Samuel Freeman Miller

“ That is precisely the case before us. The plaintiff claims under Brent and his deed. Defendants claim nothing under that deed, and deny all connection with the title it purports to give. They are strangers to it, and have no right to set up its recitals as estoppels.
There is another reason why there can be no such estoppel. It was the manifest intent of all the parties to the deed that it should convey such title as might be conveyed under the will, and if that should be invalid, convey such title as William Brent had as heir-at-law. ”

“ Wallis and Alexander contending, primarily, that William Brent, who was a party to the deed as executor, did not convey as heir-at-law, but in a different capacity, to wit, in the capacity of one taking under the will, and that when you set up the will you were estopped to set up heirship,-heirship being incompatible with the very title sought to be derived under the deed,-argued—
1. That if the deed were admitted, and all the proof given to sustain it were admitted, it did not raise the presumption that the recitals were true ”

“ The Elizabeth Chew thus married was the daughter of Samuel Lloyd Chew the younger, who died about the year 1796, intestate, leaving the said Elizabeth Chew, and also three others, his children and heirs-at-law. The effort of the plaintiff was to trace title, from the original patentee of Kent Fort Manor to her grandfather, Samuel Lloyd Chew, from whom she claimed through her mother, who died the wife of Eli Beatty in 1838. Title was shown regularly enough down to a certain William Brent, of Virginia. ”

“ Having read to the jury without objection evidence tending to show title and possession of the land in the above-mentioned William Brent, from the year 1767, the plaintiff offered to read a copy of a deed, certified from the proper recording office, purporting to be made by Elinor Brent, executrix, and Daniel Carroll Brent and William Brent, acting executors, [1] of the last will and testament of the William Brent first mentioned, conveying the manor to Samuel Chew. ”

“ That the objection taken in the case of the deed said to have been executed by Mrs. Beatty, especially the third objection, ought to have prevailed; decisions in Maryland relating to the acknowledgment of deeds by femes covert being very strong to the point that the formula of acknowledgment presented by the statutes should be literally followed, equivalent words not being enough. ”

“ The act of 1807, which was in force at that time, required this examination to be conducted out of the presence and hearing of the husband, and the point is made that it does not appear from the certificate that Mrs. Beatty, the mother of plaintiff, was examined out of the presence of her husband, with whom she joined in the conveyance. ”