Title (property)

Title is distinct from possession, a right that often accompanies ownership but is not necessarily sufficient to prove it (for example squatting).

For real property, land registration and recording provide public notice of ownership information.

The extinguishing of ancient, forgotten, or unasserted claims, such as E's in the example above, was the original purpose of statutes of limitations.

Both of these concepts were adopted by the various states upon their creation except, possibly, those based upon European Civil Law, such as Louisiana.

In the case of real estate, the legal instrument used to transfer title from one person or entity to another is via the deed.

[3][4] A quiet title action is a lawsuit to resolve with any cloud on title, such as competing claims or rights to real property, for example, missing heirs, tenants, reverters, remainders and lien holders all competing to get ownership to the house or land.

[5][6] Technical problems with title include misspellings, outstanding debt, unrecorded transactions, and any irregularity that might indicate a break in the chain of ownership.

If a suit is resolved in favor of a plaintiff, this renders uncertain the circumstances that allowed the said development to occur, and may result in the resources invested going to waste.

[8] The case of Paxton v. Virata et al., wherein a forgery of a title led to the establishment of the Viva Homes Estate residential subdivision in Dasmariñas, Cavite, in the Philippines, has turned an entire gated community an informal settlement, making residents who have invested decades into null and void titles worried about demolition.

[14] Currently there are no restrictions on foreign ownership of land in the United States, although sales of real estate by non-resident aliens are subject to certain special taxation rules.

This proclamation by King George III reserved title in land to the Indians, subject to alienation only by the Crown.

It was first recognized in Johnson v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat) 543 (1823).It very early became accepted doctrine in this Court that although fee title to lands occupied by Indians when the colonists arrived became vested in the sovereign – first the discovering European nation and later the original states and the United States – a right of occupancy in the Indian tribes was nevertheless recognized.

Once the United States was organized and the Constitution adopted, these tribal rights to Indian lands became the exclusive province of the federal law.