52 Md. 602 | Md. | 1879
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an action of ejectment involving the title to two tracts of land in Garrett County, containing about eighty four acres. It was admitted that the title to these tracts was, in 1803, vested in William Barnes by a deed from the patentee, and that Barnes hy his will devised the same to his daughter Ruth Metz for life, with remainder in fee to her son John Metz. The life tenant, Ruth Metz, died in 1863, and John Metz died in 1857 or 1858, unmarried and without issue, leaving eight brothers and sisters, his heirs-at-law, and the plaintiffs are two of his sisters. Upon this proof the plaintiffs rested their case. The defendant then offered in evidence a duly certified copy of a deed purporting to have been executed hy Ruth Metz and her husband, Isaac Metz, and hy her son, the said John Metz, hearing date December 4th, 1821. By this deed the land in question was conveyed to James Morrison in consideration of the sum of $400, and the
The objection mainly urged against the correctness of this ruling is, that the Land Record Book produced and offered in evidence, constituted part of the original records of another county. The argument is, that in no case can such records be removed from the county of their origin, and the custody of the proper officials there, for the purpose of being used as evidence in the Courts of other counties. It is said the law (Code, Art. 37, sec. 58,) has provided, that exemplified copies of such records shall be evidence, and reference is made to the cases of Jones vs. Jones, 45 Md., 154, and Goldsmith vs. Kilbourn, 46 Md., 292, where it was held, that original papers in a cause ought not to be taken from the files of another Court, and produced as evidence instead of copies or exemplifications, as provided for by the Code, and that such original papers can only be used in tbe Court to which they belong. The propriety of this general rule cannot be questioned, and it applies as well to Land Record Books, as to judg
There being no error in the admission of this testimony, it follows that the Court was right in giving instructions to the effect that the defendant could not claim title under the deed of 1821, unless the jury found from the evidence that that deed was signed or executed by John Metz. These instructions at the instance of the plaintiffs, in connection with that part of the defendant’s third -prayer, {which was also granted,) to the effect that the exemplified copy of the deed offered in evidence by the defendant, is prima facie evidence of its execution, and casts the burden of proof on the plaintiffs to show that it was not exe-cuted by John Metz, correctly stated the law upon this branch of the case. As Ruth Metz, the life tenant of the land, did not die until 1863, less than twenty years prior to the commencement of this action, the Court was clearly right in granting the plaintiffs’ second prayer, to the effect that upon that state of facts the defendant could not make title to the land by possession.
The plaintiffs also assailed the deed of 1821, upon an entirely different ground. They offered evidence tending to show that at the time this deed was executed, John Metz was non compos mentis, and incapable from mental infirmity of making a valid deed or contract. The defendant objected to the introduction of this testimony, hut the Court overruled the objection and allowed the testimony to go to the jury. This ruling in connection with the instructions granted by the Court upon the same subject, presents the second main question in the case.
Holding then the deed to he voidable, and not void, it is clear beyond dispute that it can he avoided by the heirs-at-law of the grantor, privies in blood, and the question
It follows there was error in the ruling contained in the second exception, and in the granting of the plaintiffs’ first and fourth prayers, and as the judgment 'must he reversed for these errors it becomes unnecessary to notice the questions raised by the motion in arrest of judgment. A new trial will he awarded in order to enable the plaintiffs, if they so choose, to proceed with the action upon the ground of the non-execution of the deed by John Metz.
Judgment reversed, and new trial awarded.