agent, duly authorized. It must be under seal, and the authority of the agent must be under seal. It must be duly acknowledged by the grantor or his agent, duly authorized, before it is delivered, or its execution must be attested by at least one subscribing witness. It must be duly delivered by the grantor to the grantee. The execution of a deed, and its delivery, can only be proved by a subscribing witness, in most of the States. If a deed is not acknowledged, and cannot be proved by a subscribing witness, its execution is not complete, and it cannot be recorded. It does not take effect as to third parties until acknowledged or duly proved by a subscribing witness.

3. A deed does not take effect until it is duly delivered by the grantor to the grantee. The formal parts of a deed are-1. The date when made; 2. The names and description of the parties grantor and grantee; 3. The consideration paid by the grantee; 4. The receipt therefor; 5. The grant; 6. A full description of the property granted, with . its locality and boundaries; 7. A covenant that the grantor is lawfully seized, and has a right to convey; 8. A covenant that the grantee shall have quiet possession; 9. A covenant that the property is free and clear from all encumbrances; 10. A covenant to do any act necessary to perfect the title in the grantee; 11. A covenant to warrant and defend; 12. Conclusion, containing the date of its execution; 13. Signature and scal; 14. Acknowledgment.

4. Chancellor Kent, in his Commentaries, says: "I apprehend that a deed would be perfectly competent, in any part of the United States, to convey the fee, if it was to be to the following effect:

whom subscribed? Must the instrument be under seal? If executed by an agent? By whom must it be acknowledged? If not acknowledged, how must its execution be proved? What is the last thing necessary to perfect the transfer? How only can the execution and delivery of a deed be proved? If a deed is not acknowledged, and cannot be proved by a subscribing witness, can it be recorded? When does it take effect?

3. Is the delivery of the deed by the grantor to the grantee necessary to perfect the transfer? What are the formal parts of a deed?

"I, A. B., in consideration of one dollar to me paid by C. D., do bargain and sell (or, in New York, grant) to C. D. and his heirs (in New York, Virginia, etc., the words and his heirs' may be omitted) the lot of land (describe it). Witness my hand and seal, etc.

"But persons usually attach so much importance to the solemnity of forms, that the purchaser would rather be at the expense of exchanging a paper of such insignificance of appearance for a conveyance, surrounded by the usual outworks, and securing respect and checking attacks by the formality of its manner, the prolixity of its provisions, and the usual redundancy of its language. The English practice and the New York practice, down to the present time, have been in conformity with the opinion of Lord Coke, that it is not advisable to depart from the formal and orderly parts of a deed which have been well con- . sidered and settled."

5. No person would be willing to take the title to an estate under a deed in the form given by the learned chancellor. Such form would be exceedingly defective. By the statute in New York, no covenant can be implied in any conveyance of real estate, whether such conveyance contain special covenants or not. In the form given, there is no covenant on the part of the grantor that he is lawfully seized, and has a right to convey. There is no covenant that the grantee shall have quiet possession. There is no covenant that the estate is free and clear of all encumbrances. There is no covenant to do any act necessary to perfect the title in the grantee. There is no cove

4. What form of deed does Chancellor Kent say he apprehends to be perfectly competent, in any part of the United States, to convey the fee? To what does he say persons usually attach much importance? What expense would the purchaser readily incur? In accordance with whose opinion does he say the English practice and the practice in New York are conducted? What was that opinion?

5. Would persons of ordinary prudence be willing to take the title to an estate in the form given by Chancellor Kent? Is such form complete or defective? Are there any implied covenants in any conveyance in New York? What covenants are omitted in the form given? What is the rule as to implied covenants in most of the States?

nant to warrant and defend the title. In most of the States there is no implied covenant in a deed. All covenants must be duly expressed in the deed.

6. The heirs to whom the estate descends, and the devisees to whom the estate is devised, are answerable upon the covenants or agreements of the grantor or devisor to the extent of the lands descended or devised to them. No greater estate passes by any grant or conveyance than the grantor himself possessed at the time of the delivery of the deed, and could then lawfully convey. Every grant is conclusive against the grantor and his heirs, and against subsequent purchasers from the grantor or his heirs, except a subsequent purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration, who shall acquire a superior title by a conveyance that shall have been first duly recorded. A conveyance made by a tenant for life or for years, of a greater estate than he possesses, passes to the grantee all the title, estate, and interest which such tenant could lawfully convey.

7. Every grant of lands is absolutely void, if, at the time of the delivery of the deed, the lands are in the actual possession of another person, claiming under a title adverse to that of the grantor. The grantor may execute a mortgage on such lands; and such mortgage, if duly recorded, will bind the lands from the time the possession thereof is recovered by the mortgagor or his representatives.

6. To what extent are the heirs and devisees responsible upon the covenants of the grantor or devisor? Does the grantee in any case take a greater estate than the estate possessed by the grantor? Against whom is every grant conclusive? What exception is made? If a tenant for life convey a greater estate than he possesses, what is the effect? 7. When is every grant of lands absolutely void? Can the grantor execute a mortgage on such lands? From what time will it bind the lands?

CHAPTER LIV.

ESTATES IN DOWER.

1. DOWER is a life-estate, which the law gives to the widow, of a third part of the lands of which her husband was seized at any time during the marriage. The word lands generally includes the buildings thereon, and the appurtenances thereto belonging. The term dower applies only to the estate of the widow in the lands of her deceased husband. The widow is entitled to a share in the personal property of her husband, which is fixed by statute in the several States. The widow of an alien, entitled by law to hold real estate, is entitled to dower, if she is an inhabitant of the State at the time of her husband's death. If the husband be seized of one estate, which he exchanges for another estate, the widow cannot be endowed of both; but she is entitled to her election, within one year, out of which she will take her dower. If she make no election within one year, she is presumed to have selected the estate received in exchange.

2. If the husband had executed a mortgage on the estate of inheritance of which he was seized before the marriage, the widow is not entitled to dower against the mortgagee, except in the surplus after the mortgage is foreclosed. If the mortgage is paid before the death of the husband, she is entitled to dower in the whole estate. She cannot claim her dower against the mortgagee; but

1. What is dower? What does the word lands include? To what only does the term dower apply? Is the widow entitled to a share in the personal property? How fixed? Is the widow of an alien entitled to dower? If the husband has been seized of one estate, which he has exchanged for another, can the widow receive dower from both? If she make no election within one year, what is presumed?

2. If the husband had mortgaged his estate before marriage? If the mortgage is paid before the death of the husband? Can she claim her

she may claim it against all others. Where the husband purchases lands during the existence of the marriage, and gives a mortgage for the purchase-money, the widow is entitled to dower only in the surplus after the mortgage is paid and satisfied. The widow is not entitled to dower in lands mortgaged to her husband, unless he foreclose the mortgage before his death.

3. The title to dower may be barred in several ways: 1. By a decree of the court annulling the marriage for causes existing at the time of the marriage; 2. By a decree of the court dissolving the marriage for the misconduct of the wife; 3. By the wife joining with her husband in the conveyance of the estate; 4. By a jointure settled upon the wife; 5. By electing to take a devise or bequest. in her husband's will, instead of her dower.

4. A jointure, in its enlarged sense, signifies a joint estate belonging to the husband and wife, which passes in whole to the survivor. A jointure to bar the right of dower is a competent estate of lands and tenements, to take effect, in profit or possession, immediately after the death of the husband. To make the jointure valid, the following circumstances are necessary: 1. It must take effect in possession or profit immediately after the death of the husband; 2. It must be an estate for the life of the wife, or a greater estate; it may be in fee; 3. It must be limited to the wife herself, and not to any other person, in trust for her; 4. It must be made in satisfaction of the wife's whole dower, and not of a part of it only; 5. The estate limited to the wife must be averred to be in satisfaction of her whole dower; 6. It must be made before marriage. By the statute of the State of New York, an estate in lands may be conveyed-1. To a person and his

dower against the mortgagee? If the husband purchase lands during the marriage, and give a mortgage for the purchase-money? Is the widow entitled to dower in lands mortgaged to her husband?

3. How may the title to dower be barred?

4. What does a jointure, in its enlarged sense, signify? What is a jointure to bar the right of dower? What circumstances are necessary to make a jointure valid? To whom, in the State of New York, may