th November, 1689, William and Mary commissioned Colonel Henry Sloughter as governor of the province of New-York, with instructions to govern the colony “ according to such reasonable laws and statutes as now are in force or hereafter shall be made, and agreed upon by you with the advice and consent of the council and assembly of our said province.” ( Doc. rel. to Col. His., vol. 3, p. 623.)
    The decision of the court of errors being thus found to be in direct conflict with a statute of the state, must be regarded as inadvertently made and should be • overruled or vacated.
    
      Edward Sandford for the respondent.
   Gardiner, J.

When this cause under the title of Constantine v. Van Winkle was before the court for the correction of errors, two questions were adjudicated, first that the deed of John Van Winkle and Jane, his wife, to Jacob Van Winkle of the 5th of May, 1760, was in form sufficient to convey all the right, title and interest of the grantors; and second, that it was valid and operative, without the acknowledgment of the wife ,to bind her and of course those subsequently claiming under her. It has been said that the copy of the deed submitted to the court of errors was different from the one produced before us in this, that the former contained in the covenant for quiet enjoyment, the words “ grant and grant,” instead of the phrase “ covenant and grant,” found in the latter. There are two answers to this suggestion: First, if there was a mistake in the copy before the court of errors, in any matter material, it must have been known to the plaintiff or his counsel, and should have been then corrected or noticed; and that in the absence of all evidence upon the subject, we must presume that plaintiff adopted all requisite measures to protect his own interest. Or, second, if the mistake was wholly immaterial, and of this I have no doubt, no correction was necessary; and as the plaintiff could not have been prejudiced in that court, he should not derive a benefit from the error in this.

Again, it is argued that the decision in the court of errors is not conclusive upon the question of acknowledgment, because it was made upon the erroneous supposition, that the laws known as the Duke’s Laws, established as early as 1665, and the acts of 1683 and 1684 were repealed, while in fact they were all in force in 1760, the date of the deed in question. It may be answered to this view, first, that if the supposition is well founded, the court for the correction of errors were mistaken as to the law, and this reason might be assigned in every case where the unsuccessful party sought to review an adjudication pronounced upon deliberation and after a full argument.

We do not mean to be understood there can be no case in which an error in the judgment of the court of last resort, arising from a misapprehension upon the part of the court and counsel as to the existence of a statute, would not be corrected in the same cause, by the same court or those who had succeeded to its authority.

But the error must be manifest; not the mere adoption of an opinion long prevalent, which had been sanctioned by the courts and acquiesced in by the profession, and which had to some extent become a rule of property.

It is only necessary to refer to the facts, that the laws now relied upon as having been overlooked, are not found in any edition of the Colonial Laws, ^and that in Jackson v. Gilchrist (15 J. R., 89, decided in 1818), it was held that, so late as 1711, there was no charter or statute regulation on the subject of acknowledgments by femes covert, to demonstrate that this case does not fulfill the conditions above suggested.

Again, the documentary evidence said to have been discovered since this cause was before the court for the correction of errors, has led me to the conclusion that the court was fully justified in adopting the prevalent opinion that those laws were not in existence when this deed was executed. In the first place, these laws are utterly inconsistent with each other, if with the appellant, we suppose that they all were intended to include conveyances by deed executed by married women.

The Dulce's Laws of 1665 require the grant to be acknowledged before a justice of the peace and recorded, to render it effectual in the cases there specified. The act of 1683 provides that no estate of a feme covert should be conveyed but by deed acknowledged in a court of record, the woman being secretly examined. At the same session the legislative assembly enacted that no grants should be of any validity, unless acknowledged or proved before a justice and recorded. The act of 1684 required delivery of possession of a part or the whole of the premises, and a deed acknowledged and recorded as directed by the act of 1683, within one year, to give validity to the conveyance. Married women, it will be perceived, are not alluded to in terms, except in the act of 1683. The several ordinances, it will be perceived, are restrictive, not enabling in their character. The laws of 1665 and 1684, cannot be applied to married women, except upon the hypothesis that they could previously alienate their real estate in the same manner as other grantors; and the phraseology of the charter of liberties, restricting future conveyances, implies the same thing. That this custom would sanction this conveyance, especially since the act of 1771, was held in this case in the court of error's. The appellant is bound to show the usage modified or abrogated by the existence and provisions of-some one of the laws first above mentioned. Now in 1685, after the Duke of York became King of England, the charter of liberties was disallowed; and in the instruction to Governor Dongan, it was provided that “ the other statutes and ordinances, already made within our province of New-York, shall be in full.force, so far as they do not in any wise contradict, impeach or derogate from the commission, or the instructions accompanying it, until you shall, with the advice of our council, pass other laws in our name, which you are to do with all convenient speed.” No ordinances were to be continued, except such as did not in any wise contradict at or derogate from the instructions, &c. Now by these instructions, a provision in the charter of liberties upon the subject of acknowledgments in courts of record, by married women, was disallowed. It was the only act in which femes covert were expressly mentioned, and one which, in its provisions, approached much nearer to the common law of England, than the ordinances of 1665 or 1684. Would not the continuance of these ordinances “ impeach, or in some way contradict ” instructions which expressly disallowed an act upon the same subject and were in consonance with the laws of the mother country ? Accordingly we find that in 1689, after the accession of William and Mary, the first act of the assembly convened by the new governor was to declare that all laws consented to by the general assembly under James, Duke of York, and. the liberties and franchises therein contained, not being observed and ratified by his royal highness and the late king, are null and void and of none effect.” This was not, as the counsel for the plaintiff seems to suppose, intended as a repeal of existing laws, but as a statement of the fact that they had been disallowed or discontinued by the late duke and king, and were not therefore binding upon the people of the colony. This unanimous declaration by the representative of the people, in harmony, as we have seen, with the instructions of 1685, is quite as likely to be correct as the hypothesis now brought forward, founded upon documents recently discovered. Nor was this all. In May, 1691, the same legislature passed an act, known as the bill of rights, containing a provision that no estate of a feme covert should be conveyed but by deed acknowledged in a court of record, on secret examination.

According to the views of the counsel of the plaintiff, there were two acts in force at this time on this same subject, to which a third was added, without the slightest allusion to the former. It is obvious, therefore, that the legislature of 1691 not only declared by resolution, but legislated upon the assumption, that the laws of 1665, 1683 and 1684, were not in force. This disposes of the criticism, that the resolution was the act of a single branch of the legislature. The enactment of 1691 cannot be accounted for, except upon the supposition that the council and governor concurred with the assembly in opinion. It was said that the act of 1710 was a recognition of the laws above mentioned. If so, which of them? The act of 1684, required the acknowledgment to be made before a judge of the oyer and terminer : that of 1683 before a justice of the peace; that of 1665 before a justice or superior officer. And the statute of 1710 merely prescribes that the deed being “ duly acknowledged and recorded, shall be evidence.” Nothing is said of the authority to take the acknowledgment, whether it was derived from an existing usage, or an existing statute. The strong probability is, that it depended on custom; because thirteen years afterwards the legislature undertook to regulate the mode in which acknowledgments should be taken, in order to make the deeds or the record of them evidence. But neither of the acts last mentioned, make an acknowledgment necessary to the validity of a grant. The implication from the language is strong, if not necessary, that it was not essential. The last act refers in terms to all deeds, whether acknowledged or not. The evidence derived from the mode in which deeds were acknowledged, is of little weight. For example, the records from 1694 to 1698 show three hundred and ninety-nine deeds recorded, and not one of these acknowledged in the manner prescribed by the colonial act of 1691, which, in substance, re-enacted the charter of liberties. During the interval above mentioned, this act was in force, according to the views of the plaintiff, until repealed by the king, in council, 1697.

The next is the act to confirm certain ancient conveyances, passed in 1771. This act recites the practice to record deeds upon acknowledgment by the grantors before certain officers enumerated, and that lands were held under deeds of femes covert, not acknowledged in manner aforesaid. The act then proceeds to confirm such conveyances, and directs as to the mode of conveyance by married women thereafter. This law received a construction in this case when before the court of errors, and was held, in all the reported opinions, to include the case of deeds executed but not acknowledged in any manner by a feme covert. I have thus glanced at the evidence of the law referred to by the plaintiffs, and so far from establishing a clear mistake by the court, in Constantine v. Van Winkle, as to the existence of certain laws, it proves by the production of the restrictions under which the governor and council acted, that the supposition of the court of grrors was well founded : that there was no law in 1760, making the acknowledgment of Jane Van .Winkle essential to the validity of the deed then executed by her: that the usage recognized by the act of 1771, and which was said in the case of Jackson v. Gilchrist (15 J. R., 112) to be the only authority for the acknowledgment so late as 1711, prevailed when this deed was executed and authorized a conveyance by the wife and the husband, without any acknowledgment whatever.

The other questions raised were satisfactorily disposed of by the court, and I concur in the reasoning and the conclusions of the learned judge who pronounced the opinion.

All the judges concurred except Morse, J., who gave no opinion.

Judgment affirmed.