Opinion of the Court. the testimony to establish its execution was the proof of the handwriting of subscribing witnesses, it was necessary to prove the identity of the grantor in the deed: that is to say, that the John J. Dunbar by whom the deed purported to be executed was the same John J. Dunbar named in the patent for the lands in controversy. In any case slight proof of identity is sufficient. Nelson v. Whittall, 1 B. & Ald. 19; Warren v. Anderson, 8 Scott, 384; 1 Selwyn's N. P. 538 n. (7), 18th ed. But the proof of identity in this case was ample. In tracing titles identity of names is prima facie evidence of identity of persons. Brown v. Metz, 33 Ill. 339; Cates v. Loftus, 3 A. K. Marsh, 202; Gitt v. Watson, 18 Mo. 274; Balber v. Donaldson, 2 Grant (Penn.), 459; Bogue v. Bigelow, 29 Vt. 179; Chamblee v. Tarbox, 27 Texas, 139. See also Sewell v. Evans, 4 Adol. & E. 626; Roden v. Ryde, ib. 629. There was no evidence that more than one John J. Dunbar lived at the date of the deed in Matthias County Virginia, which the deed recites was the residence of the grantor, nor in the District of Columbia, where the deed was executed, and there was no other proof to rebut the prima facie presumption raised by the identity of names in the patent and deed. But, besides the identity of names there was other evidence showing the identity of persons. The patent and the deed bore date the same day, and the patent was recited in hæc verba in the deed. These circumstances tend strongly to show that the party by whom the deed was executed must have had possession of the patent. The deed recites that the patent was delivered to the grantor, John J. Dunbar, and the affidavit of John J. Dunbar, sworn to and subscribed on January 7th, 1818, before Smallwood, a justice of the peace, and one of the subscribing witnesses to the deed, whose signature to the jurat is shown to be genuine, to the effect that he was the same John J. Dunbar to whom the patent was issued, was indorsed upon the deed. After a lapse of sixty-one years, this evidence is not only admissible to prove the identity of the grantee in the patent with the grantor in the deed, but uncontradicted is conclusive. We are, therefore, of opinion that the deed from John J. Opinion of the Court. Dunbar to William Prout, which formed a link in the title of the plaintiffs, was sufficiently proven and was properly admitted in evidence by the circuit court. The other muniments of title put in evidence by the plaintiffs were admitted without objection, and established prima facie their title to the lands in controversy. But it will be remembered that the defendant below had also shown a prima facie title to the lands in question; that both parties traced title through the patent of the United States issued to Dunbar and through deeds apparently executed by him on the same day, to wit, January 6th, 1818, one to William Prout, under which the plaintiffs claimed, and the other to John Frank, under which the defendant claimed. The question, therefore, still remains, which is the superior title? According to the jurisprudence of Illinois, this must be settled by the fact, which of the two deeds apparently executed by Dunbar was first recorded. Section 15 of the act approved January 31st, 1827, Purple's Real Estate Statutes, 480, provided as follows: "All grants, bargains, sales, &c., of or concerning any lands, whether executed within or without the State, shall be recorded in the recorder's office in the county where such lands are lying. and being, within twelve months after the execution of such writings, and every such writing that shall, at any time after the publication hereof, remain more than twelve months after the making of such writing, and shall not be proved and recorded as aforesaid, shall be adjudged fraudulent and void against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration, unless such deed, conveyance, or other writing be recorded as aforesaid before the proving and recording of the deed, mortgage, or other writing under which any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee shall claim." This act remains substantially in force. Hurd's Revised Statutes, page 271, sec. 30. By an act approved July 21st, 1837, Purple's Real Estate Statutes, 496, 497, it was provided that the recording of any whether executed within or without the State, deed Opinion of the Court. by the recorder of the county in which the lands intended to be effected are situated, shall be deemed and taken to be notice to subsequent purchasers and creditors from the date of such recording, whether said writing shall have been acknowledged or proven in conformity with the laws of the State or not, and that the provisions of the act shall apply as well to writings heretofore as those hereafter admitted to record. This law is still in force. See Hurd's Revised Statutes, 1880, page 271, sec. 31. It was held by the Supreme Court of Illinois, in Reed v. Kemp, 16 Ill. 445, that an instrument affecting or relating to real estate may be recorded though not proven or acknowledged, and the record will operate as constructive notice to subsequent purchasers and creditors. See also Choteau v. Jones, 11 Ill. 300; Martin v. Dryden, 1 Gil. 213. And in Cabeen v. Breckenridge, 48 Ill. 91, the court declared that, "as a general rule, when the same person has executed two deeds for the same land, the first deed recorded will hold the title." The evidence shows that the deed of Dunbar to Frank, under which the defendant claimed title, was not recorded until June 18th, 1870. The plaintiffs contended that the deed from Dunbar to Prout, under which they claimed, was recorded on June 23d, 1818, and it was shown that the deed from Prout to Duncan was recorded October 29th, 1838, and the deed of Gillett to Corcoran, June 5th, 1848, and the deed of Corcoran to Morris, March 12th, 1868. If, therefore, the contention of the plaintiffs that the deed of Dunbar to Prout was recorded June 23d, 1818, is sustained by competent proof, their title must prevail. But it is insisted for defendant that there was no competent proof of the registration of the deed of Dunbar to Prout. The proof relied on was the testimony of Dent, that the certified copy from the records of the county of Madison was a copy of the original deed; the certificate of the recorder that the certified copy was a copy of a deed which appeared of record in his office; and the certified copy of a memorandum at the foot of a record of the deed as follows, "Recorded June 23d, 1818." VOL. CVIII-4 Opinion of the Court. Conceding that the certified copy of the deed from the records of Madison County would not be proof of the contents of the original deed, because such original deed had not been so acknowledged and certified as to make a certified copy competent evidence, yet the fact that such a record of the deed existed was, by the law of Illinois, as we have seen, notice to subsequent purchasers. A certified copy from the record was therefore proof that such a deed and memorandum was of record in the proper office. For it is a settled rule of evidence that every document of a public nature which there would be an inconvenience in removing, and which the party has a right to inspect, may be proved by a duly authenticated copy. Saxton v. Nimms, 14 Mass. 320; Thayer v. Stearns, 1 Pick. 109; Dunning v. Roome, 6 Wend. 651; Dudley v. Grayson, 6 Monroe, 259; Bishop v. Cone, 3 N. H. 513; 1 Greenleaf on Evidence, § 484. The memorandum at the foot of the record was the usual record evidence, competent and conclusive, that the deed had been recorded at the date mentioned. It was evidence of the date of the registration of the deed, because it was the duty of the recorder, by the nature of his office and without special statutory direction, to note when the record was made. 1 Greenleaf on Evidence, sec. 483. But we think it may be fairly inferred from section 10 of the act of September 17th, 1807, which was in force when it is claimed that the deed from Dunbar to Prout was recorded, that it was the duty of the recorder to note the time when deeds left with him for record were recorded. He was specifically required to note the date when the deed was received, and was liable to a penalty of three hundred dollars for recording any deed in writing" before another first brought into his office to be recorded." Adam & Durham's Real Estate Statutes, vol. 1, page 63. The making of a memorandum of the date of the record was, therefore, an official act, which naturally fell within the line of his statutory duties, and a certified copy of it would be competent evidence to prove the memorandum and the date. of the registration of the deed. We are of opinion, therefore, that the fact that the deed of Syllabus. Dunbar to Prout was recorded on June 23d, 1818, was proved by competent evidence, and that it therefore follows that the title of the plaintiffs was better and superior to that of defendants, who claimed under a deed for the same lands not recorded until June 18th, 1870, more than fifty years after its date, and long after innocent purchasers had bought the lands and paid a valuable consideration for them. The plaintiff in error contends that the act of 1837, supra, cannot apply in this case, because at its date the lands in question were no longer within the limits of Madison County, but in the county of Putnam. But the act expressly declares that it shall apply to writings theretofore as well as those thereafter admitted to record. The deed of Dunbar to Prout was recorded under the act of 1807, supra, which required it to be recorded in the county where the lands conveyed were situated. It was so recorded. No law of Illinois since passed has required any other registration of deeds by the parties thereto, or has changed the effect of the original registration. See act of February 27th, 1841; Adams & Durham's Real Estate Statutes, vol. 1, pp. 93, 94. The view we have taken of the case renders it unnecessary to notice certain questions of local practice argued by counsel. We find no error in the record of the circuit court. CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COM- APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS. Conflict of Laws-Constitutional Law-Contract-Interest-Mortgage-Redemption Statutes of Illinois. The statutes of Illinois relating to the redemption of mortgaged property from sales under decree of the federal courts, examined. While the local law, giving the right of redemption first to the mortgagor, then to judgment creditors, is a rule of property obligatory upon the federal |