der the act, and touching the particular matters to be mentioned in the memorandums and certificates (mentioned in sect. 84), and the affidavits verifying the certificates, and the time within which any of the proceedings shall take place, and touching the amount of the fees or charges to be paid for the copies of the lists to be delivered by the clerks of the peace, or their deputies, or by the officer of the Court, as before mentioned, and also of the fees or charges to be paid for taking acknowledgments of deeds, and for examining married women, and for the proceedings, matters, and things required by the act to be had, done, and executed for completing and giving effect to the acknowledgments and examinations. In pursuance of this section, the Court of Common Pleas, in Hilary Term, 1834, made certain rules, which it will be proper to set out here. After revoking certain rules made in the previous term, the rules of Hilary Term, 1834, proceed as follows: I. "It is hereby Ordered, that where any acknowledgment shall be made by any married woman of any deed under and by virtue of the said act, before commissioners appointed under the said act, one at least of the said commissioners shall be a person who is not in any manner interested in the transaction giving occasion for such acknowledgment, or concerned therein as attorney, solicitor, or agent, or as clerk to any attorney, solicitor, or agent so interested or concerned. II. "And it is further Ordered, that before the commissioners shall receive such acknowledgment, they, or in case one of them shall be interested or concerned as aforesaid, then such one of them as shall not be so interested or concerned, do inquire of every married woman separately and apart from her husband, and from the attorney or solicitor concerned in the transaction, whether she intends to give up her interest in the estate to be passed by such deed, without having any provision made for her in lieu of, or in return for, or in consequence of her so giving up such interest; and where such married woman, in answer to such inquiry, shall declare that she intends to give up such her interest without any provision, and the said commissioners shall have no reason to doubt the truth of such declaration, and shall verily believe the same to be true, then they shall proceed to receive the said acknowledgment; but if it shall appear to them or to such one of them as aforesaid, that it is intended that provision is to be made for any such married woman, then the commissioners shall not take her acknowledgment until they are satisfied that such provision has been actually made by some deed or writing produced to them; or if such provision shall not have been actually made before, then the commissioners shall require the terms of such intended provision to be shortly reduced into writing, and shall verify the same by their signatures in the margin, at the foot, or at the back thereof. III. "And it is hereby further Ordered, that the affidavit verifying the certificate to be made pursuant to the said act, and which certificate shall be in the form contained in the said act, shall (except in such cases where the acknowledgment shall be taken elsewhere than in England, Wales, or Berwick-upon-Tweed), be made by some practising attorney or solicitor of one of the Courts at Westminster, or of one of the counties palatine of Lancaster or Durham, and that in all cases it shall be deposed, in addition to the verification of the said certificate, that the deponent, (or if more than one person join in the affidavit,) that one or more of the deponents knew the person or persons making such acknowledgment, and that at the time of making such acknowledgment, the person or persons making the same was or were of full age and competent understanding; and that one at least of the commissioners taking such acknowledgment, to the best of his (deponent's) knowledge and belief, is not in any manner interested in the transaction giving occasion for the taking of such acknowledgment, or concerned therein, as attorney, solicitor, or agent, or as clerk to any attorney, solicitor, or agent so interested or concerned and that the names and residences of the said commissioners, and also the place or places where such acknowledgment or acknowledgments shall be taken, shall be set forth in such affidavit: and that previously to such acknowledgment being taken, the deponent had inquired of such married woman, (or, if more than one, of each of such married women,) whether she intended to give up her interest in the estate to be passed, and also the answer given thereto; and where any such married woman, in answer to such inquiry, shall declare that she intends to give up her interest without any provision, the deponent shall state that he has no reason to doubt the truth of such declaration, and he verily believes the same to be true. And where any provision has been agreed to be made, the deponent shall state that the same has been made by deed or writing, or if not actually made before, that the terms of the intended provision have been reduced into writing, which deed or writing he verily believes has been produced to the said (judge,) (master, or) commissioners. IV. "And it is hereby further Ordered, that the affidavit shall state the parish or several parishes, or place or several places, and the county or counties in which the several premises wherein any such married woman shall appear to be interested shall by the deed be described to be situate. V. "And it is hereby further Ordered, that the affidavit shall be in the form hereunto annexed, subject to such variations as the circumstances of the case shall render necessary, or such affidavit may be made where it is found convenient by one of the said commissioners, with such variation in the form thereof as shall be necessary in that behalf. VI. "And it is hereby further Ordered, that the certificates and affidavits verifying the same shall, within one month from the making the acknowledgment, be delivered to the proper officer appointed under the said act; and that the officer shall not, after that time, receive the same without the direction of the Court or a Judge." Then follow some rules as to the fees, which it will be more convenient to give afterwards. The foregoing rules are not numbered as promulgated by the Court; but I have prefix d numbers to them in order more conveniently to refer to them in what follows. The third of the foregoing rules having required that the affidavit of the acknowledgment should be made by a practising attorney or solicitor, and it being necessary that the deponent should state in the affidavit that he knew the party making the acknowledgment, and that she was of full age, it sometimes happened that the attorney or solicitor who was to make the affidavit was a stranger to the married woman, and could not conscientiously depose to the fact of her being of full age. Το meet this difficulty, the following rule was made in Trinity Term, 1834: "It is Ordered, that from and after the last day of this Term, where such parts of the affidavit, verifying the certificate of acknowledgment, taken in pursuance of the late act of parliament, respecting fines and recoveries, as state the deponent's knowledge of the party making the acknowledgment, and her being of full age;' cannot be deposed to by a commissioner, or by an attorney or solicitor, the same may be deposed to by some other person whom the person before whom the P 3 affidavit shall be made, shall consider competent so to do." With the exception of the rules as to the fees, which will be afterwards noticed, the foregoing are all the rules which are at present in force on this subject; and it will now be proper to give such practical directions as may be necessary in the different circumstances which may occur, The deed having been executed by the husband (a) and wife, the memorandum of the acknowledgment to be signed by the commissioners (6) must be indorsed on or written at the foot, or in the margin of the deed, ready for the commissioners to sign, and the deed must be marked with some letter (usually a large A), or other mark, for the purpose of identification with the memorandum and the certificate of the acknowledgment; this certificate (c) must then be prepared, ready for the commissioners to sign-it must be written or engrossed on a separate piece of parchment; and in setting out the parties to the deed, their names only must be mentioned, their residences and descriptions must be omitted. If there be any interlineation in it, or any thing written on an erasure, care must be taken when the commissioners sign the certificate, that they both write their initials opposite to such interlineations and erasures; if this be not attended to, the certificate will not pass when it is offered to be filed. An appointment having been made with two commissioners, the acknowledgment must then be taken; but the party making the acknowledgment must first be examined by the commissioners as to (a) As to the case where the husband is a lunatic, idiot, or of unsound mind, or where he is from any other cause incapable of executing a deed, see 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 91; and see Ex parte Gill, 1 Bingham's New Cases, 168. See forms of Memorandum, in Appendix, sect. 45. |