Stiefel & Cohen v. Barton

Robinson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The question in this case, turns mainly upon the construction of sec. 205, Art. 16, of the Oode, which provides that “every trustee to whom any estate, real, personal or mixed, shall be conveyed for the benefit of creditors, shall file with the clerk of the Oourt in which the deed or instrument creating the trust may be recorded, a bond in such penalty as the clerk may prescribe,” with sureties to be approved by the clerk; and that no title shall pass to the trustee “until such bond shall be filed and approved,” and “no sale made by any such trustee, without such bond, shall be valid, or pass any title to such property or estate.” The language of the Code is plain, explicit and imperative. Every trustee shall file with the clerk .of the Oourt in which the deed may be recorded, a bond to be approved by said clerk, and until such bond shall have been so filed and approved, no title to the property, says the Oode, shall pass to the trustee. The recording of the deed, and the filing of the bond, and its approval by the clerk of the Oourt in which the deed may be recorded, are all conditions precedent to the vesting of title in the trustee to the property.

So the inquiry comes to this: Does the law provide where a deed of this character, creating a trust for the benefit of creditors, shall be recordedf Now, it ivas argued that inasmuch as sec. 205 makes no such provision, it is a matter resting entirely in the discretion of the trustee, and that he may direct the deed to be recorded, and the bond to be filed, in any county, or in the City of Baltimore, as he may see fit. To such a construction as this, we cannot agree. The Oode does.provide, in express terms, where every deed conveying an interest in real property, and every bill of sale or mortgage affecting personal property, shall be recorded. It provides that every deed conveying real estate “ shall be recorded Avithin six months from its date, ⁴¹¹ in the county or city in which the,land affected hy such deed lies; and where it lies in more than one county, or in the City of Baltimore and a county, it shall he recorded in all the counties and the said city in which such land lies.” Sec. 18, Art. 21, Code.

And it further provides, that every hill of sale or mortgage of personal-property “ shall bé recorded within twenty days from the date thereof, in the county or city where the vendor or donor resides.” Secs. 44 and 45, Art. 21, Code. A deed conveying personal property to a trustee for the benefit of creditors, may not be, in a certain sense, a bill of sale, but at the same time it is a bill of sale with a declaration of trust, and as sec. 205 provides that every such deed shall be recorded, it comes within, and is governed by, the general registration laws of the State. And if so, then a deed conveying real property for the benefit of creditors must be recorded in the county or counties, or in the City of Baltimore, in which the land lies, and if it conveys personal property, it must be recorded in the county or city in which the grantor resides. The design of the registration laws is to afford a convenient means of giving notice to all parties of the