Shannon v. Hall

Citations

• 72 Ill. 354

Syllabus

<p>1. Recording act—effect of destruction of records. Where a mortgagee places his mortgage upon record, his rights under it me fixed, and it is notice for all time, and the destruction of the record books does not extinguish or destroy such notice, nor affect the rights of the mortgagee injuriously.</p> <p>3. Same—mortgagee not obliged to incur expense of restoring, unden' act for restoring burnt records. The fact that the records have been destroyed by fire, and an act of the General Assembly passed to restore them, imposes no obligation upon a mortgagee, whose mortgage was duly recorded before such destruction, to incur the trouble and expense of the restoration of his mortgage.</p> <p>3. A mortgage was duly recorded, and afterwards the records were destroyed by fire, and an act of the General Assembly passed providing for the restoration of the lost records, but the mortgagee took no steps to have the record of his mortgage restored. After the destruction of the records, the mortgagor sold and conveyed the mortgaged premises to one who had no knowledge or information of the existence of the mortgage, and who took possession of the premises, claiming to have a perfect title thereto, of which fact the mortgagee had notice six years before a bill was filed to foreclose the mortgage, but such purchaser was not induced to make such purchase by anything done or said by the mortgagee: Held, on a bill to foreclose the mortgage, that although there wore equities on the side of the defendant, they were not superior to those of the mortgagee, and that he was entitled to have his mortgage foreclosed to pay the mortgage indebtedness.</p>