recording act
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 28 U.S. 280 - James Jackson v. Elias Lamphire · 1830Most cited · 91 citing opinions
do not impair contracts
It is within the undoubted power of state legislatures to pass recording acts, by which the elder grantee shall be postponed to a younger, if the prior deed is not recorded within the limited time; and the power is the same whether the deed is dated before or after the passage of the recording act. Though the effect of such a law is to render the prior deed fraudulent and void against a subsequent purchaser, it is not a law impairing the obligation of contracts; such too is the power to pass acts of limitations, and their effect.
How the Supreme Court has restated “recording act”
Each Supreme Court definition of “recording act,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “recording act”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “recording act” — 186 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 4 definitions, chronological · 1819–1927
- ORIGINAL
The first question is, was this a legal recording, under the laws of Ohio, so as to preserve the priority which dates gave to Astor? The office of Jefferson county was the legal office, at the time of executing the deed: did it continue to be so, at the time of recording it? This can only be decided by considering the object of the law. It was to give notice to subsequent purchasers — to place at their command the means of investigation, to which, if they did not resort, they had only to blame their own indolence or folly.
purpose; notice to subsequent purchasers
The object of the recording act is to give notice to subsequent purchasers.
purpose
The Recording Act was passed to furnish information as to title and to protect bona fide purchasers
vessels