LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1825.

859

and being in this state, the deed or deeds, conveyance or con-
veyances, which shall be first recorded according to law, shall
have preference in all courts of law and equity in this State,
according to the times of the recording of such deeds or
conveyances respectively ; Provided, that the deed or deeds,
conveyance or conveyances, so to be preferred, be made bona
fide, and upon good and valuable consideration, and further
that no deed or conveyance shall defeat or prejudice the title
or interest of any bona fide purchaser of any lands, tenements,
or hereditaments or chattels, unless the same shall have been
duly recorded.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That every deed conveying real
estate or chattels, which by any other instrument or writing,
shall appear to have been intended only as a security in the
nature of a mortgage, though it be an absolute conveyance in
terms, shall be considered as a mortgage, and that the person
or persons for whose benefit such deed shall be made, shall not
have any benefit or advantage from the recording thereof,
unless every instrument and writing, operating as a defeasance
of the same, or explanatory of its being designed to have the
effect only of a mortgage, or conditional deed be also there-
with recorded.

Deed given
as mort-
gage.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That no sale of any lands, tene-
ments or hereditaments or chattels made, or to be made, in
virtue of this act, by any mortgagee or others thereunto autho-
rized by special power for that purpose, from any person
entitled to the equity of redemption therein, shall be defeated to
the prejudice of any bona fide purchaser thereof, in favour or
for the benefit of any person claiming such equity of redemp-

Sale of
lands, &c.
by mort-
gage not to
be defeated.

tion : Provided, that nothing herein contained, shall be con-
strued to prejudice any other mortgagee of the same premises,
or any part thereof, whose title accrued prior to such sale, or
any creditor to whom the mortgaged premises, or any part
thereof, were before bound by any judgment at law or decree
in equity ; And provided also, that nothing herein contained
shall operate to secure any such purchaser under any power
executed heretofore, or hereafter to be executed for the pur-
poses of such sale, unless the party executing the same, be of
the age of at least twenty-five years.

Provisos.

SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That all such powers to mort-
gagees, made, or to be made, authorizing sales, shall be exe-
cuted, acknowledged and recorded as deeds and conveyances
usually are before the conveyances for the sale be executed, and
every such sale shall be at public auction or vendue, and public
notice shall be given thereof by advertisements, one copy
thereof to be inserted and continued at least once a week for
six successive months previous to the sale, in one of the news-

Sale regu=
lated— ad-
vertisement
required.