EAL Estate Record





AND    BUILDERS'    GUIDE.





Vol. XY.





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1875.





No. 368





Published Weekly by

m   REAL  ESTATE  RECORD ASSOCIATION.

C. W. SWEET............President AND TKEAstiEER

PRESTON I. SWEET........Seoretakt.

L. ISRAELS......................Busikess Manager

TERMS.

One year, iu advance...........SIO 00

Communications shonld he addressed to

Nos. ?A5 AND .347 B-IOADWAT





PERSONAL.

Our readers are probably aware that a bill
has been introclucccl into tbe Assembly com¬
prising, in substance, the following sections:

Fir^t.—Forbidding the insertion.of a greater
amount thaii the actual consideration in any
deed for the conveying of real estate in Ibis
city and Brooklyn, and constituting tbe viola
tion of tbis section ^mma facie evidence of
fraud.

Second.—Authorizing the Eegisters of New
Yoi'k and Brooklyn to allow the Real Estate
Record to make brief memoranda of deeds
and mortgages sent in for record.

Third:—Authorizing the Real Estate Rec-
oiiD to charge twenty cents for each recorded
instrument thus published,,and to collect tbe
same from tbe parties offering tbe documents
for record.               _             \^

A few of tbe reasons for ttie' introduction
of this bill are:

Tbe insecnre condition of tbe Register's oflice
in case of lire, whereby documents affecting
property valued at more than $3,000,000,000
may be destroyed any day.

The consequent necessity of having in such
a contingency some suitable evidence of tbe
record and contents of all instruments required
by law to be filed in tbe Register's office.

[It will be remembered that tbe great Chica¬
go fire destroyed all tbe records, tbe loss of
wbicb cause until this day innumerable litiga¬
tions. Had not memoranda,, similar to those
now required to be made by this proposed
Act, been preserved bjj- certain parties, every¬
thing would have been in still more inextrica¬
ble confusion.]

The time bas come tbat the consideration
stated in all deeds should represent tbe actual
value of propertj'' so transferred, and tbat
reckless speculators shall no longer be per¬
mitted to insert fictitious values in their deeds
so as to mislead tbe unwary. The same sec¬
tion Avill also obviate the frequent disputes be¬
tween assessors and tax-payers in regard to
tbe true valuation of property.

The passage of this Act will at once ensure
tbe immediate detection of forgeries of deeds
and other instruments—such as were revealed
last year, and as explained by Mr. Glover's
letter republished below—aud it will, in fact,
bring to light all errors made in any recorded





instrument, whether tbe result of gross care¬
lessness or otherwise.

On and after tbe passage of this Act, prop¬
erty owners can refer to the Real Estate
Record as an official journal, and thereby
ascertain whether tlieir agents or attorneys
have properly discharged the duties required
of them in relation to the final recording of
all documents, in the exact manner and form
as agreed upon by the ]3arties in interest.

The introduction and tbe passage of this
Act can not possibly justify tbe cry of "job¬
bery " raised by some journals, as the total
amount involved can not at tbe utmost reach
a sum more than to defray tbe expense re¬
quired for the proper discharge of the duties
imposed by this Act.

The Real Estate Record stakes its repu¬
tation on the honesty of purpose and fair in¬
tent of this bill, which is more the creature of
leading 'property owners iu New York than
of the proprietors of this journal.





of this act, must within thirty days after tbe
completion of the building, or after the comple¬
tion of the work or the furnishiu^ of the materi¬
als lor whicli the lien is claimed, file with the
County Clerk a claim coutaining the residences
of all the claimants, and a statement of the de¬
mand after deducting allijusi credits and offsets,
the name of the owner or rejiuted owuer, and also
the name of the person by whom he Avas employ¬
ed or to whom he furuished the materials, with a
statement of the terms of his contract, &c., and
the contract, if in writing, must be liled with the
claim. If the claim is filed asrainst two or more
buildings, the person filing such claim must des¬
ignate the amount due to him ou each of such
buildings, otherwise the lien of such claim is
postponed to other liens. No lien binds the prop¬
erty for a longer period thau ninety days after the
claim has been filed, unless au action be com¬
menced within that time. The manner and form
of instituting such actions, are the same substan¬
tially as in actions for the foreclosure of mort-
.gages upon real property. In lieu of a deposit
Avith the clerk, the lien may be discharged by the
filing of a bond in siicli sum as the Court may di¬
rect for the payment of any judgment Avhich may
be rendered against the property. Claims are
also authorized to be filed against the owuer of
auy lot in the city, Avho directs any person to
grade, fill in, or improve the sarae, or the side-
Avalk or street in front of the same.





99 Nassau Street, New York,        !

Sept. 10th, 1874.     i

Editor Beal Estate Record.                                    j

Sir: I thiidc it my duty to say to you  tbat
it Avas by means  of your publications alone
that my clients and myself were put upon in- '
quiry in respect to tbe fraud recently attempt- ;
ed upon the estate of Isaac Young by the re- |
cording of a forged deed.

I have been a subscriber to and a reader of I
the Record from tbe time of its first issue, i
and have found it A^ery useful. And it was in |
consequence of a prompt perusal of j^our num- !
ber of last Saturday that I Avas able to detect \
the crime Avhich had been committed and to j
put tbe officers of justice upon tbe track of i
the criminals.                                                      i

Had it not been for your publication tbe |
deed AA'Ould have been obtained from the Reg- ;
ister's office, my clients' title Avould have been '
clouded by it, and we should have had no i
clue whatever to tbe perpetrators (jf the |
wrong.

I am, your obedient servant,

Charles H. Gloyer.





DECISIONS REPORTED IN LAST VOLUME COURT
OP APPEALS.





MECHANICS' LIEN LAW.





Senator Gross has introduced in the Senate a
most important bill defining and limiting the
liens of coutractors, laborers, and others, upon
real estate in the City of Ncav York, some of
the leading provisions in substance being as
folIoAVS :

Every person performing labor tipon, or fur¬
nishing materials to be used in the construction,
alteration, or repair of buildings or other struc¬
tures, has a lien upon the same for the Avork
done or materials furnished at the instance of
the owner or his agent, which shall be preferred
to any grant, lien, mortgage, or other incum¬
brance attaching subsequent to the time Avhen the
building was commenced, Avork done, or materials
Avere commenced to be furnished; also to any lien,
mortgage, or other incumbrance, of which tho lien-
holder had no notice, and Avhich was unrecorded
at the time the building was commenced, AVork
done, or the materials commenced to be furnished.
The original contractor, Avithin sixty days after
the completion of his contract, and eveiy person
save the original contractor, claiming the benefit





One Brown Avas and had beeu the agent of
Bain, iu the management of the property in
question, ami authorized to negotiate its sale.
In pursuance of his authority to sell, Brown, on
the Kith of April, 1SG7, contracted to sell it to
oue SudloAV, for ^17,000, and signed the contract,
in the uame of Bain, his princix)al. On the follow¬
ing day he advised Bain of this s.ale. On the next
day Brown Avas applied to by one. Frankenheim,
to purchase the property, and opened a negotia¬
tion with liim for a sale of it, at §2.5,000. The
day after he closed a bargain Avith Frankenheim
for the sale of the property at $2(5,000. On the
Monday folloAving, BroAvn entered into a Avritten
contract in his own name, as seller, with Frank¬
enheim as purchaser, for the sale of the property
to him at that price. On the sarae day he re¬
ceived from SudloAV an assignment, purporting to
be iu consideration of S500, Avhereby SudloAV as¬
signed to him the contract Avhieh he held for the
purchase of the property at §17,000. The real
facts aud the price to be paid Avere not communi¬
cated by BroAvn to his principal. In the deeds
Avhich Brown sent to his principal for execution,
aud which he executed and intrusted to Brown
for delivery, the consideration Avas left blank,
but these blauks Avere afterAvard filled up by
Brown Avith sums amounting to §17,000. On the
delivery of these deeds, Frankenheim paid to
Browu, in cash and mortgages, §26,000, for only
§17,000 of Avhich BroAvn accounted to liis princi¬
pal. BroAvn appropriating the difference to his
own use. The Co^irt held that BroAvn, as a faith¬
ful agent, Avas bound to glA'e his principal the
benefit of the advance, and could noj; rightfully
appropriate it to himself. " If such a transaction
as is exhibited in this case could stand for a mo¬
ment, the AA'cll established rules that an agent to
sell cannot himself become a purchaser, and that
one Avho undertakes to act for another, in any
matter, shall uot in the same matter act for him¬
self, would be so easy of evasion that they Avould
cease to be of any practical value. When agents,
and others acting in a fiduciaiy capacity, under¬
stand that these rules Avill be rigidly enforced,
even without proof of actual fraud, the honest
will keep clear of all dealings falling Avithiu their
prohibitiou, and those dishonestly inclined will
conclude that it is useless to exercise their Avits
in contrivances to evade it."





A clause in a chattel mortgage upon a stock
of goods, Avhich purports to extend the lien ol