Acknowledgment or proof may be made before a judge of the court of common p.eas for any county, whether the lands are situate in said county, or elsewhere in the state.

After deeds have been thus acknowledged, or proved and certified, they may be recorded in the office of the clerk of the court of common pleas, of the county in which such lands are situate.

No estate of a femme covert, in any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, lying and being in this state, shall hereafter pass by her deed or conveyance without a previous acknowledgment made by her on a private examination, apart from her husband, before one of the officers aforesaid, that she signed, sealed, and delivered the same as her voluntary act and deed, freely without any fear, threats, or compulsion, of her husband, and a certificate thereof, written on or under the said deed or conveyance, and signed by the officer before whom it was made: and further, that every deed or conveyance so executed and acknowledged by a femme covert, and certified as aforesaid, shall release and bar her right of dower, and be good and effectual to convey the lands, tenements, hereditaments, thereby intended to be conveyed: provided, that this clause shall not be construed to enable any femme covert, under the age of twenty-one years, to convey lands, tenements, hereditaments, or any right of dower, interest, or estate therein.

If the grantor reside in some other of the United States, or territory, or District of Columbia, such acknowledgment or proof may be made before the chief justice of the United States, or an associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, or district judge of the same, or any judge or justice of the supreme or superior court of any state in the Union, or territory thereof, or in the District of Co lumbia, or judge of any district or circuit court, or chancellor, of any of the United States, or before any mayor, or any other chief magistrate of any city in such state, district, or territory, duly certified under the seal of such city, or before a judge of any court of common pleas, of the state, district, or territory, in which such party or witnesses may be; provided, that where the acknowledgment or proof is made before a judge of a court of common pleas, in such state, district, or territory, a certificate under the great seal of the state, or under the seal of the county court in which it is made that he is such officer, shall be deemed sufficient evidence of his authority for that purpose, and be annexed to, and recorded with such deed, acknowledgment, or proof.

When made by a party residing in a foreign state, kingdom, nation, or colony, if made before any court of law, or mayor, or other chief magistrate of any city, borough, or corporation, of the said foreign kingdom, &c., certified by the said court, mayor, or chief magistrate, in the manner such acts are usually authentica ted by them or him, it shall be as valid as if made before a justice of the supreme court of this state.

The above two sections comprehend acknowledgments of deeds or conveyances made by married women residing out of this state in any part of the Union, or in a foreign country.

State of New Jersey,
County of Essex,

Form of Acknowledgment.

Town of Rahway,

SS.

On this first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, before me personally came JOHN DOE and SUSAN his wife, to me known to be the persons described in and who executed the foregoing conveyance; and, having first made known to them the contents thereof, they acknowledged that they executed the same, and the said SUSAN, on a private examination, apart from her husband, acknowledged that she signed, sealed, and delivered the same as her voluntary act and deed, freely, and without any fear, threats, or compulsion of her husband. JOHN JONES, Justice of the Supreme Court.

Where there is no wife, the part referring to her should be omitted. Deeds should be SEALED; a scrawl with the pen has been held valid in place of a seal.

Rights of Married Women.

Ir shall be lawful for any married woman, by herself, and in her name, cr in the name of any third person, with his assent, as her trustee, to cause to be insured, for her sole use, the life of her husband for any definite period, or for the term of his natural life; and in case of her surviving her husband, the sum or net amount of the insurance becoming due and payable by the terms of the insurance shall be payable to her, to and for her own use, free from the claims of the representatives of her husband or his creditors; but such exemption shall not apply where the amount of premium annually paid shall exceed one hundred dollars.

In case of the death of the wife before the decease of the husband, the amount of the insurance may be made payable, after the death, to her children, for their use, and their guardian, if under age.

DOWER.-The widow, whether alien or not, of any person, shall be endowed, for the term of her natural life, of the one full and equal third part of all the lands, tenements, and other real estate, whereof her husband, or any other to his use, was seized of an estate of inheritance at any time during the coverture, to which she shall not have relinquished her right of dower, by deed executed and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law for that purpose.

Rate of Interest.

THE legal rate of interest is six per cent., and contracts for a higher rate are void. Persons taking a higher rate shall forfeit the whole value of the subjectmatter of the contract-one half to the state, one half to the prosecutor. By act of 1852, the legal rate is seven per cent in Jersey City and Hoboken.

Wills.

ALL last wills and testaments of persons dying after March 7, 1850, shall be in writing, and shall be signed, or acknowledged to have been signed, by the testator, and declared to be his or her last will, in the presence of at least two credible witnesses present at the same time, who shall subscribe their names thereto as witnesses in the presence of the testator; and no will or testament of personal estate, made after this act shall take effect, by a person within the age of twenty-one years, shall be good or effectual in law.

Homestead Exemption.

§1. In addition to the property now exempt from sale under execution, there shall be exempt by law from sale or execution for debts hereafter contracted, the lot and buildings thereon occupied as a residence and owned by the debtor, being a householder and having a family, to the value of one thousand dollars; such exemption shall continue after the death of such householder for the benefit of the widow and family, some or one of them continuing to occupy such homestead, until the youngest child shall become twenty-one years of age, and until the death of the widow; and no release or waiver of such exemption shall be valid.

A notice of the design to hold the property as a homestead must be executed and recorded with the clerk of the county where the property is situated, and published once a week for six weeks in a newspaper published in the county, or in the newspaper published nearest the same; but no property shall by virtue of this act be exempt from sale, for non-payment of taxes or assessments, or for any labor done thereon, or materials furnished therefor, or for a debt contracted for the purchase thereof, or prior to the recording of the aforesaid deed of notice.

The act provides for the sale or division of the homestead on execution, when its value exceeds one thousand dollars, by six appraisers.

7. And be it enacted, That in case any lot and buildings have been declared according to the provisions of this act, a homestead, it shall be reserved as such for the use of the family, and shall not be sold, aliened, or encumbered by the owner thereof, nor leased for a longer term than one year; and any such sale, alienation, encumbrance, or leasing, shall be void, unless the same be made with the full consent of the wife or husband of said owner (if he or she have any), by deed duly acknowledged, and unless the consideration paid for the same be its full, fair value, and the same, or one thousand dollars thereof shall be actually invested in the purchase of other lands and buildings, declared to be a homestead in the manner herein provided, and the title of such purchaser shall not be good until such purchase-money is so invested, and also except in cases where such householder has removed out of the state; nor shall any homestead ba rented out or leased for any time without the consent of the wife of the owner. Approved, March 17, 1852.

PENNSYLVANIA.

Constitution adopted 1838.-Square Miles 46,000.--Population in 1850, 2,311,204.

Exemptions.

By a law that took effect July 4th, 1849, it was enacted that, in lieu of the property then exempt by law from levy and sale on execution, issued upon any judgment obtained upon contract and distress for rent, property to the value of three hundred dollars ($300) exclusive of all wearing apparel of the defendant and his family, and all bibles and school-books in use in the family (which shall remain exempt as heretofore), and no more, owned by or in the possession of any debtor, shall be exempt from levy and sale on execution or distress for rent.

Mechanics' Lien.

EVERY building erected within the counties of Allegany, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Centre, Chester, Clearfield, Columbia, Crawford, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Franklin, Huntingdon, Indi ana, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon. Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, Mifflin, Montgomery, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, Somerset, Susquehannah, Tioga, Union, Venango, Warren, Washington, York, and the boroughs of Easton, Lehigh, Bradford, Monroe, Greene, Clinton, Carion, M'Kean, Wayne, Fayette, Potter, Jefferson, and Northampton, shall be subject to a lien for the payment of all debts contracted for work done, or materials furnished for the same; extending also to the ground necessary for the ordinary and usual purposes of the building.

This lien shall be preferred to every other lien attaching subsequent to the commencement of such building.

A statement of the demand must be filed in the office of the prothonotary of the court of common pleas of the county where the building is situate.

Unless such statement be filed, lien shall not continue for more than six months. Lien expires at the end of five years from the day of filing the statement, unless renewed by scire facias.

The furnishers of labor and materials, in many of the counties, have a lien for months after the work is done or the material furnished. This lien may be extended to five years by filing the claim in the proper office, and by proper legal process until satisfieds