RECORDING OF CONVEYANCES OR DEEDS, the official and public registra tion in all States of all conveyances of land, made at full length, either in the office of the clerk of the county where the land is situated, or in what is known as the register's office. The statutes requiring these records are known as Recording Acts, and their purpose is to ap prise subsequent purchasers or encumbrancers of the property, of the existence of the prior deeds of conveyances and of their contents; the due recording of a conveyance is by these *acts) made constructive notice to all subse quent purchasers or encumbrancers; and unless a conveyance is so duly recorded it is void as against a subsequent purchaser or encumbrancer in good faith who has no notice of the exist ence of such conveyance and whose deed is first duly recorded. In some States an un recorded deed is fraudulent and void as against all creditors of the grantor and as against sub sequent purchasers or errcutnbrancers for value without notice, even though their deeds be not recorded; but it is generally valid as against the grantor, his heirs and devisees, or against all persons having actual notice of it; in only one of the States is an unrecorded deed void as between the parties. Recorded deeds, other things being equal, take priority according to the time of record; and a deed is deemed re corded in most of the States from the time it is filed for record, i.e., from the time the minute is made on the deed, index, or entry-book by the register or county clerk. This minute con-. sists of the day, the hour and the minute of filing. Records of all deeds must be entered
alphabetically in two indexes, one under the grantors' names, the other under the granteei' names; separate indexes and record books are kept for conveyances and mortgages. Com monly after record, the deed is delivered to the person entitled to it. In nearly all the States, in order that a deed may be recorded, a certi ficate of acknowledgment, before a proper offi cer, of its due execution is necessary, or else its execution must be proved by an attesting witness and the proof must be properly certi fied by a proper officer; in addition to this; a seal of the grantor is generally necessary. Generally all deeds of real estate, mortgages, contracts relating to and affecting real estate, may be recorded. A duly recorded conveyance or instrument or a certified copy thereof may be read in evidence without further proof. If the land is situated in several counties, the deed or a certified copy thereof ought to be recorded in each of the counties. The Record ing Act or statute usually prescribes the manner of recording. In England the grantee receives from the grantor all the deeds affecting the property, the so-called muniments of title. This is due to the fact that conveyances are not generally recorded in that country, while such a practice is unnecessary in the United States, where the title is shown by the public record and the deed of conveyance is the only document delivered to the buyer. See Toe isms LAND Svrrem.