Title in Europe

Definition of Title

(1) The right to ownership of property ; ” a vestitive fact ” (Salmond). A title may be : (a) original, where the person entitled does not take from any predecessor, e.g., a patent, copyright, etc. ; and (b) derivative, where the person entitled takes the place of a predecessor, by act of the parties or by operation of law. A title by wrong or tort occurs in the case of wrongful possession, disseisin, etc., and is liable to be defeated by the person rightfully entitled, until the wrongful title has become absolute by lapse of time. See Limitation, Statutes of.
A marketable title to land is one which goes back forty years, which period is prescribed by the Vendor and Purchaser Act, 1874, s. 1, repealed by the Law of Property Act, 1925, section 44 of which substitutes thirty years. The contract of sale may stipulate that the title shall commence at a more recent date. The conveyance or other document with which the title commences is called the root of title, and if the vendor shows that he has the title which he is bound to prove, he is said to show a good title. See Abstract of Title; Covenants for Title
(2) An appellation or address of honour or dignity
(3) A description or heading, e.g., of an action at law. Title-deeds
The documents and instruments conferring or evidencing the title to land. They ” savour of the realty ” and pass with the land under a conveyance, except deeds relating to the part of the estate retained by the vendor. In such case the vendor must acknowledge the buyer’s right to production, and undertake their safe custody. (Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 64.)

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Definition of Title is, temporally, from A Concise Law Dictionary (1927). This page needs to be proofread.

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