Opinion ID: 1690969
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: just title

Text: The Louisiana Civil Code defines just title as a legal and transferable title of ownership in the possessor. LSA-C.C. Art. 3483. A title which by its nature would have been sufficient to transfer the ownership of the property, provided it had been derived from the real owners is required. LSA-C.C. Art. 3485. Early cases held that a nonwarranty sale of the vendor's right, title and interest in his property disclosed a defect in the title, thus putting the purchaser in bad faith, as well as defeating the just title requirement. E. g., Eastman v. Beiller, 3 Rob. 220 (1842); Reeves v. Towles, supra. The present jurisprudence, however, is that a quitclaim deed alone is insufficient to place the purchaser on inquiry and make him a bad faith purchaser. Smith v. Southern Kraft Corporation, 202 La. 1019, 13 So.2d 335 (1943); Perkins v. Louisiana Land & Exploration Co., 171 La. 913, 132 So. 499 (1930); Perkins v. Wisner, 171 La. 898, 132 So. 493 (1929); Land Development Co. v. Schulz, 169 La. 1, 124 So. 125 (1929); Read v. Hewitt, 120 La. 288, 45 So. 143 (1907). In Schulz, supra, we stated: A stipulation in an act of sale that the seller does not warrant the title might be regarded as an indication that the seller lacked faith in his title, but it is not an indication that the buyer lacked faith in his title. When other factors tend to show that the purchaser had knowledge of defects in the title, a quitclaim deed can, of course, be considered with other relevant evidence to resolve the issue of the purchaser's good faith. Board of Com'rs of Pt. of N. Orl. v. Delacroix Corp., supra; Board of Com'rs, Lafourche Basin Levee Dist. v. Elmer, La.App., 268 So.2d 274, cert. denied, 263 La. 613, 268 So.2d 675 (1972). I conclude that plaintiff has failed to carry his burden of proving S. D. Hunter's bad faith. LSA-C.C. Art. 3481; Harrill v. Pitts, 194 La. 123, 193 So. 562 (1940); Dupuy v. Joly, supra. A deed is translative of ownership only if it describes with sufficient clarity the immovable sought to be acquired so that it may be identified. The Louisiana Civil Code requires that the title be valid in point of form and that it be certain. LSA-C.C. Art. 3486(1)(2). Defendant secured titles, heretofore reproduced in Footnotes No. 1 and 2, upon which he was justified in believing that he was the owner of the properties now contested. The property in each is adequately described to allow its identification. The conveyances are such that the purchaser could reasonably believe that he had been conveyed a translative title to certain property. The deeds to the Powell and George tracts were notarial acts of sale, complete and proper on their faces, and would have been sufficient to transfer the ownership of the property therein described had the titles been derived from the real owners. LSA-C.C. Arts. 3484, 3485. The instruments were valid in point of form, in that they contained a conveyance clause, the description of the property sold, and the consideration and acknowledgment of receipt. Each was signed by the parties to the sale, the witnesses, and the notary. The instruments were certain so as to fix exactly the origin or basis of possession; and they were proved by production of the instruments, the originals of which were registered in the proper conveyance records. LSA-C.C. Art. 3486. In my opinion, these deeds were just titles, sufficient to support defendants' plea of prescription.