St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-31
DEFECTIVE LAND rtTIEs.


We are not inclined to take it for
granted that it is useless to ask the
attention of this legislature to our
system Of land titles, to point out
it's absurdities and the litigation and
losses that flow from it, ana ash. 1t to
consider system that removes all
defects, prevents litigation, cheap
ems transfers, increases land values
and prevents losses. Two of it's
predecessors have given it scant at
tention, but no action except to
side-track it. We know the OBJ
stacles in the way, the inertia of
custom and the active resistance of
attorneys and others making gain
out of the present methods, but we
believe that there are enough mem
bers not SWayed by personal interest
to provide the remedy if they unite.
What is involved in the purchase
of a piece of land by any prudent
man? What precautions must be
take to make sure that in getting the
deed he gets the title? What assur-
care, he may not be ousted some
day by a superior title? The first
question is, has the occupant or
claimant of title the right to cor
vey? Is the fee of the land in him?
What is essential to answer these
prudential questions? Either the
records must be searched or an alb
Stract of the title procured. This is
simply a history of the transfers af-
fecting the tract. If it shows an I'M
broken chain OF deeds from the Unit
ed States, as the first source, down
to the occupant, each deed executed
in compliance with the law, the lay
men would pronounce the chain per-
feet.
But the lawyer would not. Among
the deeds may be one executed by a
man, no wife joining him, the deed
containing no recital that he is a
single man. The fact must be estab-
lished that he was unmarried. If
| not, some widow may come in for
her dover. She may anyway, as
afndavits Of singleness will not bar
her way. Or, as has frequently hap
| pened, a deed is successfully at
tackled as q forgery. If a. link in the
chain is a decree of a probate court,
a labyrinth Of investigation opens
up, with the probability that in some
of them g. fatal break is found. If a
link is a decree of a court of record,
| Sc ~
interest was not brought before it,
and not having had his day in
court, is not bound by the decree.
Even the statutes of limitation have
their loopholes through which an
assailant Of the title may come to
take away the land. They do not
run against those who cannot sue,
such as minors, detectives and
others. Then again, every convey
ance has to run the gauntlet of ig-
norance or of liability to error. The
seller may misdescribe his land; the
Scrivener may make a mistake in
transferring it to the deed or, last,
but not least in fallibility, is the
register who records the deed, who
may make the record show the trans
fer of an entirely different tract.
Then when the purchaser has
made his bargain and procured his
abstract of title, for which he or
the seller has paid, and the former
has paid an attorney good round
sum for delving into the bowels of
the abstract for kinks in the chain
and pronounced it good, there is no
absolute assurance of quiet enjoy
ment of the possession of the land.
Attorneys are not all infallible, and
not all of them skilled in the uuips
and turns of the law of real estate,
and it is not an infrequent occur
renee that the opinion of the attor-
ney that the title is good is proven
to be as bad as the title he passed.