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8 Watts 280

Stroble v. Smith

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Decided May 15, 1839

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · decided 1839-05-15

<p>.The provisions of the act of assembly-in relation to the acknowledgment of sheriff’3 deed are directory; and after a deed has been acknowledged and delivered to the purchaser, it is to be presumed that they have been complied with.</p> <p>One who accepts a part of the purchase-money arising out of a sheriff’s sale, is estopped from denying the validity of-the sale,</p>

Decided 1839-05-15

Per Curiam.

¶1In taking for granted that the directions of the statute had not been followed, the judge perhaps conceded too much—at least there is nothing in the evidence brought up with the record to show that any thing was omitted—and the principle, that every thing is presumed to have been rightly done in a court of record, is applicable to such a case. The construction pressed upon us by the defendant below, would make a sheriff’s sale as ineffectual as formerly was a tax sale. But it is not said in any part of the statute, that the omission of a thing requested shall avoid the deed. It may be a reason to reject the acknowledgment; but it would be attended with an alarming degree of insecurity, were the title open to subsequent objection; and, to avoid a mischief so startling, it is necessary to consider the provisions of the section to be directory. Even were the deed inoperative, the defendant would be precluded from alleging it by the principle of Adlum v. Yard, 1 Rawle 171. He was, in effect, a party to the sale, and he confirmed it irrevocably, so far as he was concerned, by taking his share of the proceeds of it out of court.

¶2Judgment affirmed.

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