purposes, it shall be the duty of the commissioners of such new county to cause to be transcribed by copying or by photographing in the proper books all the records or deeds or other instruments relating to real estate and other records, deeds or instruments of every kind required by law to be kept on file or recorded in the respective county offices in such new county, and all contracts heretofore made by any board of county commissioners for the transcribing by copying or by photographing of any such records are hereby made valid and all records transcribed by copying or photographing thereunder or under the provisions of this section shall have the same effect in all respects as original records”
By the express terms of this statute, the transcribed records became and were in legal effect original records of Divide county. Those records were in existence in the office of the register of deeds of Divide county at the time the defendant continued the abstract and made the certificate which is involved here. The witnesses for the defendant admit that a search of the records, or even an examination of the numerical indexes covering such transcribed records, would have disclosed the record of the assignment of mortgage from M. E. Wilson & Co. to Olcott. In these circumstances. it seems clear that there was in fact a deficiency in the abstract; it did not correctly set forth the facts relating to the title to the land as they were disclosed by the records in the office of the register of deeds of Divide county at and prior to the time the certificate was made. Hence the plaintiff is entitled to recover such damages, if any, as he shows to have been directly and proximately caused by the defendant’s breach of duty. § 3090, supra; 1 C. J. 371; 1 R. C. L. p. 100. See, also, §§ 7146 and 7165, C. L. 1913.
The plaintiff testified, and the trial court found, that the plaintiff purchased the premises from Lunde in reliance upon the abstract of title, and that he would not have purchased them if the abstract had shown the assignment of mortgage appearing in the transcribed records. The evidence also shows, and the trial court found, that the title purported to be transferred to the plaintiff by Lunde was later adjudged to be invalid, in the action brought by the executor of the last will and testament of said Sloviken, on account of the assignment by M. E. Wilson & Co. to S. E. Olcott. There is no contention but that the litigation which resulted in such adjudication was bona fide. The validity of the judgment has not been questioned, and the correctness thereof is not in issue here.
The next question is the proper measure of damages. No specific
