McCroskey v. Ladd

Citations

• 3 Cal. Unrep. 433
• 28 P. 216
• 1891 Cal. LEXIS 1288

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and Vendee—Deed by Corporation—Marketable Title. A vendor agreed to convey a good and sufficient title or refund any payments made. Defendants refused to accept the deed offered. It appeared that one of the deeds relied upon by the vendor in the chain of title was executed by the president and secretary of an incorporated association under their private seals, and recited that they were authorized at an annual meeting of the association to make deeds. It was held that singe both the recital in the deed from the association and the absence of the corporate seal failed to show any authority from the board of directors to convey, the plaintiff did not offer a good paper title within the meaning of the contract.</p> <p>Vendor and Vendee—Title Based on Statute of Limitations.— A purchaser is not bound to accept a title resting on the statute of limitations, or to take the risk of determining from facts which he might learn dehors the record whether or not the statute of limitations can successfully be pleaded against an adverse claim.1</p> <p>Vendor and Vendee—Defects in Title.—Defendants are not called upon specifically to point out defects in a title where the contract does not require it, and especially where the flaw is in a deed from a dissolved corporation.</p> <p>Vendor and Vendee.—The Flaw in the Deed from the Corporation relates directly to the authority of the officers to act, and is not a defect which can be cured by section 1207 of the Civil Code, which provides that any instrument affecting real property recorded prior to January 30, 1873, shall be deemed to impart notice of its contents to subsequent purchasers and encumbrancers, notwithstanding any defect, omission or informality in the execution of the instrument or in the certificate of acknowledgment or in the absence of any such certificate.</p> <p>Vendor and Vendee—Marketable Title.—A vendor may be able through litigation to establish a perfect title, and yet be unable to enforce a contract