Argument for the wife. former is concluded from averring against the latter a differ ent state of things as existing at the same time." There is yet another ground why this decree, as respects the wife, should be reversed. Evidence was introduced by Mrs Foster, for the purpose of showing that, at the time of the signing, sealing, and acknowledgment of the mortgage, there were blanks in it; and this evidence was introduced upon the theory that, there being such blanks at such time in the mortgage, this deed was no deed, at least so far as defendant, Mrs. Foster, was concerned. This evidence tended to contradict, and was introduced for the purpose of contradicting, the certificate of acknowledgment, and showing the same to be false; whereas, on the highest ground of public policy, such certificates are held to be conclusive evidence of the matters they contain, and they can neither be aided nor disproved by parol testimony, except, perhaps, in cases of fraud or imposition. In Jordan v. Jordan,* Tilghman, C. J., recognizing this principle, said: "There would be no certainty to titles if that kind of evidence were permitted. The law directs the magistrate to make his certificate in writing, and he has made it. To that the world is to look, and to nothing else." The case of Jamison v. Jamison,† subsequently decided by the same court, is nearly parallel to the one at bar. It was the case of a mortgage executed by husband and wife, of the separate estate of the wife to secure the debt of the husband; and in which there was an offer to prove, by the testimony of the justice of the peace before whom the acknowledgment was taken, that his certificate thereof was false. The court held that the certificate of the judge or justice to the acknowledgment of a deed by a married woman, is to be judged of solely by what appears on the face of the certificate itself; and that parol evidence of what passed at the time of the acknowledgment is not admissible for the purpose of contradicting the certificate. Mr. Carlisle, contra: Whatever interest the husband had, passed, we concede, by the decree. What we assert is, that * 9 Sergeant & Rawle, 268. † 3 Wharton, 468. Argument for the wife. Mrs. Foster's estate in the land was never conveyed. She never executed any deed in the premises. She sighed, sealed, and acknowledged, but never delivered, a blank form of a deed of mortgage, containing no name of the grantee, or mortgagee, no statement or recital of the sum of money to be secured, or the time of payment; or, in short, of any of the matters indispensable to make the deed operative, except the names of the grantors and the description of the property. It was an instrument which conveyed nothing, because there was no grantee. It was an unfinished mortgage in form; but it was no mortgage at all, because there was no mortgagee and no debt, recited, described, or in any manner indicated. It consists, in natural reason, as well with Mrs. Foster's declaration at the time she signed it, that it was intended to be a security for "a few hundred dollars," as with the complainant's claim for $12,785; and it might as well have turned out a mortgage for a million of dollars. And because it was thus absolutely wanting in certainty, and might be anything, or nothing, when it was signed and acknowledged by Mrs. Foster, it was not, and could not become, her deed in law. To say that Mrs. Foster is estopped from denying that, she executed the mortgage, because she signed, sealed, and execute it, is a petitio principii, simply. The fact that Mrs. Foster was a married woman does make a potential element of the case. Observe the statement of the case! "She was fearful that the speculation which her husband was going into would not come out right: she did not like to mortgage that place;" her paternal property, perhaps, the home of her own childhood. "But he"-her husband-wanted to raise money, and "she did not like to refuse him, and so she consented to sign." The case is an affecting illustration of the extent to which a woman becomes, in marriage, "subdued to the very quality of her lord." Her woman's fears had foreseen what her husband's intelligence. never suspected; but like a woman, lovely and confiding, she yielded everything to him. This court will surely remember the language of Marshall, C. J., in Secton v. Whea Argument for the wife. ton:* "All know and feel the sacredness of the connection between husband and wife. All know that the sweetness of social intercourse, the harmony of society, the happiness of families, depend upon that mutual partiality which they feel, or that delicate forbearance which they manifest towards each other." Does any one doubt, if this magistrate-the great offender in the case-had done the duty which the laws of the State from which he derived his commission put upon him; that is to say, had refused to take any acknowledgment till the blanks in the deed were filled with $12,800, and its contents, in fact and in truth and spirit made known to the lady that however Mrs. Drury might have "so consented," not "liking to refuse him," the magistrate could never have certified that she executed it "freely." This separate examination, if faithfully made-this certificate, itself a certificate of quasi judicial approbation to what she does-if conscientiously given; given, as with the body of our higher magistracy we may hope that it only is given; is the protec tion with which the law hedges the gentle nature of a womanher crowning grace and glory-from the dangers, and perhaps the ruin, which, without the law's protection, it is certain in many cases to bring upon her. The argument which treats her as an independent person, and would approximate her actions to those of our own sex-which would say that all that a man may do without examination, she may do if examined -violates the central germ of truth upon the subject, the law of the inherent moral differences of our natures; the true and fine conception of the case, which gives to characters, thoughts, passions, sentiments, and all things within, their sex. A certificate in blank is an absurdity, as respects a married woman, if we look to the wise reasons of the law. By law, such a woman has no power to convey her estate at all. The law gives it to her on condition that she be examined separately, and consent fully and freely to the exact thing which she does. The certificate must have been in fact, and when made a true certificate; and everything certified * 8 Wheaton, 229; 1 American Leading Cases, 42. Opinion of the court. to have been done by the feme covert must have been exactly and specifically done. It is objected that the parol proof tends to contradict the official certificate of acknowledgment, and cases are cited in support of this objection. But they have no application. Here is no attempt to aid a defective certificate of acknowledgment, as in some of the cases cited. Nor is it an attack, by parol proof, upon a perfect certificate. It is simply proof of what the instrument was which was so acknowledged and certified; that it was not then the instrument which is produced by the complainant. Mr. Justice NELSON delivered the opinion of the court. By the laws of Minnesota, an acknowledgment of the execution of a deed before the proper officers, privately and apart from her husband, by a feme covert, is an essential prerequisite to the conveyance of her real estate or any interest therein. And she is disabled from executing or acknowledging a deed by procuration, as she cannot make a power of attorney. These disabilities exist by statute and the common law for her protection, in consideration of her dependent condition, and to guard her against undue influence and restraint. Now, it is conceded, in this case, that the instrument Mrs. Foster signed and acknowledged was not a deed or mort gage; that, on the contrary, it was a blank paper; and that in order to make it available as a deed or mortgage, it must be taken to have been signed and acknowledged with the design to have the blanks filled by the husband, or some other person, before the delivery. We agree—if she was competent to convey her real estate by signing and acknowledging the deed in blank, and delivering the same to an agent, with an express or implied authority to fill up the blank and perfect the conveyance-that its validity could not well be controverted. Although it was, at one time doubted whether a parol authority was adequate to authorize an alteration or addition to a sealed instrum ent, the better opinion, at this day, is that the power is sufficient, Opinion of the court. But there are two insuperable objections to this view in the present case. First, Mrs. Foster was disabled in law from delegating a person, either in writing or by parol, to fill up the blanks and deliver the mortgage; and, second, there could be no acknowledgment of the deed within the requisitions of the statute until the blanks were filled and the instrument complete. Till then there was no deed to be acknowledged. The act of the feme covert and of the officers were nullities, and the form of acknowledgment annexed as much waste paper as the blank mortgage itself, at the time of signing. It is insisted, however, that Mrs. Foster should be estopped from denying that she had signed and acknowledged the mortgage. The answer to this is, that to permit an estoppel to operate against her would be a virtual repeal of the statute that extends to her this protection, and also a denial of the disability of the common law that forbids the conveyance of her real estate by procuration. It would introduce into the law an entirely new system of conveyances of the real property of feme coverts. Instead of the transaction being a real one in conformity with established law, conveyances, by signing and acknowledging blank sheets of paper, would be the only formalities requisite. The consequences of such a system are apparent, and need not be stated. There is authority for saying, that where a perfect deed has been signed and acknowledged before the proper officer, an inquiry into the examination of the feme covert, embracing the requisites of the statute, as constituting the acknowledgment, with a view to contradict the writing, is inadmissible; that acts of the officer for this purpose are judicial and conclusive. We express no opinion upon the soundness of this doctrine, as it is not material in this case. The case before us is very different. There is no defect in the form of the acknowledgment, or in the private examination. No inquiry is here made into them. The defect is in the deed, which it is not made the duty of this officer to write, fill up, or examine, and for the legal validity of which he is no way responsible. The two instruments are distinct. The |