Berdel v. Egan

Citations

• 125 Ill. 298
• 17 N.E. 709

Syllabus

<p>1. Acknowledgment of deed—of evidence to overcome the certificate. Where a lost or destroyed deed is satisfactorily shown to have had attached to it a certificate of acknowledgment by the grantor and his wife, by an officer authorized to take acknowledgments of such instruments, it was held. that that fact of itself, after the lapse of twenty-eight years, was sufficient to overcome the denial of the wife that she ever released her dower, by the deed or otherwise.</p> <p>2. Secondary evidence of contents of lost deed—preliminary proof. For the purpose of laying the foundation for the introduction of secondary evidence of the contents of a deed, the party proved that the deed, when last seen, was most probably in the possession of a person named, and that the latter had made the most diligent search for it in everyplace where there was the slightest probability it would be if still in existence, but without success. The witness also stated facts showing, beyond reasonable doubt, that the deed must have been destroyed by the fire which occurred in Chicago in 1871, and which destroyed all record of prior deeds, as this one was: Held, this was a sufficient foundation for the introduction of secondary evidence of the contents of the deed.</p>