26 Conn. 376 | Conn. | 1857
On the general principle of law that real estate must be conveyed according to the laws of the state in which it is situated, the deed from Courtney Schenck to Peter H. Schenck is plainly invalid for the want of the number of attesting witnesses required by the laws of this state in regard to the mode of making such conveyances, unless, as is claimed by the plaintiff in error, it is validated by the 72d chapter of the acts-of 1855, which provides that “ all deeds and other conveyances of real estate in this state, which have been executed and acknowledged in any other state or territory, in conformity with the laws of such state or territory relative to the conveyance of lands therein situated, shall be held and deemed to be as valid to all intents and purposes as if the same had been executed and acknowledged in conformity with the laws of this state.” This claim is, however, in our opinion, clearly unfounded, because the superior court finds that this deed was executed and acknowledged in the state of New York, and that if the land thereby conveyed had been situated therein, itwould be invalid according to the laws of that state regarding the conveyance of such land, for the reason that it was not, as those laws require, acknowledged before an officer who was authorized by the laws of that state to take the acknowledgment of conveyances of land situated in that state. It does not therefore come within the description of those conveyances which are confirmed by the act relied on. The rule of expounding statutes referred to by the plaintiff in error, by which they may be sometimes extended beyond their words, does not apply to this case, because it is resorted to only in furtherance of the clear intention of the legislature and where the words of an act are not plain or are doubtful. It is thus expressed by Washington, J. in the case of U. States v. Fisher, (2 Cranch, 399.)—“ Where a law is plain and unambiguous,
The other question which it presents is, whether the knowledge of that deed, derived by Johnson from the records of the town of Derby, should constructively be deemed to be notice of it to the plaintiffs. It appears that he was one of the directors of the plaintiff’s company, but not an acting agent, of it, that he had no management of its business otherwise than as a director, and that he did not inform the company, or any of its agents, of his having seen the record of the deed until after the plaintiffs attached the premises which it purported to convey. On these facts we think that the present is not distinguishable from the recent case of the Farmers and Citizens Bank v. Payne, 25 Conn., 444, and must be governed by it. That was a suit by the endorsees of bills of exchange against the acceptor, in which it appeared that' the bills were drawn in favor of one Greene, and accepted by the defendant for the sole accom
The result to which we have come on these questions renders it unnecessary to consider the others which have been presented in the case.
The judgment of the superior court is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Judgment affirmed.