cloud on title

Defined in 6 dictionaries — Case Law, Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Stimson (1881)

Definitions from Case Law

From 67 U.S. 430 - Ward v. Chamberlain · 1862Most cited · 48 citing opinions

Equity will not allow a title to real estate, otherwise clear, to be clouded by a claim which cannot be enforced either at law or in equity, and consequently will interfere in behalf of the holder of the legal title to remove a cloud on the same, or an impediment or difficulty in the way of an effectual assertion of his rights in a Court of law.

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922

A proceeding or Instrument, such as a deed or mortgage, or a tax or assessment, judgment or decree, land, but which is in fact invalid, such invalidity being demonstrable by proof of extrinsic facts. Equity has jurisdiction of actions brought to remove clouds on title by cancellation of instruments creating them.

Ballentine's Law Dictionary

James A. Ballentine · 1916

A defect in a chain of title. See 42 Am. St. Rep. 378, note.

Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia

John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914

See Bill to Quiet Possession and Title.

Black's Law Dictionary

Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910

An outstanding claim or incumbrance which, if valid, would affect or impair the title of the owner of a particular estate, and which apparently and on its face has that effect, but which can be shown by extrinsic proof to be invalid or inapplicable to the estate in question. A conveyance, mortgage, judgment, tax-levy, etc., may all, in proper cases, constitute a cloud on title. Pixley v. Huggins, 15 Cal. 133; Schenck v. Wicks, 23 Utah, 576, 65 Pac. 732; Lick v. Ray, 48 Cal. 87; Stoddard v. Prescott, 58 Mich. 542, 25 N. W. 508; Phelps v. Harris, 101 US. 370, 25 In Ed. 855; Fonda v. Sage, 48 N. Y. 181; Rigdon v. Shirk, 127 III. 411, 19 N. E. 698; Bissell v. Kellogg, 60 Barb. (N. Y.) 617; Bank v. Lawler, 46 Conn. 245.

Glossary of Technical Terms, Phrases, and Maxims of the Common Law

Frederic Jesup Stimson · 1881

v. Bill, I. 13.