Opinion ID: 86366
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The deed was properly rejected upon three grounds:——

Text: 62 1. Its intrinsic defect. Phipps, Haile, and Gibson grant, 'in right of their wives,' but these wives are not parties to the deed. It is true, their signatures are affixed, but their names are not in the body of the deed. Now, it is rather trite learning to say, and to say here, that there must be a grantor, a grantee, and a thing granted, to every deed that grants land; that a grantor is as necessary as a grantee or thing granted; or that there is a place in a deed for the name of the party who grants, and that this place is not the bottom of the deed. This is a good conveyance of the life estates of Phipps, Haile, and Gibson; the two former being dead, and their wives never having been made parties to it by apt words, are not bound by it. 63 A deed of land, executed by husband and wife, but containing no words of grant by the wife, does not convey her estate in the land, nor her right of dower. 3 Mason's C. C. R. 347. 64 Where there are no grantors, there is no remedy even in equity 10 Ohio R. 305. 65 A deed is invalid, though the feme covert be named in the premises, and her signature be affixed, if not named elsewhere. 7 Ohio R. 195. 66 2. The deed was properly rejected, because of the defective certificate of examination and acknowledgment. 67 The statute of Mississippi is as follows (Howard and Hutchinson, 347):—— 68 'No estate of a feme covert in any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, lying and being in this State, shall hereafter pass by her deed or conveyance, without a previous acknowledgment made by her, on a private examination , apart from her husband, before a judge, &c., that she signed, sealed, and delivered the same as her voluntary act and deed, freely , without any fear, threats, or compulsion of her husband, and a certificate thereof written on or under said deed or conveyance, and signed by the judge or justice before whom it was made; and every deed or conveyance so executed and acknowledged by a feme covert and certified as aforesaid shall release and bar her right of dower in the lands, tenements, and hereditaments mentioned in such deed or conveyance.' 69 It does not appear from the certificate in this case, that the acknowledgment of the married women was taken on a private examination, which is required by the statute. 70 In the first sentence of the certificate, the husbands and their wives all appear and act together; in the second, the wives all appear and act together. For it is stated,—'And Martha Phipps, Sarah Gibson, and Mary Haile, wives of William M. Phipps, William R. Haile, and David H. Gibson, having been examined, separate and apart from their husbands, and acknowledged that they signed,' &c. If grammatical construction require the insertion of the word 'having' before the word 'acknowledged,' it is questionable whether there be any affirmative statement of the acknowledgment at all. If the word 'separate,' which is not in the statute, and imparts no vigor to its phraseology, be stricken out, the certificate will be,—'And Martha Phipps, Sarah Gibson, and Mary Haile, wives, &c., having been examined apart from their husbands,' &c. It is in vain to call this an 'acknowledgment made by her (them) on a private examination'; for it eviscerates the very vitals of the statute. The examination may have been not only apart and separate from their husbands, but private, or, in the language of Coke, solely and secretly , and yet the acknowledgment may have been made not only in the presence of the relatives, friends, and dependents of their husbands, but in that of the husbands themselves. The interpolation of the word 'separate' imparts no strength to 'apart,' nor are they, separate and apart, or united, equivalent to private; separate having reference to the position of husband and wife, while private indicates the position of the magistrate and the wife in reference to the whole world besides. The two houses of Congress are separate and apart, but not very private; the chief-justice and his associates are separate and apart, yet together constitute one public bench. The examination of married women, separate and apart from their husbands, though in the company of each other, would not be regarded as a compliance with the statute; yet it is obvious from the face of the certificate, that the three sisters, Mrs. Phipps, Mrs. Gibson, and Mrs. Haile, were all of them together, acting, acknowledging, and being examined; and, for aught that appears to the contrary, may have been surrounded, at the time of the acknowledgment, by the friends, relatives, and dependents of their husbands, and of their grantees, against whose arts and influences, if it do not appear by the certificate that the rights of the married women have been shielded and protected, the statute become a dead letter, and the private examination a mockery. The case of Jones v. Maffett and wife, 5 Serg. & Rawle, 534, was decided upon the ground that the Pennsylvania statute did not require a privy examination, but that it was sufficient if the feme covert were examined 'separate and apart from her husband.' There is a mutilated quotation, I believe, in the same case, of the maxim, ' omnia presumuntur rite esse acta ,' which is severed from donec probetur in contrarium . The certificate annihilates the presumption. 71 The disability of coverture can only be overcome by the precise means allowed by law for the alienation of the real estate of married women (2 Story's Eq. 617), of which an essential part is a private examination, derived from the English mode of conveyance by fine, and rescued from its wreck. Lord Coke thus discourseth of the same:—— 72 'The examination must be solely and secretly, and the effect thereof is, whether she be content of her own free good-will, without any menace or threat, to levy a fine of these parcels, and name them to her, every thing distinctly contained in the writ, so as she perfectly understand what she doth; and if the judge doubteth of her age, he may examine her upon her oath.'—2 Inst. 515; 6 Wend. 12. 73 It is a general principle of American law, that all deeds of married women, without a privy examination, are void; 2 Lomax's Dig. 18; and that all acts not conformable to acts of Assembly are void; ibid. 52. Some States provide, simply, that there shall be a private examination upon the execution of a deed by a feme covert, and leave every thing else to the integrity and intelligence of the offieers authorized to conduct it; others prescribe the acts to be performed by the officer, such as reading the deed, making known its contents, or explaining its effects (12 Leigh, 464; 1 Binney, 477; 6 Serg. & Rawle, 50), without the performance of which the deed is inoperative and void. But it is obvious that the requirement of the private examination alone, and the requirement of the acts which constitute it, are the same thing,—the object of both being to remove the disability which results from the matrimonial connection, while they throw an intrenchment around the rights of the feme covert, who is hardly considered, in contemplation of law, to have a separate legal existence, her husband and herself constituting but one person. The sacred injunction, Whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder, is, pro hac vice , disregarded, and the minister of the law is clothed with a confidence which is denied to the husband. The inefficient or negligent discharge of the duties of the office, which tend to its degradation, will neither be sustained by subtle construction, nor receive the countenance of courts of justice. 74 The words of the certificate are, that 'they signed, sealed, and delivered the same as their act and deed, free of fears, threats, or compalsion of their said husbands'; the language of the statute is, that 'they signed, sealed, and delivered the same as their voluntary act and deed, freely , without any fear, threats, or compulsion of their said husbands.' The omission of two words of such pregnant import, emphatically reiterated, as if to stamp freedom of volition not only on the act itself, but the manner of the act, is, I humbly submit, so utterly fatal to the certificate, as to render any further remarks unnecessary, except that, though an act done by a person capable of contracting would be presumed to have been voluntary, yet this is not that case; and that each word of the certificate may be perfectly true, yet the deed may have been signed reluctantly and not voluntarily, sealed reluctantly and not voluntarily, and delivered reluctantly and not voluntarily. 75 III. The acknowledgment of the femes is not recorded, the certificate of the clerk embracing the deed only. 76 Be it remembered, that the deed was not proved as an original; to be read otherwise than as such, both the acknowledgment and the certificate must be recorded. Howard and Hutchinson, 343. 77 It is not the fact, but the recording of the fact, that makes the deed effectual. Tate's Dig. 170; 1 Pet. 138, 140. 78 It is in the nature of a judicial proceeding, of which there must be a record. 79 IV. Confirmation . It may yet be contended, that the bond, or the deed, or the mortgage, was confirmed, after disability removed, and that the mode of confirmation was the receipt of money upon the notes given for the property for which suit was brought. 80 Void instruments are incapable of confirmation (Story's Cont. § 47; Plowden's R. 397), which must be by an instrument of as high a nature. 8 Taunt. 36; 10 Peters, 59. 81 A lease, which is void as to a remainder man, cannot be set up as a defence to an action of ejectment brought by him, although it be proved that he received rent, or suffered the tenant to make improvements. Law Lib., Oct., 1845, p. 300; Doug. 50. 82 Confirmation cannot be, unless with a knowledge of their rights. 5 Ohio R. 255. 83 To make an act amount to redelivery, there must be clear knowledge. 5 Dana, 234. 84 It must be known that receipt of money made good the redelivery 9 Dana, 477. 85 The act relied on here was the receipt of money upon the notes, without any reference whatever to the bond, deed, or mortgage, by payor or payee. 86 Upon the mortgage, which was not offered in evidence, no question was raised in the court below; of course, none can be raised or considered here. 11 Wheat. 199. 87 The time when, and the character in which, this money was received will shed light upon the intention with which it was received, and the effect of its receipt. 88 The defects in the deed had not been ascertained when the payments were made. The bond was understood to be merged in the deed, and the deed was believed to be valid; hence there could have been no intention to confirm what was already considered as obligatory. Suit was brought as soon as the deed was discovered to be defective. The effect of the receipt of money in a fiduciary character cannot prejudice the private rights of Mrs. Rice or Mrs. Phipps. By law, they could only receive it thus, since they had no right to the personalty of their respective husbands; upon which, morecover, there was a statutory lien for their debts. The law will not put them in the predicament of saving their private rights by faithlessness to their trust, or losing their private rights by a faithful performance of the duties of executorship or administration. 89 There was neither instrument, act, nor intention of confirmation, nor knowledge of their rights, till suit was brought. 90 Mr. Crittenden , on the same side. 91 It might be dishonorable for any parties except married women to try and get this property back; but the law is not friendly to their rights, and in nine cases out of ten, they do not know what they are conveying away when they execute deeds. In this case, the property belonged to the wife, but she is not named as a grantor in the deed, and therefore is not bound by it. 3 Mason's C. C. R. 347. 92 ( Mr. Crittenden then examined the certificate of the magistrate, which he contended was not sufficient.) 93 It is argued that a subsequent acceptance of money by these wives, after the death of their husbands, reacts upon the original contract and confirms it. But it cannot make a deed good which is intrinsically void. Instruments may be confirmed in some cases, it is true, but only when they are valid for some purposes, and not where they are wholly void. And besides, the confirming act must be performed with the intention and purpose of producing such a consequence. It cannot be effected incidentally. The mere receipt of money is not sufficient. 94 Mr. Chief-Justice TANEY delivered the opinion of the court. 95 This being an action of ejectment, the only question between the parties is upon the legal title. 96 It is admitted in the exception, that Mary Rice and Martha Phipps, lessors of the plaintiff, were each of them, as heirs at law of Adam Bower, entitled to an undivided third part of the premises mentioned in the declaration, in fee simple. In order to shaw title out of them, the plaintiffs in error relied upon the bond of conveyance and deed, mentioned in the statement of the case, both of which were signed and sealed by these lessors of the plaintiff, but were executed while tney were femes covert. 97 As regards the bond, it would not have transferred the legal title, even if all the parties had been capable of entering into a valid and binding agreement. But as to the femes covert who signed it, it was merely void, and conferred no right, legal or equitable, upon the obligees. 98 The deed, also, is inoperative as to their title to the land. In the premises of this instrument, it is stated to be the indenture of their respective husbands in right of their wives, of the one part, and of the grantees, of the other part,—the husbands and the grantees being specifically named; and the parties of the first part there grant and convey to the parties of the second part. The lessors of the plaintiff are not described as grantors; and they use no words to convey their interest. It is altogether the act of the husbands, and they alone convey. Now, in order to convey by grant, the party possessing the right must be the grantor, and use apt and proper words to convey to the grantee, and merely signing and sealing and acknowledging an instrument, in which another person is grantor, is not sufficient. The deed in question conveyed the marital interest of the husbands in these lands, but nothing more. 99 It is unnecessary to inquire whether the acknowledgment of the femes covert is or is not in conformity with the statute of Mississippi. For, assuming it to be entirely regular, it would not give effect to the conveyance of their interests made by the husbands alone. And as to the receipt of the money mentioned in the testimony, after they became sole, it certainly could not operate as a legal conveyance, passing the estate to the grantee, nor give effect to a deed which as to them was utterly void. 100 The judgment of the Circuit Court is therefore affirmed.