Harding v. Allen

Bryan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The material facts of this case lie within a narrow compass. Mrs. Eleanora L. Lee executed a deed conveying to one William A. Nixon, in fee simple, a tract of land in Prince George’s County. The covenants were that the grantor had not encumbered the property, or suffered it to he encumbered, and that she would warrant it specially and would execute such further assurances as might he requisite.

The deed was executed and ³⁹⁸ acknowledged on the thirteenth of November, 1814, and recorded on the twenty-eighth of April, 1815. Nixon and his wife executed a deed on the seventh of January, 1815, to Ira M. Allen in fee simple. This deed Avas recorded on the eighteenth day of the same month. On the twenty-third of December, 1814, Nixon and wife executed to Mrs. Lee a mortgage of the property purchased from her to secure a balance of the* purchase money.

Mrs. Lee made the affidavit to this mortgage on the tAvelfth of April, 1815, and it was recorded on the eleventh of July of the same year. Allen has filed a bill in equity for the sale of the land, admitting that his deed, though in form a conveyance in fee simple, is only a security for debts due to him by the grantor. The question is whether his deed has priority over Mrs. Lee's mortgage. There is no evidence that Allen had any notice of the mortgage to Mrs. Lee.

The case must rest entirely on the provisions of the registration laws. The deed to Nixon being duly recorded, by the express provisions of the statute took effect betAveen the parties from its date. General Code, Art. 24, sec. 14; that is to say Nixon was invested with Mrs. Lee’s title from the thirteenth of November, 1814; and he conveys this title to Allen, by a deed which was also duly recorded. The mortgage to Mrs. Lee from Nixon was not recorded until