The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1854-01-27
COMMUNICATIONS.

Mr.. EDITOR AS my former commuiics-
ton seems 10 have produced dissatisfictiop
in some quarters. lhave deemed il expedient
to add jetc ro d> more, in defence Of my
position. " hen | entered the Recorders
Office, found things in confusion - many
abuses had crcpt in-among them one which
| considered glarng aud illegal--and re-
qured immediate effort for its removal. viz:
! The indiscrimnate searching and copying
Of the records by persons not authorized by
! law 10 do 50. Upon examination Of the
laws regulating this office. fuunn the r.
corder was entitled to fee for performing
such duties, and no authority given any one
else Except the Auditor in certain cascs)
| for this purpose. Th ugh but small fee
| yet in three years il constitutes an impor-
[ tant item III the income Of tbi, Office
which has need Of all the law allows it, to
make it worthy ones whole attention. AS
my oath uf office requires Inc to discharge
The duties thereof, faithfully and impnrlially
and the law commits the records to my
especial guardianship p--o tolerate the abuse.
sp ken Of, would be Il palpabe violation OF
my obligation. | certainly ought not to be
censured then for merely inlormingthe COM
muni y what the law is, in the cuse- and
asking them to respectIny rights.
To permit one class OF men (as uttDrneys)
to have free access to the records-and tx.
act of others, fee-woud be an oct Of in
Justice for which | would be deservediy
censurable. Ii such has been the custom
heretofore. that is no reason why il should
be continuation custom unsanctioned by
la in such cases will not be persisted in
by men, who have any regard to the rights
Of others. 1t is high time this abuse was
checked. By its continuance few years
longer, the county must incur heavy ex-
pense for lranscrib,ng the Records. 1t is
to be hoped there will be no more grumbling
on this subject. Another abuse or infringe
ment of the rights Of the Recorder j wish
to menton-in order that il may be avoided
! in future as j, has been the cause Of serious
losses to former Recorders--and that is he
practice Of sending deeds to the office with
orders to record them, without paying the
| fee. Now, the Recorder. has the right, bv
! law, to refuse to enter deed for record, til
! me fee is paid-and his own interest re-
quircs him TO do it without respect of per-
sons. Hundreds of deeds have been recor-
ded aud never called fora my predecessors
/ can testify. As the records are for the Sc
| curity of the rights ofindvduals to real es-
tate ana to protect them against the un.aW-
full claims uf the dishonest and ltigious-
no one certainly should have the benefit of
this provision OF law-who would refuse or
neglect to comply with its mnares.
/ They have no right TO the gra,uitous SER
/ vices OF the Recorder-and, yet in how ma
| nv instances has this been the case! and he
adopting no remedy obliged to submit to
! loss afler loss.
There is verv simple remedy, however,
and the lnv sustains and justlfies the Re
corder in adopting and enforcing it--nnd
that is, center no instrument for record III.
the fee is paid" To this. there can be no
reasonable objection. The Recorder is
sworn officer. He has no stipulated saary
--no emoluments OF Office the law pre-
scrlbes his fees--and the correspondent du-
ties-wthout the payment Of the former,
he is under no obligation to perform the
latter. These remarks, Mr.. Editor, are
made with no unkind feelings towards any
portion of the community-as | have no
special reasons for such--but to disabuse
the public mind with regard to the matter
lest they might thnk that was acting ar
bi'rarily and without the authority Of law.
Thanks to the community for their readi-
ness thus lar to acquescc IN The requlsl-
lions stated = and to sustain me in my et-
forts to establish system in Tho office, and
Correct the abuses complained Of.
There is another matter to which would
direct attention, namely: The neglect of
many persons to record their deeds and
mortgages for months or Yeas after they
are given. This often causes trouble aud
expense to the parties. A mortgage Is of
no force till it is entered for record. A
deed may be valid without recorjing-but,
if not recorded within SIX monihs-'raudu.
lent with regard to Il subsequent purchaser.
If all deeds were recorded much labor and
expense might be saved in frutless search
inn the records in af,er years--ufthis speak
from experience, ,--having had several inef-
fectual searches for deeds known to have
been given--but never recorded. The
small fee paid for recording at tae proper
time might prevent n large expenditure in
future. Our laws provide wei for the SEGA
ritz OF land titles, &c.--and, ifmen will not
avail themselves of these provisions they
must expect lnigaIions aud p"cuniary !osses
"a word to the Use Is sufficient"
S. NJ. HOWEY, Recorder.