ART. 21] CONVEYANCES IN GENERAL. 489

unless the deed conveying the same shall be executed, acknowledged and
recorded as herein provided; and all such deeds shall be acknowledged
before some one of the officers named in sections two, three, four and
five of this article, and any unmarried woman between the age of
eighteen years and twenty-one years, shall have power to make a deed
of trust of her property, real, personal or mixed; provided, the same
shall be approved and sanctioned by a court having equity jurisdic-
tion in the city or county where the grantor resides, upon the petition
of said grantor, and such proof as the said court in its discretion may
require.

Acknowledgment.

Where the deed is acknowledged before a Justice of the peace out of the
county In which the land lies, and the Justice fails to attach the certificate
as required by section three, the deed is not acknowledged as required by
this section. This section applied to such a deed. Sltler v. McComas, 66
Md. 139. See also, Gitttngs v. Hall. 1 H. & J. 14; Johns v. Reardon, 3 Md.
Ch. 58.

Where the same deed creates an estate in the grantee with a reservation
in favor of the grantor, acknowledgment by the latter is all that is required.
George's Creek Co. v. Detmold, 1 Md. 240.

Certificates of lots in a cemetery issued by a religious corporation, convey
no title to land, not being acknowledged as provided in this section. Catholic
Cathedral v. Manning, 72 Md. 132. (Cf. article 23, section 147.)

Record.

A deed not recorded as provided in section 13, does not affect existing cred-
itors or creditors becoming such between the date of the deed and the date
of its record. As to such creditors without notice, the deed is valid and
effective only as a contract for the conveyance. Creditors held not to be
charged with notice, by possession or otherwise. Hearn v. Purnell, 110 Md.
466. And see Hoffmann v. Gosuell, 75 Md. 590: Sixth Ward Bldg. Assn. v.
Willson, 41 Md. 514.

The recording of a deed or lease, is the final and complete act which passes
title; until this is accomplished, everything else is unavailing. Until the
deed is recorded, the legal title remains in the grantor. This section applied
to a deed of the leasehold interest in property relative to the liability of a
grantor for ground rent and taxes accruing after the date of the deed, but
before its record. Nickel v. Brown, 75 Md. 186. Cf Baltimore v Peat, 93
Md. 696.

Under the act of 1776. ch. 14, the enrollment of deeds is a substitute for,
and equivalent to, the act of livery. Rogers v. Sisters of Charty, 97 Md. 553;
Handy v. McKim, 64 Md. 569; Key v. Davis. 1 Md. 39: Matthews v. Ward, 10
G. & J. 448.

Leases.

Although equity in a proper case will treat a defective deed or lease as a
valid contract, and otherwise protect the parties to it, no legal estate of the
character mentioned in this section will be conveyed by deed or lease neither
acknowledged nor recorded. This section applied to a lease. Relation of
landlord and tenant Implied. Falck v. Barlow, 110 Md. 161. See also, Dyson
v. Simmons, 48 Md. 214: Howard v. Carpenter, 11 Md. 275; Johns v. Reardon,
3 Md. Ch. 60.

Where a lease for ten years Is not acknowledged and recorded, the cove-
nant to pay rent is void, and the lessor's remedy is in assumpsit. Anderson
v. Critcher, 11 G. & J. 455.

Application of this section.

This section applies to a right of way. Baltimore, etc., R. R. Co. v. Algire,
63 Md. 320; Hays v. Richardson, 1 G. & J. 379. And see Stinson v. Ellicott
City, etc.. Co., 100 Md. 115. Cf. Addison v. Hack, 2 Gill, 228.