CHAPTER XXVI.

 

OF THE EXECUTIVE EXTRA-JUDICIAL OFFICERS.

 

ARTICLE LI.—OF THE REGISTRAR OF CONVEYANCES—HIS DUTIES, &c.

 

§1249. There shall be a bureau in the department of the In­terior to be called the Bureau of Conveyances; and His Majesty shall appoint, upon the nomination of the Minister of the Interior, some suitable person to superintend said Bureau, under the direc­tion of said minister, who shall be styled the “Registrar of Con­veyances,” and hold his office at the pleasure of the King.

 

§1250. Said Registrar shall take an oath faithfully to dis­charge the duties of his office, and he shall give to the Minister of the Interior, for the benefit of the public, a bond in the penalty of at least one thousand dollars, conditioned to answer to any party aggrieved, upon assignment thereof, for any damages, losses, or injuries sustained by reason of his negligence, carelessness or mis­conduct in office, or by reason of false certificates of search or encumbrance by him at any time made or given, to the detriment of the party prosecuting.

 

§1251. The said Registrar shall be entitled to demand and receive the following fees, viz.:

 

1.  For the registry of any deed, lease, mortgage, or other in­strument required by law to be recorded, or presented for record, fifty cents for one hundred words;

 

2.  For taking any acknowledgement preparatory to registry, one dollar for each party signing;

 

3.  For every copy of any instrument recorded in this office, authenticated by his seal of office, fifty cents for one hundred words;

 

4.  For searching the records, and giving the certificate required by law, twenty-five cents for each year searched;

 

Which fees shall belong, and are hereby appropriated to the said Registrar, as his exclusive perquisites of office.

 

§1252. The said Registrar shall, under the direction of the Minister of the Interior, appoint a deputy, for whose official acts he shall be responsible, and whose appointment he shall cause to be announced in the Government Gazette. It shall be the duty of such deputy to act as Registrar of Conveyances, during the absence of the Registrar, or in case of a vacancy in that office.

 

§1253. The said Registrar may, under the direction of the Minister of the Interior, appoint suitable persons, throughout the Kingdom, as agents for taking and certifying the acknowledgement of instruments, to be recorded in his office.

 

§1254. It shall not be lawful to record any conveyance, or other instrument required by law to be stamped, unless the same shall have been previously impressed with the Royal stamp, as provided in Section 422 (a).

 

§1255. To entitle any conveyance, or other instrument to be I recorded, it shall be acknowledged by the party or parties execut­ing the same, before the Registrar of Conveyances, or his agent, or some judge of a court of record, or notary public of this king­dom, or before some minister, commissioner or consul of the Ha­waiian Islands, or some notary public or judge of a court of record in any foreign country. But if any party to an instrument executed within this Kingdom shall die, or depart from the Kingdom without having acknowledged his deed, or shall refuse to acknowledge it, the deed may be entered of record on proof of its execution by a subscribing witness thereto, before any judge of a court of record of this Kingdom. If all the subscribing wit­nesses to such conveyance or other instrument shall be dead, or out of the Kingdom, the same may be proved before any court of record in this Kingdom, by proving the handwriting of the grantor and any subscribing witness.

 

REEQUIRING THE IDENTIFICATION OF PERSONS OFFERING ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO INSTRUMENTS.

 

Section 1. No acknowledgment of any conveyance or other instrument, whereby any real estate is conveyed or may be affected shall be taken, unless the person offering to make such acknowledg­ment shall be personally known to the officer taking the same to be the person whose name is subscribed to such conveyance or in­strument as a party thereto, or shall be proved to be such by the oath or affirmation of a credible witness known to the officer.

 

Section 2. The certificate of such acknowledgment shall state the fact of acknowledgment and that the person making the same was personally known to the officer granting the certificate to be -the person whose name is subscribed to the instrument as a party thereto, or was proved to be such by the oath or affirmation of a credible witness known to the officer whose name shall be inserted in the certificate.

 

Section 3. Such certificate shall be substantially in the follow­ing form, to wit:

 

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS,           }ss.
ISLAND OF ________                               

     

On this ___ day of ________ A.D________, personally appeared before me A. B., known to me to be the person described in and who executed the foregoing instrument, who acknowledged to me that he executed the same freely and voluntarily and for the uses and pur­poses therein set forth.

 

Section 4. When the person offering the acknowledgment is unknown to the officer taking the acknowledgement, the certificate shall be substantially in the following form, to wit:

 

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS,   }ss.

ISLAND OF________

     

On this ___ day of ________ A.D ________, personally appeared before me A. B., satisfactorily proved to me to be the person described in and who executed the within instrument, by the oath of C. D., a credible witness for that purpose, to me known and by me duly sworn, and he, the said A. B., acknow1edged that lie executed the same freely and voluntarily for the uses and purposes therein set forth.

 

Section 5. No certificate of acknowledgment contrary to the provisions of this Act shall be held valid in any court of this Kingdom, nor shall it be entitled to be recorded in the Registry of Public Conveyances.

 

Any officer authorized to take acknowledgments to instruments who shall knowingly incorporate in the certificate of acknowledg­ment any false or misleading statement as to the facts therein con­tained, shall, on due proof thereof before any police or district mag­istrate, be punished by fine not to exceed one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment at hard labor not to exceed two months, or both. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to do away with the liability for civil damages for such act.

 

Section 6. This Act shall take effect and become a law from and after the date of its passage, but no certificate of acknowledg­ment executed before this Act shall take effect, shall in conse­quence of anything herein contained be deemed invalid.

 

Approved this 29th day of July, A.D. 1872.

      

§1256. It shall not be lawful to enter of record any release of dower in lands or other property, signed by an undivorced wife, without her previous acknowledgment to the Registrar of Conveyances, or one of his agents, or some officer authorized to receive such acknowledgment, apart from her husband, that she had signed such release without compulsion, fear or restraint from her husband.

 

§1257. Every officer who shall take the acknowledgment or proof of any instrument, shall endorse a certificate thereof, signed by himself, on the instrument, and in cases of proof give the names of the witnesses examined before him, their places of residence, and the substance of the evidence by them given.

 

§1258. Every conveyance or other instrument, stamped and acknowledged or proved, and certified in the manner hereinbefore prescribed, by any of the officers before named, may he read in evidence without further proof thereof, and shall be entitled to be recorded.

 

§1259. The record of an instrument duly recorded, or a transcript thereof, duly certified, may also be read in evidence, with the like force and effect as the original instrument. Neither the certificate of acknowledgment, nor the proof of any instru­ment, shall be conclusive, but may be rebutted, and the force and effect thereof may be contested by any party affected thereby. If the party contesting the proof of an instrument shall make it appear that such proof was taken upon the oath of an interested or incompetent witness, neither such instrument nor the record thereof shall be received in evidence until established by other competent proof.

 

§1260. Every instrument entitled by law to be recorded, shall be recorded in the order, and as of the time when the same shall be delivered to the Registrar for that purpose, and shall be con­sidered as recorded from the time of such delivery.

 

§1261. It. shall be the duty of the Registrar of Conveyances to make an entire literal copy of all instruments required to be re­corded in his office, in books suitable for that purpose, which shall be provided by the Minister of the Interior, and at the foot of said copy certify its correspondence with the original, after which he shall certify upon the exterior, or endorse upon said recorded in­strument, the date of its registry, the book in his office in which, and the page of said book at which it was registered.

 

§1262. All Deeds, leases for a term of more than one year, or other conveyances of real estate within this Kingdom, shall be recorded in the office of the Registrar of Conveyances, and every such conveyance not so recorded shall he void as against any sub­sequent purchaser, in good faith and for a valuable consideration, not having actual notice of such conveyance, of the same real estate, or any portion thereof, whose conveyance shall be first duly recorded.

 

§1263. All mortgages of chattel property, indentures of ap­prenticeship, articles of marriage settlement, powers of attorney for the transfer of real estate within this Kingdom, and agree­ments of adoption, shall, in order to their validity, be recorded in the office of the. Registrar of Conveyances, in default of which no such instrument shall be binding to the detriment of third parties, or conclusive upon their rights and interests.

 

§1264. The Registrar of Conveyances shall, when applied to therefor, furnish an attested copy of any instrument or document recorded in his office, and he shall also give certificates of search or incumbrance, or of any fact appearing upon his records, upon being paid the fees hereinbefore specified.

 

§1265. All records of instruments made in the office of the Registrar of Conveyances, anterior to the tenth day of July, A.D. 1850, whether in the book required by law or otherwise, shall be deemed to have been duly recorded.

 

SECTION 13TH, ARTICLE 1ST, OF CHAPTER 2D, PART 5, OF THE

ACT TO ORGANIZE THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

 

Section 18. All conveyances of real and personal property made and executed anterior to the passage of this Act, and all pledges of property, real or personal, executed anterior to the passage of this Act, the conditions of which have not been fulfilled when this Act is promulgated, shall be recorded in the office of the Registrar of Conveyances at the instance and expense of the grantee or mortgagee, within ninety days after the promulgation thereof; and all such conveyances and pledges not so registered, shall be void in law as against subsequent grantees and mortgagees of the same property, not having notice of the existence of such previous conveyances or pledges.

 

 

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