The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-31

Defective real estate titles have
caused so many losses to property hold
eTS In salt Lake City as to awaken a
general inquiry as to what can be done
10 protect against them On the one
nand We must not brighten strangers
oy calling attention to the long record
OF expensive litigation and FREQUENT
losses to investors in real estate
through bad titles. No better way can
be found, however, to meet this ques-
ton than frank acknowledgment of
conditions as they exist here, a COM
parison with similar troubles encoun-
tered in other communities. and the
remedies to be applied at a time so crit
zeal In the history Of Salt Lake realty
as the present.
LOOSE METHODS.
In Salt Lake. as elsewhere. loose
methods prevailed in transfers during
the early days. Abstracts We're prac-
tlcally unknown, and possession was
deemed more effective title than any
records could give. Such shortcomings
are common TO all new communities
In the settling of estates the provisions
or the law were often loosely followed
so that suspicion attaches to all the
probate DEGREES of early days In nu-
merous cases estates have been re-
probated in recent days, curing former
defects.
WHO WAS PONSIBLE?
With the advent Of abstracters into
Salt Lake Ga new-fangled institution
there began slowly to be a demand for
abstracts on the part of purchasers.
Then arose new idea among many
landowners, to-wit: that the possess
sion OF an abstract was conclusive evil
dence In itself OF a good title. But
more enlightened methods prevailed,
and purchasers began to have their abb
stracts examined before buying or max
ing loans. For awhile, and to a con-
siderable extent down to the present
day, the idea prevailed that a certificate
from an examiner or attorney, showing
the condition Of title according to alb
stract, was a safe guide. Then came
number or court decisions completely
upsetting the opinions of these examin-
ers and causing heavy losses to the
holders of property, who held these
certificates of good title" These to-
gether With forgeries, alterations of in
struments and other startling GRIMM
f1cials and lOan-brokers, brought to
light new phase of titles In Salt Lake
realty. Neither abstracters nor attor-
neys were responsible for these defects
they simply had to take the record
as they found 1t. and the law az they
construed 1t. Many losses were sus-
tanned from defects, as Will be here
after shown, which were not indicated
by the records. Abstracts are only
copies of the record. Consequently the
examiners were not at fault, since the
title appeared good on both record and
abstract.
GROSS NEGLIGENCE.
Gradually buyers began to learn that
neither abstracters nor attorneys were
liable, Notwithstanding losses resulted
on titles that had been pronounced by
them as good. In the first place, even
where grossly negligent, they could
only be responsible to the one who
actually hired them, and not to sub
sequent users OF the abstracts and GER
tificates. Furthermore, they could only
be held in any case for a reasonable
degree Of skill and care. Not a single
case is known In Utah where an ex-
amtner of title has had to make good
the loss incurred through his mistakes,
though such losses to property owners
have been many. Here, as In New
York, Boston, Chicago and all good
sized cities, the only safe rule for the
buyer or owner of real estate is to have
his title insured. This protects against
every kind of mistake, uncertainty and
fault of judgment. OF course, those
who insure titles have to take their
losses, but 1t is easier for a company
to do this than for an individual In
all states there exist these defects in
titles which the best, most reliable at
torneys cannot discover, and which
they cannot disclose consequently to
their client. This is peculiarly true In
Utah, as was brought startlingly TO
light in the now celebrated
HILTON-PARK IMBROGLIO.
Scores of the best attorneys had
passed favorably titles affected by this
suit-in fact, not one attorney had ever
suspected there was anything wrong
with them. There is not title in Utah
which is not liable sometime to come
under this same category, owing to the
legal significance given by the supreme
court to the ceremony known in the
Mormon church as sealing" which
invests the woman with the legal rights
of wife in property. AS no public
record is kept Of such "sealings.' and
as a wife in Utah enjoys in fee a one
third interest In her husbands real
estate, the precariouS nature OF titles
unless insured becomes obvious.
A synopsis OF the now noted 0f not
notorious) Hilton case is as follows:
Annie Armitage was a young lady in
the Mormon church: DR.. Park was a
widely known, highly respected. prom
inent and wealthy member of the same
church. Becoming i'll TO the point of
death, Miss Armitage was advised by
her attending physicians that she
could not recover. This was in 1872
In order to gain celestial blessings ac-
cording to the doctrines OF her church,
she asked to be sealed to some good
man, and DR.. Park was chosen. To
the surprise of physicians and friends,
Miss Armitage recovered; in time mar
ried William Hilton, a well-known po-
liceman Of this city, and was the re-
spected mother of eleven children. Mrs
Hilton decided property as the wife of
Hilton. DR.. Park remained a bachelor,
accumulated property and decided it.
On Sept. 80, 1900, he died. bequeathing
his large real estate holdings to the
University Of Utah. None Of the rela-