Prouty v. Marshall

Citations

• 225 Pa. 570
• 74 A. 550
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 702

Syllabus

<p>Mortgage — Record,—Mistake in recording — Indexing.</p> <p>1. When a mortgage is defectively recorded and wrongly indexed, by inserting a wrong initial in entering the name of the mortgagor, the correct name being entirely omitted from the record, a purchaser of the mortgaged premises, without actual notice, is not chargeable with notice of such mortgage, and, as terre-tenant of the premises, is not subject to its enforcement against him.</p> <p>2. The chief object to be attained, by recording and indexing an instrument, affecting the title to real estate, is to give notice of the incumbrance; it is therefore the duty of a person offering an instrument for record to see that it is both properly recorded and properly indexed. If he fails to do so, he cannot shift the consequence upon an innocent purchaser.</p> <p>3. Under the Act of March 18, 1875, P. L. 32, defective indexing is as fatal to a mortgage as against subsequent purchasers and mortgagees, as defective recording.</p>