Bryan & Farrie v. Hawthorne

Mason, J., delivered the opinion of the court. It is conceded in the statement of facts agreed upon in this case, that the property mentioned in the deed of trust, the validity of which is assailed in these proceedings, was delivered to the grantees in said deed, immediately upon its execution. The act of 1729, ch. 8, sec. 5, only requires conveyances of personal property to be in writing, acknowledg ⁵²⁴ ed and recorded, where delivery of possession does not accompany the sale or transfer of title, but remains with the grantor. This act, therefore, does not apply to this case, but the bona fide transfer by sale or otherwise, accompanied by delivery of the property, effectuates the title in the grantees, and no written conveyance is necessary; and where there is a bill of sale or deed of personal property accompanied by delivery, none of the formalities of the act of 1729, ch. 8, sec. 5, are necessary to give it validity.

This is not only the manifest meaning and design of that act, but it is the construction given to it by this court in a number of previous decisions, to which the learned judge who delivered the opinion below, has referred. If this was a bona fide tranaction, (and this is not denied,) the title to this property in the grantees, was perfect and complete, as soon as it was delivered, whether the deed conveying it was acknowledged and recorded or not. The act of 1846, ch. 271, and its supplement of 1847, ch. 305, apply only to such bills of sale, as under the preexisting law, are required to be acknowledged and recorded. This is clear, from the fact, that the two acts, when