62 Ala. 486 | Ala. | 1878
There can be no doubt that an official certificate of the acknowledgment or probate of a deed, conforming substantially to the statute, is presumed to be true, and authorizes the deed to be read in evidence as if the execution had been proved by the subscribing witnesses, or if there are none, by evidence of the handwriting of the grantor. If the execution of the deed was shown in the latter mode, countervailing evidence would be admissible. It could be shown that the subscribing witnesses had testified falsely, or that they were mistaken, or that the witnesses had no knowledge of the'grantor’s handwriting, or if they had, that they erred in supposing the signature to the deed was genuine. The certificate of acknowledgment, or of probate, taking the place of proof by the subscribing witnesses, or of the handwriting of the grantor, may also be contradicted, and parol evidence is admissible to falsify it. It is an official act, done ■under the obligation of an official oath, and protected by the presumptions the law necessarily indulges in favor of the acts of its own officers. The burden of proof is on those who assail the verity of the certificate, and it can be successfully impeached only by clear and convincing evidence that -the deed was not executed by the grantor, when the issue is limited, as in the present case, to the fact of execution.
These were the views of the Chancellor, but he reached the conclusion the proof was not strong enough to remove
It is said in argument, that the commissioner ought to have been examined by the parties impeaching the truth of his certificate. This examination, it seems to us, ought to have been at the instance of the appellee,' who was forewarned of the necessity for it, by the explicit denial in the answer of Mrs. Barnett of the execution of the deed. Common prudence would have suggested to the appellee the necessity of such examination; and if any presumption arises from the absence of his evidence, it is against rather than in favor of the appellee. It is imputing to him a singular want of diligence to presume that he never made inquiries of the commissioner as to the truth of the certificate, when he knew it was assailed by pleading, and impeached by evidence flatly and'fully contradicting it. We cannot, without disregarding the evidence, conclude that the execution of the deed under
The decree of the Chancellor must he reversed, and a decree rendered here dismissing the hills, original and amended, of the appellee at his costs in the Court of Chancery. The several cross-hills must be dismissed at the costs of the respective complainants therein. The costs of this appeal must be paid by the appellee.