John McLean

“ What part of the act of 1785 repeals that of 1776? By 1748 deeds must be acknowledged before the General Court, or a County Court, in Virginia. By 1776 a feme covert may go before a mayor, and by 1785 she may go before any court of record, or two justices appointed by a commission. But these might all be put into one statute, and not be inconsistent with each other. How can the circumstance that they are in different statutes vary the result? Statutes in pari materia must be construed together. ”

“ Laws of Kentucky, 432, entitled 'An act to enable persons living in other countries to dispose of their estates in this commonwealth, with more ease and convenience,' it was provided 'that a person residing in any other county, for passing any lands and tenements in this commonwealth, by deed, shall acknowledge or prove the same before' the mayor or other chief magistrate of the city, town or corporation, wherein or near to which he resides. ”

“ We think no such inference can be drawn. In the first section of that act, in reference to ordinary acknowledgements of conveyances, in order, when recorded, that they might operate as notice to subsequent purchasers, it is required that the acknowledgment should be made as provided, 'or in the manner herinafter directed.' The words here cited can have no bearing on the execution of a conveyance by a feme covert. In a subsequent part of the same section, provision is made for the execution of such an instrument, which is complete, without reference to any other part of the statute. ”

“ By the act of 1785, (1 Statute Laws, 432,) husband and wife residing in another state were enabled to convey the dower or inheritance of the wife within the commonwealth by the acknowledgment of the deed, and the privy examination of the wife before two justices of peace of the county of the wife's residence, to be empowered by a commission for that purpose from the court in which the deed should be recorded. ”

“ By the act of 1796, a deed, executed out of the commonwealth for lands within it, was required to be recorded in eight months. The act of 1785, which preceded it, required such deed to be recorded in eighteen months; and in Taylor v. Shields, 5 Litt. (Ky.) , 297, the question was, whether the latter of these acts, in this respect, had repealed the former; and the court say, 'we should hesitate much to give such effect to the latter statute.' 'Virtual repeals are not favored by courts. A body of acts ought to be held as one act, so far as they do not conflict with each other. ”

“ The lot having descended to Maria E. Fairbairn, and her husband being dead, her heirs claim the property, on the ground that the acknowledgment of the deed by their mother, she being a feme covert, was defective. ”

“ Mr. Justice McLEAN delivered the opinion of the court.
This case is brought here by a writ of error to the Circuit Court for the district of Kentucky.
The lessors of the plaintiff brought an action of ejectment, to recover a half-acre lot in the city of Louisville, numbered on the new plan of the city ninety-one. Richard Ferguson, Daviess, and others, were made defendants. The jury found the defendants guilty, and a judgment was entered against them. On the trial, exceptions were taken to various rulings of the court, only one of which it is material to consider. ”

“ Richard Ferguson, come in their proper person before me, Edward Johnston, mayor of the city of Baltimore, in the state aforesaid, and signed, sealed and delivered said deed of conveyance, as and for their voluntary act and deed; and the said Maria, being privately examined by me out of the presence and hearing of her said husband, did, of her own free will and consent, again consent to and acknowledge the said deed of conveyance as and for her act and deed, the same being shown and explained to her ”

“ But in the case in Foster, where 20 per month, and 12d per Sunday, were inflicted for not going to church, both penalties could be levied. The multiplication of the means of acknowledging deeds was only a facility afforded to women. ”