Conveyancing and Uses
• At early common law, conveyance y , y could be made only by livery of seisin ceremony
– Law courts wouldn’t recognize transfer of legal title by written instrument – Thus, deed from owner to X passed no legal interest to X
Conveyancing and Uses
• However, equity courts would require grantor to hold title to “use” of intended grantee
– Somewhat analogous to “trust”
• After Statute of Uses, previously recognized equitable rights became legal rights
Uses/Bargain and Sale Deed
• This permitted transfer of land by deed (called “bargain and sale”)
– Deed gave rise to a use in favor of grantee (equitable interest) – Statute of Uses executed that use, making grantee the legal titleholder
Deeds: MUST include
• Identity of the grantor and grantee (statute of frauds recording system) frauds, • Words demonstrating grantor’s intent to convey (identifying interest conveyed and/or reserved) • Legal description of land • Signature of the grantor • Acknowledgment (needed for recording)
Problem 1
• Sample deed on page 139 identifies grantee as “Robert Paul Jones, a Single Man” • Would the deed be valid if it had just said “Robert Paul Jones”?
Deeds MAY Include:
• Marital status of grantor/grantee (why?) • Recital of consideration • Date • Warranties/representations re: quality of grantor’s title (deed covenants) • Any exclusions (called “exceptions”) from deed covenants
A. Yes B. No
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Deeds: Warranties of Title
• Deeds either make warranties of grantor’s title (warranty deeds) or no warranties (quitclaim deeds)
– No difference in terms of actual quality of title passed – Grantor has liability (in contract) if warranties are given and breached
“Present” Deed Covenants
• Present deed covenants include
– Seisin (grantor owns land being conveyed) – Right to convey (grantor has right to convey estate being conveyed) – Against encumbrances (estate is free of encumbrances, other than as excepted)
• Are breached (if at all) at time deed is delivered
“Future” Deed Covenants
• Future deed covenants include
– Quiet enjoyment (grantee’s possession (grantee s will not be interfered with) – Warranty (same) – Further assurances (grantor will execute additional documents as needed to perfect warranted title)
Deeds: Warranties of Title
• Common law: deed only contained any warranties expressly stated in deed • Today: in most states, use of statutory “form” deeds gives rise to traditional deed warranties
• Breached (if at all) at time of actual interference w/grantee’s possession
– RCW § 64.04.030 (warranty deed, p. 136) – RSMo. § 442.420 (deed using words of conveyance “grant, bargain, and sell” creates all common law deed warranties)
Note 2, p. 137
• Compare Washington’s form warranty deed” (pp. 135 36) “warranty deed (pp 135-36) and “bargain and sale deed” (p. 136). What’s the difference?
– “Bargain and sale” deed is only a “special warranty deed” (i.e., it only warrants vs. defects “done or suffered from the grantor”)
Deeds: Types of Deeds
• General warranty deed: grantor warrants against any defect in title, t i t d f t i titl whether or not caused by grantor • Special warranty deed: grantor warrants against any defect in title caused by grantor (but not by a predecessor) • Quitclaim deed: no warranty at all
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Deeds and Land Descriptions
Types of Land Descriptions
• Metes and bounds: boundaries given g by course (direction) and distance, from a defined point of beginning • Government survey: boundaries identified relative to national grid • Lot/block number, as shown on recorded plat
• “SE ¼ of the SE ¼, Section 7, Township 48N, Range 12W (5th P.M.) • What is the size, shape, and location of this parcel?
Problem 4
Locating a Township
• From baseline, go north to 42nd Township (246 252 miles north) (246-252
– Townships: square parcels w/6-mile sides (36 square miles)
• Then go west to 12th Range (66-72 miles west) • Section 7 is 1 square mile in size, near upper left corner of township
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Locating a Township
Section Grid
SE1/4 SE1/4
Metes and Bounds
• Boundaries marked by course (direction given by reference to degrees, minutes, seconds east or west of either true north or true south) and distance
Lot/Block Parcel Description
• In subdivision development, developer will frequently record a plat, dividing land into numbered lots (each described by metes/bounds) • Thereafter, these lots are conveyed by reference to lot number (e.g., “all of Lot 13 as shown on map recorded in Book 135 ...”)
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