Charter v. Graham

Citations

• 56 Ill. 19

Syllabus

<p>1. Description in a deed—in what mode supplied. Where a deed, which was written on the back of the original patent for the land intended to be conveyed, contained no words of description of the premises except “ all that certain tract or parcel of land within mentioned and described,” it was held, those words of reference to the patent supplied the want, in the deed, of a definite description of the land by metes and bounds or by its proper numbers.</p> <p>2. Recording act of 1807—time of recording deeds. It was objected to a deed, which was made in the year 1818, that it was void because not recorded within the year, as required by the act of 1802; but waiving a construction of that act, it was held to have been superseded by the act of 1807, and, by the terms of the latter act, if the deed was registered before a second deed for the same premises, it was sufficient.</p> <p>3. Same—of deeds executed out of this State. The 18th section of the act of 1807 places deeds executed without the State, in the manner therein prescribed, upon the same footing as domestic deeds, in respect to the time within which they should be registered.</p> <p>4. Evidence—opinions of witnesses. In a suit where the question was whether a deed, a certified copy of which was offered in evidence, had been written upon the back of the original patent for the land intended to be conveyed, the object being to supply a deficiency in the description in the deed by reference to the patent, it was held improper for witnesses to give their opinion, from an examination of the records where the instruments were registered, as to whether the deed was written on the back of the patent.</p> <p>5. Depositions—in suits at lam—presumption as to whether there was am affidavit. On objection that depositions taken in an action of ejectment should have been suppressed because there was no affidavit on file, it was held, that inasmuch as the bill of exceptions failed to show whether an affidavit was in fact on