§ 328. Certain acts not affected. Nothing contained in this article repeals or affects any act providing for recording and indexing instruments affecting real property in the city of New York, according to city blocks or other limited areas. Derivation: Real Property Law, § 275. § 329. Actions to have certain instruments canceled of record. An owner of real property or of any undivided part thereof or interest therein, may maintain an action to have any recorded instrument in writing relating to the same, other than those required by law to be recorded, declared void or invalid, or to have the same canceled of record as to said real property, or his undivided part thereof or interest therein. Derivation: Real Property Law, § 276. § 330. Officers guilty of malfeasance liable for damages. An officer authorized to take the acknowledgment or proof of a conveyance or other instrument, or to certify such proof or acknowledgment, or to record the same, who is guilty of malfeasance or fraudulent practice in the execution of any duty prescribed by law in relation thereto, is liable in damages to the person injured. Derivation: Real Property Law, § 277. § 331. Laws and decrees of foreign countries appointing agents and attorneys and recording of the same. A copy of a law of a foreign country or of a decree of the executive power of such a country, appointing an agent or attorney with power to execute and deliver in the name or on behalf of such foreign country, any instrument in writing granting, assigning, surrendering or in any manner affecting any estate or interest of such government in real property within this state, or assigning or discharging any lien or claim of such government upon real property within this state, or of a law or decree revoking such an appointment, if in English, or a translation into English of any such law or decree, if the original thereof be in a language other than English, when certified and recorded as hereinafter provided, shall be presumptive evidence of the authority of such agent or attorney. Certification of such copy or translation shall be made under the great seal of such foreign country and shall be to the effect that the same is a true copy or translation of such law or decree. Such copy or translation of such law or decree, when so certified, may be recorded in the office of the clerk or register of any county of this state, and such copy or translation when so certified and recorded, or a certified copy of the record thereof, shall be received as evidence in any court of this state. The authority conferred under any instrument so recorded shall not be deemed revoked as to property situated in any county except by the recording in such county of a copy or translation of a law or decree to that effect, duly certified in the manner hereinbefore provided. Nothing in this section shall in any way affect the right or power of a foreign country to acquire, hold or convey real property in this state, or be construed to confer any such right or power. Derivation: Real Property Law, § 278, as added by L. 1908, ch. 35, § 1. § 332. The record of certain conveyances validated. The record made prior to Januay first, nineteen hundred and sixteen, in the county clerk's or register's office of any county in this state of any deed or mortgage or of any assignment or satisfaction piece of a mortgage otherwise authorized to be recorded therein when the acknowledgment or proof was taken in another county, notwithstanding the failure to append thereto a certificate as to the authority of the notary public, or other officer, who took the acknowledgment or proof, to take the same, shall be in all respects as valid and effectual as though such certificate had been appended to such instrument. Provided only that the notary public, or other officer, was duly authorized at the time of taking the proof or acknowledgment to take the same in the county where the instrument is recorded or in the county where the same was taken, but this section shall not affect any action or proceeding pending on January first, nineteen hundred and sixteen. (Amended by L. 1916, ch. 365, in effect May 1, 1916.) Derivation: L. 1904, ch. 235, § 1, as amended by L. 1905, ch. 377, § 1. § 333*. Execution of certificates of payment and discharge of mortgages. 1. Upon the request of the mortgagor or of any other person interested in the mortgaged premises made at any time that payment thereof is entitled to be made and upon presentation of a satisfaction piece certifying that the mortgage has been paid or otherwise satisfied and discharged and consenting that it be discharged of record, and upon tender of payment of the sum of sums due as principal and interest upon the mortgage or upon the debt or obligation secured thereby, together with the fees allowed by law for taking the acknowledgment of a deed, a mortgagee of real property situate in this state, must execute and acknowledge before a proper officer, * Sections 333 and 334, added by L. 1910, were probably not considered by the Legislature of 1911 in numbering section 333. in like manner as to entitle a conveyance to be recorded, such satisfaction piece, and thereupon deliver the same and the mortgage to the person making such tender of payment as aforesaid. 2. Upon the failure or refusal of any such mortgagee to comply with the foregoing provisions of this section any person having an interest in the mortgage or the debt or obligation secured thereby or in the mortgaged premises may apply to the supreme court or a justice thereof, or to the county court or a judge thereof, in or of any county in which the mortgaged premises or any part thereof are situated in whole or in part, upon a petition, for an order to show cause why an order should not be made by such court canceling and discharging the mortgage of record, and directing the register or clerk of any county in whose office the same may have been recorded to mark the same upon his records as canceled and discharged, and further ordering and directing that the debt or other obligation secured by the mortgage be canceled, upon condition that the sums tendered pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this section to be paid to the officer specified by law to hold court funds and moneys deposited in court in the county wherein the mortgaged premises are situated in whole or in part. Said petition must be verified in like manner as a verified pleading in an action in the supreme court and it must set forth the grounds of the application. 3. In any case where an actual tender, as provided in subdivision one of this section cannot with due diligence be made within this state, any person having an interest in the mortgage or the debt or obligation secured thereby, or in the mortgaged premises, may apply to the supreme court or a justice thereof or to the county court or a judge thereof, in or of any county in which the mortgaged premises or any part thereof are situated in whole or in part, upon petition setting forth the grounds of the application and verified as aforesaid, for an order to show cause why an order should not be made by said court canceling and discharging the mortgage of record, and directing the register or clerk of any county in whose office the same may have been recorded to mark the same upon his records as canceled and discharged and further ordering and directing that the debt or other obligation secured by the mortgage be canceled, upon condition that the principal sum of the mortgage or any unpaid balance thereof, with interest up to the date when said order shall be entered and the aforesaid fees al lowed by law, be paid to the officer specified by law to hold court funds and moneys deposited in court in the county wherein the mortgaged premises are situated in whole or in part. 4. Eight days' notice of the application for either of the orders provided for in subdivisions two and three of this section shall be given to the then mortgagee of record and also, if the petition show that there is a mortgage not of record, to such mortgagee. Such notice shall be given in such manner as the court or the judge or justice thereof to whom the petition is presented may direct, and said court or judge or justice may require such longer notice to be given as may seem proper. If sufficient cause be shown the court or judge or justice thereof may issue such order to show cause returnable in less than eight days. 5. Upon the return day of such order to show cause, the court, upon proof of due service thereof and on proof of the identity of the mortgagee and of the person presenting the petition, shall inquire in such manner as it may deem advisable, into the truth of the facts set forth in the petition, and in case it shall appear that said principal sum or any unpaid balance thereof and interest and the said fees allowed by law have been duly tendered but not accepted and said satisfaction piece has been duly presented for execution, or that such tender and presentation could not have been made within this state with due diligence, then the court shall make an order directing the sums so tendered, or in a case where such tender could not have been made as aforesaid; directing the principal sum or any unpaid balance thereof, with interest thereon to the date of entry of said order and the aforesaid fees allowed by law, be paid to the officer specified by law to hold count funds and moneys deposited in court in the county wherein the application herein is made, and directing and ordering that upon such payment the debt or other obligation secured by the mortgage be canceled and further directing the register or clerk of any and every county in whose office said mortgage shall have been re'corded to mark said mortgage canceled and discharged of record upon the production and delivery to such register or clerk of a certified copy of the order and the receipt of such officer, showing that the amount required by said order has been deposited with him, which certified copy of said order and which receipt shall be recorded, filed and indexed by any such register or clerk in the same manner as a certificate of discharge of a mortgage. Said receipt need not be acknowledged to entitle it to be recorded. The. money deposited shall be payable to the mortgagee, his personal representative or assigns, upon an order of the supreme court or county court, directing the payment thereof to him upon such evidence as to his right to receive the same as shall be satisfactory to the court. 6. Wherever any register or clerk shall record any order and receipt as hereinbefore specified, he shall mark the record of said mortgage as follows: "Canceled and discharged by order of the... Court, County of dated ....and filed and thereupon the lien of such mortgage shall be deemed to be discharged and the debt secured thereby shall be deemed to be canceled. Said register or clerk shall be permitted to charge for recording and filing said order and receipt, the same fees to which he is now entitled for recording and filing a certificate of satisfaction of a mortgage. 7. The word "mortgagee" whenever used herein shall be construed to include the mortgagee or any other persons entitled to enforce or satisfy said mortgage and the personal representatives, successors and assigns, of such mortgagee or person, as the case may be. (Added by L. 1911, ch. 574, in effect June 30, 1911.) § 333. When conveyances of real property not to be recorded. After September thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ten, a recording officer shall not record or accept for record any conveyance of real property executed subsequent to said September thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ten, unless the residence of the purchaser and if in a city of over five hundred thousand inhabitants according to the last federal census the street number of the residence of the purchaser shall be stated therein and such residence and street number shall be recorded with the conveyance. After May first, nineteen hundred and fourteen, a recording officer shall not record or accept for record any conveyance of real property executed subsequent to said first day of May, nineteen hundred and fourteen, if in a city of over two hundred thousand inhabitants according to the last federal census, unless the street number of the residence of the purchaser shall be stated therein and such residence and street |