Samuel Wadsworth and Simeon Eben Baldwin

“ Where, however, a vendor retains documents of title, which he is entitled to do where he sells a part only of the estate to which they relate, it is the practice for him by the conveyance to acknowledge the right of the purchaser to production and delivery of copies of such of them as are not instruments of record like wills or orders of court, and to undertake for their safe custody. ”

“ A purchaser is not entitled to require the vendor to attend personally and execute the conveyance in his presence or that of his solicitor. The practice is for the deed to be previously executed by the vendor and delivered to his solicitor, and for the solicitor to receive the purchase-money on his client’s behalf, since a purchaser is, under the Conveyancing Act 1881, safe in paying the purchase-money to a solicitor producing a deed so executed, when it contains the usual acknowledgment by the vendor of the receipt of the money. ”

“ The appropriate word of conveyance is “assign,” and a conveyance of leaseholds is generally called an assignment. The vendor’s covenants for title implied by his assigning “as beneficial owner” include, in addition to the covenants implied by those words in a conveyance of freehold, a covenant limited in manner above mentioned, that the lease is valid, and that the rent and the provisions of the lease have been paid and observed up to the time of conveyance (Conveyancing Act 1881) . ”

“ The vendor is bound to produce the original documents, except such as are of record or have been lost or destroyed, but, unless otherwise stipulated, the expense of producing those which are not in his possession falls upon the purchaser (Conveyancing Act 1881) . After being thus verified, the abstract is perused by the purchaser’s advisers with the object of seeing whether a title to the property sold is deduced according to the contract, and what evidence, information or objection, in respect of matters appearing or arising upon the abstract, ought to be called for or taken. ”

“ Deeds intended to convey an absolute estate are generally either of the form known as warranty deed or of that known as release deed. The release deed is often used as a primary conveyance without warranty to one who has no prior interest in the land. Uniformity in deeds is rendered particularly desirable from the general prevalence of the system of recording all conveyances at length in a public office. ”

“ United States.—American legislation favours the general policy of registering all documents in the contents of which the public have an interest, and its tendency has been steadily towards more and more full registration both of documents and statistics. From the early days of the colonial era it has been customary to record wills and conveyances of real estate in full in public books, suitably indexed, to which free access was given. ”

“ Upon a sale by auction it is the rule to require a deposit to be paid by way of security to the vendor against default on the part of the purchaser.
The signature of the agreement is followed by the delivery to the purchaser or his solicitor of the abstract of title, which is an epitome of the various instruments and events under and in consequence of which the vendor derives Abstract of title. his title. A purchaser is entitled to an abstract at the vendor’s expense unless otherwise stipulated. ”

“ It is also usual to provide for the payment of interest at a prescribed rate upon the purchase money if the completion shall be delayed beyond the day fixed for any cause other than the vendor’s wilful default, and also that the vendor shall be at liberty to rescind the contract without paying costs or compensation if the purchaser insists upon any requisition or objection which the vendor is unable or, upon the ground of expense or other reasonable ground, is unwilling to comply with or remove. ”

“ The parties are the persons from whom the property, or some estate or interest in or in relation to it, is to pass to the purchaser, or whose concurrence is rendered necessary by the state of the title in order to give the purchaser the full benefit of his contract and to complete it according to law. It is often necessary that other persons besides the actual vendor should join in the conveyance, e.g. ”

“ The resulting loss to the crown and the great lords of the feudal dues and privileges, coupled with the public disadvantages arising from ownership of land which, in an increasing degree, was merely nominal, brought about the passing in the year 1535 of the famous Statute of Uses, the object of which was to destroy altogether the system of uses and equitable estates. ”

“ Conveyances of real estate are simple in form, and are often prepared by those who have had no professional training for the purpose. Printed blanks, sold at the law-stationers, are commonly employed. ”

“ Daughters’ shares are frequently settled by testators upon them and their issue on the same lines and with the same statutory incidents as above mentioned in the observations upon settlements; and sometimes a will contains in like manner a strict settlement of real estate. ”

“ They are appointed for the purpose of assisting the court in the investigation of the title to any estate, and upon their opinion the court or any judge thereof may act. Any party who objects to the opinion given by any conveyancing counsel may have the point in dispute disposed of by the judge at chambers or in court. Business to be referred to conveyancing counsel is distributed among them in rotation, and their fees are regulated by the taxing officers. ”

“ By virtue of the Settled Land Acts 1882 to 1890, tenants for life and many other limited owners have extensive powers of sale, of leasing, and of doing numerous other acts required in a due course of management. ”