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a commissioner of deeds, justice of the peace, or, except as otherwise provided by law, by a notary public, does not entitle the conveyance to be read in evidence or recorded, except within the county in which the officer resides at the time of making such certificate, unless authenticated by a certificate of the clerk of the same county, provided however, that all certificates of acknowl edgments or proof, made by or before a commissioner of deeds. of the city of New York residing in any part therein, shall be authenticated by the city clerk of said city, that the said commissioner of deeds, was duly appointed and qualified as such and no other certificate shall be required, from any other officer to entitle said conveyance to be read in evidence or recorded in any county or part of a county, situated within the limits, confines, or boundaries, of the said city of New York. But this section does not apply to a conveyance executed by an agent for the Holland Land Company, or of the Pulteney estate, lawfully authorized to convey real property. (As amended by chap. 147 of 1899.)

§ 260. When other authentication necessary.-In the following cases a certificate of acknowledgment or proof is not entitled to be read in evidence or recorded unless authenticated by the following officers, respectively:

I. Where the original certificate of acknowledgment or proof is made by a commissioner appointed by the governor, by the secretary of state.

2. Where made by a judge of a court of record in Canada, by the clerk of the court.

3. Where made by the officer of a state of the United States, or of the dominion of Canada authorized by the laws thereof to take the acknowledgment or proof of deeds to be recorded therein, by the secretary of state of the state, or the clerk, register, recorder or prothonotary of the county in which the officer making the original certificate resided, when the certificate was made, or by the clerk of any court of that county, having by law a seal. § 261. Contents of certificate of authentication.-An officer authenticating a certificate of acknowledgment or proof must subjoin or attach to the original certificate a certificate under his hand, and if he has, pursuant to law, an official seal, under such seal. Except when the original certificate is made by a judge of a court of record in Canada, such certificate of authentication must specify that, at the time of taking the acknowl

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edgment or proof, the officer taking it was duly authorized to take the same; that the authenticating officer is acquainted with the former's handwriting, or has compared the signature to the original certificate with that deposited in his office by such officer; and that he verily believes the signature to the original certificate is genuine; and if the original certificate is required to be under seal, he must also certify that he has compared the impression of the seal affixed thereto with the impression of the seal of the officer who took the acknowledgment or proof deposited in his office, and that he verily believes the impression of the seal upon the original certificate is genuine. clerk's certificate authenticating a certificate of acknowledgment or proof, taken before a judge of a court of record in Canada, must specify that there is such a court; that the judge before whom the acknowledgment of proof was taken, was, when it was taken, a judge thereof; that such court has a seal; that the officer authenticating is clerk thereof; that he is well acquainted with the handwriting of such judge, and verily believes his signature is genuine.

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§ 262. Recording of conveyances acknowledged or proved without the state, where parties and certifying officer are dead. Where the execution of a conveyance of real property within this state is acknowledged or proved according to the laws of any other state of the United States, and a certificate of the acknowledgment or proof signed by the officer taking it is annexed to or indorsed upon the instrument, if such officer and the grantor or mortgagor be dead and the death of all of them be proved by affidavit, sworn to in such state before an officer authorized by its laws to administer an oath therein, the conveyance, with the affidavit or affidavits annexed thereto, on being authenticated as required by this section, may be read in evidence and recorded in the same manner, and with like effect, as if the conveyance was acknowledged or proved and certified as required by the laws of this state. To entitle such conveyance and affidavits to be read in evidence, or recorded, a certificate of the clerk, recorder, register or prothonotary of the county in which the deceased officer resided, authenticating his signature, and also certifying that the conveyance is acknowledged or proved in all respects, as required by the laws of such state, must be annexed. to the original certificate and a like certificate of such clerk, recorder, register or prothonotary, authenticating the signature of

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the officer, before whom the affidavits proving the deaths were taken, must be annexed to such affidavits. The affidavits on being recorded, are presumptive evidence of the matters of fact, required to be stated therein.

$263. Proof where witnesses are dead.-Where the witnesses to a conveyance authorized to be recorded, are dead, its execution may be proved before any officer authorized to take within the state the acknowledgment and proof of conveyances, other than a commissioner of deeds, a notary public, or a justice of the peace. The proof of the execution must be made by satisfactory evidence of the death of all the witnesses thereto, and of the handwriting of such witnesses, or any one of them, and of the grantor, which evidence, with the name and residence of each witness examined, must be set forth by the officer taking the same, in his certificate of proof. A conveyance so proved, and certified, may be recorded in the proper office, if the original conveyance be at the same time deposited in the same office, there to remain for the inspection of all persons desiring to examine the same. If the conveyance affects real property in two or more counties, a certified copy of the conveyance, with the proof and certificates, may be recorded in each of such counties. Such recording and deposit are constructive notice of the execution of such conveyance to all purchasers of the same real property, or any part thereof, from the same vendor, his heirs or assigns, subsequent to such recording, but do not entitle the conveyance or the record thereof, or a transcript of the record to be read in evidence.

264. Recording books.

Different sets of books must be provided by the recording officer of each county, for the recording of deeds and mortgages; in one of which sets, he must record all conveyances and other instruments absolute in their terms delivered to him, pursuant to law, to be so recorded, which are not intended as mortgages, or securities in the nature of mortgages, and in the other set such mortgages and securities delivered to him.

§ 265. Indexes.-Each recording officer must provide, at the expense of his county, proper books for making general indexes of instruments recorded in his office, and must form indexes therein, so as to afford correct and easy reference to the books of record in his office. There must be one set of indexes for mortgages or securities in the nature of mortgages, and another set

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for conveyances and other instruments not intended as such mortgages or securities. Each set must contain two lists in alphabetical order, one consisting of the names of the grantors or mortgagors, followed by the names of their grantees or mort gagees, and the other list consisting of the names of the grantees or mortgagees, followed by the names of their grantors or mortgagors, with proper blanks in each class of names, for subsequent entries, which entries must be made as instruments are delivered for record. This section, so far as relates to the preparation of new indexes, shall not apply to a county where the recording officer now has general numerical indexes. A recording officer who records a conveyance of real property, sold by virtue of an execution, or by a sheriff, referee or other person, pursuant to a judgment, the granting clause whereof states whose right, title or interest was sold, must insert in the proper index, under the head "grantors," the name of the officer executing the conveyance, and of each person whose right, title or interest is so stated to have been sold.

§ 266. 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 therefor, and is considered recorded from the time of such delivery.

§ 267. 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.

§ 268. 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 indorse upon every such instrument a certificate, stating the time as aforesaid, when, and the book and page where, the same was recorded.

§ 269. 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

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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.

$270. Recording discharge of mortgage.-A mortgage, registered or recorded, must be discharged upon the record thereof, by the recording officer, when there is presented to him a certificate signed by the mortgagee, his personal representative or assignee, 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. The certificate of discharge, and the certificates of its acknowledgment or proof, must be recorded; and a reference must be made to the book and page containing such record, in the minute of the discharge of such mortgage, made by the officer upon the record thereof.

§ 271. Effect of recording assignment of mortgage. The recording of an assignment of a mortgage is not in itself, a notice of such assignment to a mortgagor, his heirs or personal representatives, so as to invalidate a payment made by either of them to the mortgagee.

§ 272. Recording of conveyances made by treasurer of Connecticut.-A conveyance of real property, executed at any time since the tenth day of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-five, by the treasurer of the state of Connecticut, acknowledged by him before the secretary of state of such state, and the acknowledgment of which is certified by such secretary of state under the seal of such state, in the manner required for the acknowledg ment and certification of a conveyance within this state, may be recorded in the proper office within this state, without further proof thereof.

§ 273. Revocation to be recorded.-A power of attorney or other instrument, recorded pursuant to this article, is not deemed revoked by any act of the party by whom it was executed, unless the instrument containing such revocation is also recorded in the same office in which the instrument containing the power was recorded.

8 274. Penalty for using long forms of covenants.-The recording officer of any county may charge for the recording of an instrument containing any of the covenants mentioned in sections two hundred and eighteen and two hundred and nineteen

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