dliu1/legal-llama-raw-text huggingface dataset:
immediately upon the passage of this act, to cause to be prepared one or
more books for each town in the said county of Suffolk for the  indexing
therein,  under  the  proper  town so designated, of all instruments now
required by law to be recorded in the books  of  conveyances.  And  said
clerk shall also cause to be prepared one or more books for each of said
towns  in said county for the indexing therein, under the proper town so
designated, of all instruments now required by law to be recorded in the
books of mortgages. Said indexes shall be deposited  in  the  office  of
said  clerk.  They  shall  be  prepared  so  as  to  contain the date of
recording  of  each  instrument,  the  names  of  the  parties  to  each
instrument  and  the  liber  and page of the record thereof and shall be
substantially the forms of  the  schedules  hereto  annexed,  designated
respectively  as  schedule  A, schedule B, schedule C, schedule D, which
schedules shall be deemed and taken to be a part of this act. Said books
shall  be  entitled  town  indexes  of   conveyances   and   mortgages
respectively,  and  shall  indicate the towns to which they respectively
relate.
3. It shall be the duty of the said clerk to provide and keep  in  his
office,  besides  said  town  indexes,  a  daily  index,  or tickler of
conveyances, and a daily index, or  tickler  of  mortgages,  together
with  books  or records in which shall be recorded at length conveyances
and mortgages recorded in his office, each of which shall be endorsed in
its proper liber number.
4. Every instrument presented to said clerk for record, and  requiring
to  be indexed under this act after the date when this act shall go into
operation, in order to entitle the  same  to  be  recorded,  shall  have
included  therein,  in the description of the premises, a designation of
the town in said county in which the land  affected  by  the  instrument
lies,  and  if  it  lies in two or more towns of said county the name of
each and every town in which the land  affected  by  the  instrument  is
situated. Every assignment of a mortgage, and every agreement respecting
a  mortgage,  to  entitle  the  same to be recorded, shall have included
therein a designation of the town in said county in which the land  lies
which  is affected by the mortgage to which such assignment or agreement
relates, and if such land lies in two or more towns of said  county  the
name  of  each and every town in which the land affected by the mortgage
to which such assignment or agreement  relates.  And  a  record  of  the
instrument  shall  not  be  effectual  by  way  of  notice  to bona fide
purchasers or encumbrancers in respect to any land situated in any  town
of said county not so designated except as hereinafter provided.
5.  Whenever  any  instrument  affecting  or  relating to land in said
county entitled to be recorded and required  to  be  indexed  under  the
provisions  of this act shall be presented to the said clerk for record,
he shall forthwith endorse  thereupon  the  date,  hour  and  minute  of
acceptance  for  recording  by  him,  and  enter  in the proper index or
tickler the name of every party executing said instrument, the  date  of
record  thereof  and  the name of every town designated as aforesaid for
the indexing of such instrument and as soon  as  practicable  thereafter
shall  cause  the  said  instrument  to be indexed in the proper book or
books of the town indexes under the proper town designated in which such
6.  The  entries  made  in  said  indexes  in  conformity   with   the
requirements  of  this act shall for the purpose of notice be deemed and
taken to be a part of the record of the instrument to which such entries
respectively refer and shall be notice to such subsequent purchasers  or
encumbrancers  to  the  same  extent  and  with  the  like effect as the
recording of such instruments in the office of said clerk now is or  may
be notice.
7.  For  the purposes of indexing under the provisions of this act all
conveyances, mortgages, or other instruments  recorded  and  indexed  or
reindexed  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall be so indexed or
reindexed  under  the  proper  town  book  of  index  indicated  in  the
description  hereinbefore  provided  for,  and  in an order and sequence
known as the first letter of the last name  and  first  letter  of  the
first  named  method.  The  corporate  names shall be indexed under the
first  letter  of  the  first  substantive  word  of  the  name  of  the
corporation,  or  in the event of a corporation using the proper name of
an individual, such as John Smith,  Inc.,  such  index  shall  be  under
Smith, John, Inc., as well as John Smith, Inc.
8. In cases where any instrument shall have been recorded without such
designation  as required by this act, or with erroneous designation, the
said clerk shall, on presentation of proper proof  thereof,  enter  such
instrument  in  the  proper index of the proper town, the designation of
which shall have been erroneously stated or omitted, and  shall  at  the
same time make a note of such entry and the date thereof, in every place
in which such instrument may have been erroneously indexed, opposite the
entry  thereof,  and also upon the record of the instrument and upon the
instrument itself, if the same be in his possession or produced  to  him
for the purpose, and the record of such instrument shall be constructive
notice as to the property in any town not duly designated at the time of
such record, only from the time when the same shall be properly indexed.
9.  No  entry  in  any  book  or index in said clerk's office shall be
erased so as to be illegible, but in case of any  correction,  the  same
shall  be made without destroying the original by drawing a line through
such original entry, and in such cases  the  date  of  such  correction,
attested  by  the signature of the clerk or his deputy, shall be entered
upon the same page on which such  correction  is  made,  on  the  margin
opposite  such  correction.  In the event the indexes are in a microfilm
the correction shall be made by a  hole  being  punched  in  the  margin
adjacent  to  the  corrected  entry.  No initials being required in this
10. Any person presenting to said  clerk  an  instrument  for  record,
under  this  act,  shall  pay to said clerk, in addition to the fees now
required by law for recording like instruments, the further sum  of  one
dollar  for  each additional town beyond one under which said instrument
is required to be indexed, and the sum of one dollar for each town shall
be payable whenever an instrument already recorded  is  required  to  be
reindexed under section eight.
11.  The  provisions  of  this  act shall not apply to the indexing of
general assignments, wills, powers of attorney, executory contracts  for
sale  or  purchase  of  land  or  satisfaction  of  mortgages,  but such
instruments shall be filed or recorded as now required by law  and  when
recorded they shall be indexed in separate alphabetical indexes.
12. For the purpose of carrying out the various provisions of this act
the clerk may employ such necessary clerical help as may in his judgment
be required.
13.  The  board of supervisors of said county is hereby authorized and
directed to appropriate, for the purpose of carrying out the  provisions
of this act, all such sums of money as may be necessary therefor.
14.  The  records  and  indexes  herein  provided to be made under the
authority of this act shall be deposited in the office of the  clerk  of
said county for public use and the same shall be public records.
15. To the extent that the provisions herein are inconsistent with any
general or special law, this act shall be controlling.
16.  This  act  shall  be  deemed  and  taken to be a public and not a
private act.
17. The county  clerk  may  adopt  a  new  indexing  system  utilizing
electro-mechanical,  electronic,  or  any other method he deems suitable
for maintaining the indexes. Such system shall be approved by the county
legislature before being implemented.
§  316-b. Inactive hazardous waste disposal site registry index. 1. On
and after July first,  nineteen  hundred  ninety-three,  each  recording
officer  must  provide,  at  the expense of his county, proper books for
making an index of present owners of inactive hazardous  waste  disposal
sites  contained  in  the  registry  required  by section 27-1305 of the
environmental conservation law. The index shall contain an  alphabetical
listing  of  all  owners  listed  in such annual report completed by the
department of environmental conservation, together with a reference, for
each present owner, to the page and year of the report where information
regarding the inactive hazardous waste site may be  located.  The  index
shall  also  contain the tax map parcel number or the section, block and
lot number of the site.
2. (a) No recording officer shall be liable for the failure to  comply
with  the  provisions  of  this  section  prior  to July first, nineteen
hundred ninety-three.
(b) Any entries,  index  or  other  listing  contained  in  the  books
required  to  be  provided by this section prior to July first, nineteen
hundred ninety-three shall be null, void and of  no  effect,  nor  shall
such  entries,  index  or  listing  be  considered  to provide actual or
constructive notice of inactive hazardous waste disposal sites  for  any
3.  Each  recording officer shall record and index such instruments as
may be required to be recorded pursuant to title thirteen or fourteen of
article twenty-seven of the environmental  conservation  law,  or  title
five  of  article  fifty-six  of  the environmental conservation law, or
article twelve of the navigation  law,  or  any  regulation  promulgated
pursuant thereto, or any order or agreement entered into under authority
thereof or of any such regulations.
§  317. Order of recording. Every instrument, entitled to be recorded,
must be recorded by the recording officer in the order  and  as  of  the
time  of  its  delivery  to  him  or her therefor, during business hours
maintained by the recording officer, and is considered recorded from the
time of  such  delivery;  provided,  however,  that  a  digitized  paper
document  or  an  electronic  record  shall  be considered delivered for
purposes of this section at the date and time of receipt indicated on an
electronic or other written notification which shall be provided by  the
recording officer immediately upon receipt of a digitized paper document
or electronic record.
§   318.   Certificate   to   be  recorded.  The  certificate  of  the
acknowledgment or proof of the  execution  of  an  instrument,  and  the
certificate  authenticating  the  signature  or  seal  of the officer so
certifying, or both, if required, must be  recorded  together  with  the
instrument  so  acknowledged  or proved; otherwise neither the record of
the instrument nor a transcript thereof can be read in evidence.
§  319. Time of recording. The recording officer must make an entry in
the record, immediately after the copy of every instrument  recorded  by
him,  stating  the  hour, day, month and year, when it was recorded, and
must endorse upon every such instrument a certificate, stating the  time
as  aforesaid, when, and the book and page where, the same was recorded.
If the recording is by microphotography or other  photographic  process,
the  recording  officer  must  endorse  on the instrument the hour, day,
month and year when it was recorded, and the serial number or such other
designation as  will  permit  easy  reference  to  the  record  of  such
instrument,  and  he  must,  in  addition,  place  thereon a certificate
stating that the instrument has been recorded in deeds or  mortgages  as
the case may be.
§ 320. Certain deeds deemed mortgages. A deed conveying real property,
which, by any other written instrument, appears to be intended only as a
security in the nature of a mortgage, although an absolute conveyance in
terms,  must  be considered a mortgage; and the person for whose benefit
such deed is made, derives no  advantage  from  the  recording  thereof,
unless  every  writing,  operating  as  a  defeasance  of  the  same, or
explanatory of its being desired to have the effect only of a  mortgage,
or conditional deed, is also recorded therewith, and at the same time.
§ 321. Recording discharge of mortgage. 1. The recording officer shall
mark  on  the  record  of a mortgage the word discharged when there is
presented to him a certificate or  certificates  signed  as  hereinafter
provided,  and acknowledged or proved and certified in like manner as to
entitle a conveyance to be recorded, specifying that  the  mortgage  has
been paid or otherwise satisfied and discharged.
(a)  When  it does not appear from the record that any interest in the
mortgage has been  assigned,  the  discharge  shall  be  signed  by  the
mortgagee or by his personal representative.
(b)  When  it  appears  from  the  record  that  the mortgage has been
assigned, whether or not the assignment was made as collateral security,
the discharge shall be signed by the person who appears from the  record
to be the last assignee thereof or by his personal representative.
(c)  When  the  mortgage  or  an  assignment thereof names two or more
persons as mortgagees or assignees, the discharge shall be signed by the
person or persons designated by the mortgage or  assignment  to  receive
payment  of  the mortgage debt or to give full acquittance and discharge
therefor.  When no such person or persons are designated by the mortgage
or assignment, the certificate of discharge shall be signed  by  all  of
the  persons  named,  in  the  mortgage  or assignment, as mortgagees or
assignees, as the case may be, or by their personal representatives,  if
the  mortgage  or  assignment (i) specifies their respective interest in
terms of a sum of money, or in terms of a  fraction  or  percentage,  or
(ii)  states  that  such  persons  shall share equally in, or shall have
equal shares in the mortgage, or (iii) describes such persons as tenants
in common of the mortgage. When it appears  from  the  record  that  the
mortgage  is  held  by  trustees,  the certificate of discharge shall be
signed by a majority of such trustees or of the survivors of them or  by
the  survivors  or  survivor of them, unless the instrument creating the
trust provides otherwise. Except as required above, the discharge may be
signed by any one of the persons named in the mortgage or assignment, as
mortgagees or assignees,  as  the  case  may  be,  or  by  the  personal
representative  of  the  last  survivor  of  them.  If  the  mortgage or
assignment states that  the  persons  named  therein  as  mortgagees  or
assignees  shall hold the mortgage jointly, or describes such persons as
joint tenants or tenants by the entirety of the mortgage,  or  expressly
creates  a right of survivorship among them, the discharge may be signed
by any one of such persons or by the personal representative of the last
survivor  of  them  notwithstanding  that  the  mortgage  or  assignment
specifies their respective interests in the mortgage or states that they
shall share equally or have equal shares therein.
(d)  When the mortgage has been partially assigned, the certificate of
discharge shall be signed by all  of  the  persons,  or  their  personal
representatives, who in the aggregate are the holders of all portions of
the  mortgage, including each partial assignee, and the assignor in case
any portion of the mortgage has not been  assigned;  provided,  however,
that  if  any partial assignment names two or more persons as assignees,
the person or persons who may  sign  the  certificate  discharging  such
partial  interest  shall be determined in accordance with the provisions
of paragraph (c) of this subdivision.
(e) Whenever two or more persons are required to execute a certificate
of discharge as provided in this subdivision, there may be presented  in
lieu  of such certificate, separately executed certificates of discharge
as to the respective interests of each in the mortgage so that  together
the several certificates purport to discharge the entire mortgage.
(f)  In  place of any of the persons specified in paragraphs (a), (b),
(c) or (d) of this  subdivision,  a  certificate  of  discharge  of  the
mortgage  or  of  any interest therein may be signed (i) by an agent who
has been authorized by any such person to demand or receive  payment  or
to  give  a  certificate  of  discharge  of  the  mortgage by a power of
attorney, provided such power of attorney is of  record  in  the  office
where the mortgage is recorded, and no instrument of revocation has been
recorded;  or  (ii)  by  any person in whom title to such mortgage or to
such interest, or authority to act on behalf of or in  exercise  of  the
right  or  power  of  the holder of such mortgage or of such interest is
vested, in a fiduciary capacity, by virtue of an order or  decree  of  a
court  having  jurisdiction  thereof, including, but not limited to, the
guardian of a minor, the committee of  an  incompetent  person,  or  the
conservator  of  a  conservatee,  whether  domestic  or  foreign,  and a
receiver in bankruptcy or trustee in bankruptcy. A certificate  executed
by  any  person  specified in clause (ii) of this paragraph shall recite
the name of the court and the venue of  the  proceedings  in  which  his
appointment was made, or the order or decree vesting him with such title
or authority was entered.
(g)  If the mortgage is stated in the certificate of discharge to have
been taken by the noncitizen property custodian under  and  pursuant  to
the  trading  with  the enemy act adopted by the United States congress,
and approved  October  sixth,  nineteen  hundred  sixteen,  or  any  act
amendatory  thereof,  or  supplemental  thereto, such certificate may be
executed by such noncitizen property custodian or  such  person  as  the
president  may  appoint to give full acquittance and discharge for money
or property belonging to an enemy or ally  of  an  enemy  which  may  be
conveyed, assigned, delivered or transferred to said noncitizen property
custodian,  with  like  effect  as  if the same had been executed by the
mortgagee, or the personal representative or assignee of such mortgagee.
Such certificate may be  recorded,  and  such  certificate,  the  record
thereof  and  a  certified  copy  of  such  record  may be introduced in
evidence in all courts of this state.
2. (a) The recording officer shall record and file such certificate or
certificates together with the certificates of acknowledgment or  proof,
and  shall  note  on  the  record  of  the  mortgage  the  book and page
containing such record of such certificate or certificates or the serial
number of such record in the minute of the discharge of  such  mortgage,
made  by  the  officer  upon  the record thereof. The provisions of this
paragraph shall not apply to the county of Suffolk, if the block  method
of  index  is  in  use, or a separate index of satisfactions recorded is
maintained.
(b) The recording officer shall also  record  every  other  instrument
relating to a mortgage which is presented to him, acknowledged or proved
in  like  manner  as  to  entitle a conveyance to be recorded, including
certificates purporting to discharge a mortgage or an  interest  therein
which  are  signed  by  persons  other than those specified in the first
subdivision of this section, and also including,  but  not  limited  to,
assignments,   releases,   partial   discharges,   reductions,  estoppel
certificates, extensions, discharges of  partial  interest  and  partial
discharges  of  partial interest, regardless by whom any such instrument
has been executed. When any  such  instrument  has  been  recorded,  the
recording officer, except in counties where the block method of indexing
is in use, or in Suffolk county, if a separate index of said instruments
is  maintained,  shall enter a minute upon the record of the mortgage to
which such instrument relates, indicating the nature of such  instrument
and the book and page where it has been recorded or the serial number of
such record.
3.  Every  certificate  presented  to  the  recording officer shall be
executed and acknowledged or proved in  like  manner  as  to  entitle  a
conveyance  to  be recorded. If the mortgage has been assigned, in whole
or in part, the certificate shall set forth the date of each  assignment
in  the chain of title of the person or persons signing the certificate,
the names of the assignor and assignee, the interest assigned,  and,  if
the  assignment  has  been recorded, the book and page where it has been
recorded or the serial number of such record; or if  the  assignment  is
being  recorded  simultaneously  with  the certificate of discharge, the
certificate of discharge shall so state. If the mortgage  has  not  been
assigned of record, the certificate shall so state.
No  certificate  presented  to  the recording officer shall purport to
discharge more than  one  mortgage,  except  that  one  certificate  may
purport  to discharge two or more mortgages where the certificate states
that one of such mortgages corrects,  perfects  or  modifies  the  other
mortgage  or  mortgages,  or  spreads  the lien of the other mortgage or
mortgages over the property subject to the lien  of  such  mortgage,  or
consolidates  the  lien of the other mortgage or mortgages with the lien
of such mortgage to constitute a single lien, or where  the  certificate
states that the liens of the mortgages which the certificate purports to
discharge  have  been  so  spread  or  so  consolidated  by  a  separate
instrument and such instrument has been recorded; provided that in  such
case  the  certificate  of  discharge  shall  identify and describe each
mortgage which it purports to discharge, in a separate paragraph, in the
same manner and with the same particularity, and setting forth the  same
information  with  respect  to assignments thereof, as would be required
for a separate certificate discharging that  mortgage,  and  shall  also
state, in a separate paragraph for each instrument, the date of any such
separate instrument by which the liens of the mortgages have been spread
or consolidated, the names of the parties thereto, and the book and page
where  it  has been recorded or the serial number of such record. In any
such case, except where otherwise expressly provided by law, the fee  or
fees  which  the recording officer is entitled to receive for filing and
entering  a  certificate  of  discharge  of  a  mortgage  and  examining
assignments  of  such  mortgage  shall  be  payable with respect to each
mortgage which the certificate purports to discharge, to the same extent
as if a separate certificate  of  discharge  had  been  filed  for  such
mortgage.
4.  After  the  record  of  the mortgage has been marked with the word
discharged, the recording officer shall make and deliver to any person
tendering the lawful fees therefor, his certificate  setting  forth  the
names  of  the  mortgagor and the mortgagee, the book and page at which,
the date when such mortgage was recorded, and  the  date  on  which  the
record  of  such  mortgage  was  so  marked,  except  in  a county where
recording is done by microphotography  or  photostating  in  the  manner
permitted by law, in which case, after microphotography or photostating,
such certificate of discharge and the certificates of its acknowledgment
or  proof  shall,  in  lieu  of  filing  as provided in paragraph (a) of
subdivision two of this section, be returned to the party  leaving  same
for record.
5.  The  term  personal representative as used in this section shall
(a) An executor, administrator or voluntary administrator  or  one  of
two  or  more  executors,  administrators  or  voluntary administrators,
whether domestic or foreign, including the public administrator, and  an
ancillary  administrator appointed in this state. A certificate executed
by any such personal representative shall recite the name of  the  court
and the venue of the proceedings in which his letters testamentary or of
administration were issued.
(b)  All  of  the distributees of a person dying intestate for whom no