Melville Fuller

“ Every deed or conveyance of real estate must be signed by the grantor, and must be duly acknowledged before some officer authorized to take acknowledgments, and properly certified to by him for registration.' Thus the legislative assembly of Arizona of 1901, so far from adopting the construction of the Texas statute, changed the language entirely and made it imperative that the deed should be signed and acknowledged before a proper officer. ”

“ The first deed, however, was signed by Lewis before he became so indebted. But if, as is contended, that deed did not become effective as a conveyance until it was acknowledged, namely, on January 9, 1904, on which day Lewis was already indebted to the bank, the deed was void as to it, a prior creditor. And that makes the only question in this case to be whether or not, under the statutes of Arizona, a deed signed, but not acknowledged, was valid as a conveyance of real property as to third parties. ”

“ The construction of the statute by the local courts is of great, if not of controlling, weight. Sweeney v. Lomme, 22 Wall. 208, 22 L. ed. 727; Northern P. R. Co. v. Hambly, 154 U.S. 349, 38 L. ed. 1009, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. ”