Chapter CX.
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Chap. CX.— An Act *to quiet Titles in Favor of Parties in actual Possession of Lands situated in the District of Columbia.* March 3, 1865. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Représentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That all deeds heretofore recorded Quieting of land-titles in the District of Columbia.in the land records of the District of Columbia, which have been executed and acknowledged by femmes covert (their husbands having signed and sealed the same) for conveying any real estate, or interest therein, situated in said district; and all acknowledgements of deeds heretofore Defective acknowledgments cured.recorded, as aforesaid, which have been made by femmes covert (whether they have executed the deed or not) for the purpose of releas ing their claims to dower in the lands described therein, situated as afore-paid, in which acknowledgements the form prescribed by law h as not been followed; and all deeds heretofore recorded, as aforesaid, which have been executed and acknowledged by an attorney-in-fact, duly appointed for conveying real estate situated in said district; and all deeds heretofore recorded, as aforesaid, executed and acknowledged, or only acknowledged by such attorney-in-fact, for conveying real estate situated in said district, as to which the acknowledgement was made before officers different from those before whom proof of the power of attorney was made, and as to which the power of attorney was proved before only one justice of the peace; and all deeds heretofore executed and recorded as aforesaid for the purpose of conveying land situated in said district, acknowledged out of the District of Columbia, before a judge of a United States court, or be fore two aidermen of a city, or the chief magistrate of a city, or before a notary public; and all deeds heretofore executed and recorded as afore said for the purpose of conveying land situated in said district, acknowl edged by an attorney-in-fact, duly appointed, or by an officer of a corpo ration, duly authorized, who has acknowledged the same to be his act and deed, instead of the act and deed of the grantor or of the corporation; and all deeds heretofore executed and recorded as aforesaid for the purpose of conveying land situated in said district to which there is not annexed a legal certificate as to the official character of the officer or officers taking the acknowledgment, shall be, and the same are hereby, declared to be of 532 THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 110, 111. 1865 Defective acknowledgments of deeds in the District of Columbia cured.the same effect and validity to pass the fee simple or other estate intended to be conveyed, and bar dower in the real estate therein mentioned in favor of parties in actual possession, claiming under and through such deeds, a s if such deeds had been by such femmes covert executed and acknowledged, or acknowledged in case of a dower right, in the form heretofore prescribed by law; as if such deeds bad been executed and acknowledged by the grantor in the deed; as if such power of attorney had been proved before the officer or officers taking the acknowledgment; as if such power of attorney had been proved before two justices of the peace; as if such acknowledgment had been made before any judge of a state court, or before two justices of the peace; as if such attorneys-in-fact or officer of a corporation had acknowledged the deed to be the deed of the grantor or of the corporation; as if such deeds had thereto annexed a certificate, in legal form, that the officer or officers taking the acknowledgment Proviso.were really what they purport to be: *Provided,* That the cer tificate of acknowledgement by a femme covert shall show that the ac knowledgement was made “apart” or “privily” from her husband, or use some other term importing that her acknowledgment was made out of his presence, and also that she acknowledged or declared that she will ingly executed or that she willingly acknowledged the deed, or that the Proviso.same was her voluntary act, or to that effect: *And provided, also,* That when the power of attorney shall have [been] executed by a femme covert the same shall be effectual and sufficient if there shall have been such an acknowledgement of the same as would be sufficient, under the provisions of this act, to pass her estate and interest therein were she a party executing the deed of conveyance, 1he record and copy thereof of any deed recorded as aforesaid to be evidence thereof, in the same man ner and to have the same effect as if such deed had been originally exe cuted, acknowledged, and recorded according to law.
Exceptions in favor or parties beyond the district abrogated. Proviso. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That all exceptions in favor of parties beyond the District of Columbia, which may by existing laws be replied or relied on in any action or proceeding brought in said district, are hereby repealed and abrogated: *Provided,* That this section shall not affect the right of parties in actions now pending, and such as may be brought within three years from the passage of this act.
Construction of certain acts of congress concerning the acknowledgment, &c., of deeds in the District of Columbia. 1832, ch. 112. Vol. iv. p. 520. 1838, ch. 57. Vol. v. p. 226. Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That the acts of congress approved May thirty-first, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, and April twenty, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, in reference to the acknowledgement and recording of deeds of land situated in said district, shall be taken and construed as cumulative with the acts of Maryland on the same sub ject in force in said district at the passage thereof, and that an acknowl edgement made and certified in compliance with any one of said acts, and before any officer’s authorized by either of said acts to take an acknowl edgement, (whether in or out of the District of Columbia,) shall be good and effectual; and if it shall appear that the grantor “acknowledged said deed,” it shall have the same effect as if he or she acknowledged the What acknowledgment of married woman sufficient to bar dower.deed to be his or her act and deed.
And any acknowledgement made by a femme covert under either of said acts of congress (which shall be sufficient under the provisions of this act) of any deed executed by her hus band, and heretofore recorded in the District of Columbia, shall be good and effectual to bar all claim on her part to dower in the lands described therein, situated in said district, although she shall not have executed the same. Approved, March 3, 1865.