CHAPTER XVI. AN ACT respecting the acknowledgments and proofs heretofore made of deeds, mortgages, and other conveyances. ledgments of heretofore 1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of Acknow. the State of New Jersey, That all acknowledgments by any deeds in cerfeme covert or feme sole, or by any other person or per- made, desons, of deeds, mortgages, or other conveyances heretofore clared valid. made out of this State, before any commissioner appointed by the governor of this State, or before any other officer who was, in case the grantors resided in such State, district, territory, kingdom, or nation where the said acknowledgments were taken, authorized to take the acknowledg ments of deeds, mortgages, or other conveyances, shall be and hereby are declared to be valid and effectual, and to have been valid and effectual whether the grantors in said deeds, mortgages, or other conveyances, were resident in the State, district, territory, kingdom, or nation, or in any other State, district, territory, kingdom, or nation, than that wherein such acknowledgment was taken, in the same manner as if the said grantors resided in the State, district, territory, kingdom, or nation, where the said acknowledgment was taken, and shall so be construed in all courts and in all places; and that any deed, mortgage, or conveyance heretofore executed and acknowledged by a feme covert in the manner herein declared valid, shall be construed by all courts and in all places to be and to have been effectual to bar the right of dower and to convey the estate of such feme covert in the lands, tenements, or hereditaments thereby intended to be conveyed, in the same manner as if the said feme covert then resided in this State, and such acknowledgment had been taken before one of the justices for the time being, of the Supreme Court of this State; provided, the said acknow- Proviso. ledgments are in other respects than the residence of the Proofs of deeds, &c., in certain fore made, declared valid. grantor or grantors, and the authority of the officer, made and taken and certified according to the law for the time being. 2. And be it enacted, That all proofs of any deeds, mortcases hereto- gages, or other conveyances, heretofore made out of this State before any commissioner appointed by the governor of this State, or before any other officer, who was, in case the grantors, witness, or witnesses, resided in such State, district, or territory, kingdom, or nation, where the said proof was made, authorized to take such proof of said deeds, mortgages, or other conveyances, shall be and hereby are declared to be valid and effectual, whether the grantors, or any of them, witness, or witnesses, or any of them, resided in the State, district, territory, kingdom, or nation, or in any other State, district, territory, kingdom, or nation, than that where such proof was made, in the same manner as if the said grantors and witnesses, and all of them, resided in the State, district, territory, kingdom, or nation, where the said proof was made, and shall be so construed by all courts and in all places. Records of such deeds, valid. 3. And be it enacted, That any record or registry hereto&c., declared fore made of any such deed, mortgage, or other conveyance, which has been acknowledged or proved in the manner by this act made valid, and any record or registry which shall be hereafter made of any such deed, mortgage, or other conveyance, which has been heretofore acknowledged or proved in the manner aforesaid, shall be as valid and effectual to all intents and purposes, and shall operate, and be construed to have operated, as notice to all persons in the same manner as though the same had been acknowledged or proved in the manner heretofore required and authorized by law. Record or certified dence. 4. And be it enacted, That the said record and registry of copy may be any such deed, mortgage, or other conveyance, so made or to be made, as provided in and by the third section of this act, or a certified copy thereof, may be used and given in evidence in any of the courts of law or equity in this State, in the same manner as if the said acknowledgment in proof thereof had been taken and made before a person authorized to take the same, at the time the same was so made and taken, and in the manner heretofore required and authorized by law. Approved February 6, 1858. CHAPTER XVII. A SUPPLEMENT to the act entitled "An act constituting courts for the trial of small causes," approved April sixteen, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and forty-six. may be com prosecuted. 1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of where suit the State of New Jersey, That in all cases where a plea of menced and title shall be filed, under and by virtue of the fortieth section of the act to which this is a supplement, it shall and may be lawful to and for the plaintiff to commence and prosecute his action either in the Supreme Court or in the Circuit Court of the county where such suit shall have been commenced. of former act 2. And be it enacted, That the provisions of the forty- Provisions sixth section of an act entitled "An act to simplify the extended." proceedings and practices in courts of law," approved March seventeenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, be and the same are hereby extended to the courts for the trial of small causes within this State; provided, that if any Proviso. objections shall be made before the justice of the peace holding such court, by either party, in any cause depending therein, upon the return day, or upon the trial of the same, to any process or pleading, in respect to any matter Justices of the peace whose terms will here after expire may grant appeals, &c. which might be amended by the said justice, under the provisions of this section, and no such amendment shall be made, before the conclusion of the trial before the said justice, that then and in such case, it shall not be in the power of the Court of Common Pleas, upon the trial of an appeal from the judgment of the said justice in the said cause, to amend or to order amended the said process or pleading, in respect of any of the matters to which such objections shall relate or were made. 3. And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for any justice of the peace whose commission shall hereafter expire to proceed to the investigation and determination to judgment of any cause then undetermined before him; and it shall be the duty of every such justice to grant an appeal from any such judgment, and also from the judg ment by him rendered in any cause theretofore brought before him, when demanded, and also to make return to all writs, orders, or rules, to him directed, issuing out of any court in this State, in the same manner, and as fully as though his said commission had not expired. Approved February 6, 1858. Seven per cent. interest authorized in Bergen Co. CHAPTER XVIII. A FURTHER SUPPLEMENT to an act entitled "An act against usury," approved April tenth, eighteen hundred and forty-six. 1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, That upon all contracts hereafter made in the county of Bergen, in this State, for the loan of, or the forbearance or giving day of payment, for any money, wares, merchandise, goods or chattels, it shall be lawful for any person to take the value of seven dollars for the forbearance of one hundred dollars for a year, and after that rate for a greater or less sum, or for a longer or shorter period, anything contained in the act to which this is a supplement to the contrary notwithstanding; provided, that Proviso. one of the parties to such contract shall, at the making thereof, reside or be actually located within the limits of said county, or out of the State. 2. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect immediately. Approved February 6, 1858. CHAPTER XIX. A FURTHER SUPPLEMENT to the act entitled "An act to secure to creditors an equal and just division of the estates of debtors who convey to assignees for the benefit of creditors." Approved April sixteenth, eighteen hundred and forty-six. amount of debtor to be 1. BE IT ENACTED, by the Senate and General Assembly of What the State of New Jersey, That in all assignments by debtors property of for the benefit of creditors, hereafter to be made under and reserved. by virtue of the act to which this is a supplement, there shall be reserved of the goods and chattels of any such debtor having a family, goods and chattels to the value of two hundred dollars, and all wearing apparel, for the use of said debtor and his family, against all creditors, whether the same be reserved by the terms of the said deed of as |