ART. 24.] CONVEYANCING. 135

by law; and shall endorse thereon the time of the death of the
former clerk, and the date of his own qualification, which en-
dorsement shall be recorded with the deed or other document,
and shall be evidence of the facts it contains.

19*. Any deed or conveyance of, or relating to land, duly ac-
knowledged and required by law to be recorded, except deeds or
conveyances by way of mortgage, may be recorded after the time
herein prescribed, fend when so recorded shall have, as against
the grantor, his heirs or executors, and against all purchasers
with notice of such deed or conveyance, and against all creditors
of such grantor and his heirs, who shall become so after the re-
cording of such deed or conveyance, the same validity and effect
as if recorded within the time hereinbefore prescribed; this
section to apply to all deeds heretofore executed and acknow-
ledged according to law, whether before or after the adoption of
this code.

20. When the grantee, his heir or executor, in any deed or
conveyance shall take possession of the lands purporting to be
conveyed thereby, such deed or conveyance, after being recorded,
(though not recorded within six months,) shall have against all
persons from the time of taking possession as aforesaid the same
effect and validity to all intents and purposes as if the same had
been recorded in proper time, nothing herein, however, to affect
in any manner the preferences and priorities declared and given
in the sixteenth section of this article.

21. But as against all creditors who have become so before the
recording of such deed or conveyance, and without notice of the
existence thereof, such deed or conveyance shall have validity
and effect only as a contract for the conveyance or assurance of
the estate, interest or use purported by such deed or conveyance
to be conveyed or assured.

22*. When any deed has been acknowledged before a Com-
missioner, appointed to take the acknowledgment of deeds
out of the State, whether the Commissioner had qualified or
not by taking the oath and transmitting his signature and the
impression of his seal to the Secretary of State as re.quired by
law, the same shall be as valid as if said Commissioner had been
duly qualified and was duly authorized to take acknowledgments
of deeds; and when any Commissioner to take acknowledgments
of deeds out of this State had duly qualified and was acting as