72 Pa. 106 | Pa. | 1872
The opinion of the court was delivered, by
— The learned judge of the Common Pleas was right in his reasoning and conclusions on the point raised by the defendant below and defendant in error, in regard to the question of notice furnished by the record of the plaintiff’s mortgage. Had Chase been a justice of the peace of Erie county, the acknowledgment before him by the mortgagor, although the land lay in « Crawford, or any other county in the state, would have been all right, and the duty of the recorder of Crawford county to enter it of record, when offered for that purpose, would have been undoubted. This being the appearance of things, it was properly put on record by the recorder, and was thence primd facie notice to terre-tenant of the encumbrance. Had he doubted the validity of the acknowledgment taken by Chase, he could have satisfied himself by examining the recorder’s office that he was a justice of the peace, in and for Crawford county, for undoubtedly his commission was on record, as required by the Act of 11th April 1840, and that he was a proper officer to take the acknowledgment. This being followed by an inquiry of the magistrate would have fixed the fact that the mortgage was in truth properly acknowledged. Whatever is sufficient to put a party on inquiry, where it ought to result in the information, is equivalent to notice. This is a general rule. All this by very little industry the plaintiff in error could have had. With it, would the defendants have been concluded? He did not make the examination and inquiry, but the plaintiff offered to prove the facts, and the court admitted the testimony. By this it appeared that Chase took the acknow
There is no error in this record, and the judgment is affirmed.