tice, a certificate may be issued to the purchaser, which on presentation to the Auditor General entitles him to a deed. Such deed will convey all the right acquired by the State under the original sale or sales to the State, subject to all taxes duly assessed thereon; and which deed is held to be prima facie evidence of the correctness of all the proceedings to its date, and when duly acknowledged may be recorded and admitted as evidence in courts of justice. [Id., Sec. 5, 6, 7, 8.] It is further provided that purchasers of tax sales may at their option pay to the State Treasurer on the certificate of the Auditor General, the amount that may be due the State on the lands they may severally purchase, that may have been bid in for taxes, by the State, of any year, and acquire all the rights of the State thereto if not redeemed, and to the redemption money, if redeemed, the same as though they, instead of the State, had been the original purchasers. [Id., Sec. 9.] On applying to the Auditor General for a deed upon a Treasurer's certificate, the purchaser is required to pay an office charge of twenty-five cents for the first, and six cents for each subsequent description contained in each deed, which money the Auditor General is required to pay into the Treasury of the State. XV. LIMITATION OF REAL ACTIONS IN MICHIGAN.* Statutes of limitations, although sometimes mischievous in their effects, have been enacted in every State in the Union. They are usually termed statutes of repose. The stipulated years which bar a recovery, admonish all claimants of land to diligence, that they may recover that which is justly theirs, before invasions into the ranks of mortality have destroyed the witnesses. On the other hand, their lapse assures occupants of land that their title has become settled, and that all cause for anxiety in that behalf is effectually removed. *The limitation upon actions upon all debts, contracts, or liability not under seal, except judgments and decrees in Courts of Record, for arrears of rent, assumpsit, replevin and trover, is six years; upon actions for trespass on land, for false imprisonment, slander and libels, two years; against Sheriffs for misconduct or neglect, four years; upon any statute for penalties or forfeitures, one year; and upon all other personal actions, twenty years. [R. S. of Michigan, 577.] By an act passed in 1842, it was provided "that all suits in ejectment hereafter instituted to recover any lands or tenements by any person claiming title under, through or by virthe of any deed or conveyance, executed or hereafter to be executed by any Treasurer of any of the counties of this, State, or of the Auditor General, on account of any sale for the non-payment of any taxes hereafter assessed, or hereafter to be assessed, upon such lands and tenements, the said suit in ejectment shall be commenced within six years from the date of such deed or conveyance, and not thereafter." [Sess. Laws, 1842, 133, Sec. 1.] "Whenever any person claiming title under, through, or by virtue of any such deed or conveyance, shall have entered, or shall enter into the actual possession, and occupy the said lands and tenements described in such deed, any suit in ejectment to recover said lands and tenements, instituted by any person claiming title through any other source, shall be commenced within ten years from the time of so taking the actual possession as aforesaid, and not thereafter." [Id., Sec. 2.] Actions for the recovery of dower and all other actions for the recovery of real estate, are required to be brought within twenty years after the accruing of the right. XVI. REAL ESTATE EXEMPTIONS IN MICHIGAN. It has been observed that exemption laws were the result of wise legislation, and answered the double purpose of inducing frugal providence, and of arresting the hand of un feeling creditors. It is neither advantageous to creditors in general, nor to community at large, to permit the fireside of the debtor to be desolated, nor his wife and children to be distressed by executions; for the industrial energies of men are thereby repressed, and their inclination to pay honest dues thereby repelled. Although a liberal exemption of personal property has been made to debtors in Michigan, no real estate nor property of the nature of real estate, except a pew in a church or place of public worship, and burial places in use as repositories of the dead, is protected from levy and sale upon execu *tion.* * By an act passed in 1842, it is provided that the household and kitchen furniture of each householder, not exceeding in value two hundred and fifty dollars; the wearing apparel of every person and family; the library of every individual and family, not exceeding in value one hundred and fifty dollars; the types, presses and other materials of every printing office, not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars in value; the tools, implements and stock necessary to enable every mechanic to carry on his business, not exceeding in value one hundred and fifty dollars; all spinning wheels and weaving looms, with their apparatus, used in families; the pews and slips and seats, in every place of public worship; all public cemeteries; all rights of burial and tombs, while in use as repositories of the dead; one fishing skiff, or boat, seine, nets, or other necessary apparatus, to every person whose principal occupation or business is fishing, not exceeding in value sixty dollars; all arms and military equipage for man and horse; two cows, ten sheep, with the wool and cloth manufactured from the same, and five hogs, to each householder; to each practical farmer one yoke of cattle, with yoke and chains, or one pair of horses and harness, not exceeding in value eighty dollars, one plough, one harrow, one wagon or cart, with all other necessary implements of husbandry, which other implements shall not exceed twenty-five dollars in value; one yoke of cattle, with yoke, cart or wagon and chains for every lumberman; one horse and harness, and one dray to every drayman. To every practicing physician, one horse, bridle, saddle, surgical instruments, and medicines, not exceeding in value one hundred dollars; a sufficient quantity of hay, grain, feed and roots, for sustaining and keeping the live stock hereinbefore severally allowed to each class of persons for six months, and the requisite provisions and food for the comfortable subsistence of every family and housekeeper, for six months; shall be, and the same are exempted from execution or sale, for any debt, damages, fine or amercement whatever, except upon a judgment for the purchase money thereof. (Sess. Laws, 1942, 70.] XVII. THE INTEREST OF MONEY IN MICHIGAN. There exists much diversity of sentiment concerning the interest of money. In some quarters the money lender is regarded as an usurer, and thought undeserving of favor, whilst in others he is esteemed a valuable member of community. Commensurate with the extremity of either sentiment in a State, is the rigor or liberality of the laws concerning interest. In Michigan seven per centum per annum is allowed by law, and collectable on all notes, bills, bonds, demands and accounts where interest is chargeable. It is further provided that in cases of money loaned it shall be lawful for the parties to stipulate in writing for the payment of any interest not exceeding ten per cent. Interest is allowable upon all judgments at law, decrees in chancery, and every verdict, award, assessment, and liquidated demand. [R. S., 160.] XVIII. THE PENALTY AND FORFEITURE OF USURY IN MICHIGAN. The statute provides that "the interest of money shall continue to be at the rate of seven dollars, and no more, upon one hundred dollars for a year, and at the same rate for a greater or less sum, and for a longer or shorter time: provided, that in cases of money loaned, it shall be lawful for the parties to stipulate in writing for the payment of any interest not exceeding ten per cent per annum." [R. S., Sec. 160.] "In actions brought on any usurious contract or assurance, if it appear upon a special plea to that effect, that a greater rate of interest has been directly or indirectly reserved, taken or received, than is allowed by law, the plaintiff can have judgment for the principal and legal interest only." [Act of 1843, Sec. 2.] CHAPTER VI. THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. Source of Title to Lands in the State. Native Proprietors thereof. Exploration of the country, and settlement by the French at La Point and Green Bay. Surrender thereof to Great Britain. The Quebec Act. The Charter of Virginia. Her Claim and Cession to the General Government. Wisconsin a portion of the Northwestern Territory. Was set off with Indiana and subsequently with Illinois. Was attached to Michigan. Erection of the Wisconsin Territory. Act of Congress for the admission of Wisconsin into the Union. Her Constitution. Land Titles generally. The Execution, Attestation, Proof, Acknowledgment Authentication, and Recording of Deeds and Mortgages. The Execution, Attestation, Probate and Recording of Wills of Real Estate. Descent of Real Estate. Land Taxes. Forfeitures and Redemptions. Limitations. Exemptions. Interest of Money, and Usury. I. SOURCE OF TITLE TO LANDS IN THE STATE-NATIVE PROPRIETORS THEREOF, &C. WISCONSIN is the fifth and last State erected from "the territory of the United States, northwest of the Ohio," and is a portion of that vast domain to which France asserted the pre-emption by reason of her exploration and partial settlement thereof, in the seventeenth century. [Ante 129.] The colonization of Canada and Acadia, by the French, was a movement cotemporaneous with the settlement of New-York, by the Dutch. Upon the discovery of the American continent, the nations of Europe became emulous of each other, and alike eager to appropriate to themselves so much of it as they could respectively acquire. Its vast extent opened an ample field to ambitious enterprise, whilst the con |