21 Me. 160 | Me. | 1842
The opinion of the Court, was prepared by
— It appears from the agreed statement of facts, that on the 13th of October, 1836, Reuben Buck conveyed to Joseph Grant a farm including the premises, and at the same
The inquiries arise; what would have been the rights of the parties, if the first deeds had not been cancelled; and what was the effect of that cancellation upon their rights. The statute, c. 36, provided, that no bargain, sale, mortgage, or other conveyance of lands, “shall be good and effectual in law to hold such lands, tenements or hereditaments against any other person or persons, but the grantor or grantors and their heirs only, unless the deed or deeds thereof be acknowledged and recorded.” After Joseph Grant had entered into possession he might have conveyed the farm to a third person, who being ignorant of the mortgage deed to Buck might have procured his deed to be recorded before the mortgage to Buck, and have thereby acquired a good title against that mortgage; for the plain reason, that the statute had declared, that it should be good against Joseph Grant and his heirs, but not good against others, such as his creditors, and purchasers from him for value; because it was not recorded. When an estate is attached, and the attachment is preserved, and the execution, issued on the judgment recovered in that suit, is legally levied on it; such levy operates as a statute conveyance at the time of making the attachment. So that the plaintiff is in the
The effect might have been, that Buck would wholly lose his farm by neglecting to record his mortgage. But this is a result, which must have been intended, when the statute declared, that his mortgage should be good only against the grantor and his heirs, if not recorded. And Courts of law cannot relieve persons from those misfortunes, which are brought upon them by their inattention to the plain provisions of a statute.
The cancellation of the deeds might have operated to restore the estate to Buck, if the rights of other persons had not before that time intervened; but it would not have that or any other effect against the rights of such third parties.
Judgment for the demandant.