Cowan v. . Green ( 1823 )

Hall, Judge,

T,e act of 1715, ch. 7. sec. 1, gives twelve montlis for the registration of conveyances for lauds, (other than mortgages.) By the same act, sec. 7, mortgages of lands or personal property must be regís-tered within fifty days, otherwise subsequent mortgages first registered shall be prefer red. By an act of 1789, ch. 315, sec. 2, bills of sale for slaves are directed to be registered within 1 welv e months. By another act, passed in the year 1814, ch. 875, it is declared, that all bills of sale for slaves may and shall, within two years after the passing of that act, be admitted to registration, under the same rules as heretofore appointed.

At the time w hen tills act passed, the bill of sale to Green had not been executed, but it was executed the January following, and registered within the time prescribed by that act; so that no objection can be made to this deed for want of registration in due time. The mortgage to the Plaintiff was not registered within fifty days, nor until the expiration of almost two years after it bore date. It was during that time, and after the time had expired within which the mortgage ought to hav e been registered, that the deed was executed to Green. For these reasons, I think the title to the slave in question vested in the Defendant, and that judgment should he given for him.

The rest of the Court concurred.