er of the lands within the limits of the town or county. The
object of this is to protect purchasers, for, if this were not done,
the owner of land might sell it to a purchaser a second time who knew
nothing of the previous sale, and then someone would be the loser. To
guard against such frauds the system of registration was established
at an early day in American history. A purchaser therefore should take
his deed at once to the proper recording office for record, and this
is regarded as notice to the world from the time of delivering the
deed to the recorder, who makes a note thereon of the day and hour it
was left with him. Suppose that some creditor of the grantor, not
knowing of the sale, should attach the land as the property of the
grantor to secure a debt due to him, could he hold it as against the
purchaser? Ordinarily the purchaser could still retain the land, and
the same rule would apply between him and a second purchaser, though
buying in good faith supposing the grantor was the real owner. In some
states a statute protects the purchaser by giving him a fixed period
of two or three months or more to record his deed. The safe rule is to
leave the deed with the recorder as soon as possible after receiving
it.

It is a general practice to do another thing with deeds, to make or
take an acknowledgment of them, and in some states this must be done
before they can be recorded. This consists on the part of the grantor
going before a proper officer, often a notary public, justice of the
peace, clerk of a court of record, commissioner of deeds, and making
oath that he has duly executed the above deed. This oath appears in
the form of a certificate at the bottom of the deed or appended
thereto and is signed by the officer, who also attaches his official
seal. When a deed has thus been acknowledged it can be used in a legal
proceeding as evidence without requiring further proof of its
execution. But if it had not been acknowledged, then a court would
require some proof that the deed had been made and delivered before
accepting it as proof of the fact.

When a married woman executes a deed the officer who took the
acknowledgment of the deed must make an examination, apart from her
husband, to ascertain whether or no her act was voluntary, and he must
also record the fact. The acknowledgment should be made after the
examination. A defective acknowledgment by a married woman is
worthless, nor will any court compel her