bona fide purchaser
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 233 U.S. 613 - Logan v. Davis · 1914Most cited · 235 citing opinions
under adjustment act
It will be observed that this protection is not granted to simply bona fide purchasers (using that term in the technical sense), but to those who have one of the elements declared to be essential to a bona fide purchaser; to wit, good faith. It matters not what constructive notice may be chargeable to such a purchaser if, in actual ignorance of any defect in the railroad company's title, and in reliance upon the action of the government in the apparent transfer of title by certification or patent, he has made an honest purchase of the lands.
How the Supreme Court has restated “bona fide purchaser”
Each Supreme Court definition of “bona fide purchaser,” 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 “bona fide purchaser”
Court decisions citing the 5 opinions that defined “bona fide purchaser” — 438 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 5 definitions, chronological · 1857–1915
- ORIGINAL
a bona fide purchaser, for a valuable consideration, without notice, has enhanced the value of the property by permanent expenditures, and has been subsequently evicted by the true owner, on account of some latent infirmity in the title. It is well settled, if the true owner is obliged to come into a court of equity to obtain relief against the purchaser, the court will first require reasonable compensation for such expenditures to be made, upon the principle that he who seeks equity must first do equity.
Such a party holds adversely to all the world. He may disclaim the title under which he entered, and set up any other title and any other defence alike against his vendor and against others.
fraud, of course, gives rise only to a personal claim. It goes to the motives, not to the formal constituents, of a legal transfer ... and the rule is familiar that it can affect a title only when the owner takes with notice or without having given value.
priority of legal title
The position of a bona fide purchaser is not to be assumed from the allegations of the complaint, which do no more than state the several transfers, without any allegation showing affirmatively that the defendants are bona fide purchasers for value, in which event only could this defense be successfully made by demurrer to the complaint. Bona fide purchase is an affirmative defense.
affirmative defense