Vol. II
Reading the Recorded Instrument
MMXXV
Forthcoming
Reading the Recorded Instrument
Deeds, mortgages, satisfactions, and the chain of title.
Faculty of the School of Property Law
← The Academy
A School of the Academy
School of Property Law
Department of Real Property & Conveyancing
Estates in land, recording acts, conveyancing, and title.
§ I
Introduction
Scope of Study
Property Law
Title is a record. The School teaches the chain of title from patent forward: deed, mortgage, lien, satisfaction, and the rules of the recorder's office.
§ II
Philosophy of the School
On how this School reads.
Title is established by a public record kept according to statute. The School treats the recorder's office as a primary archive and the recording acts as the procedural law that governs it. Estates and future interests are read as a vocabulary inherited from the common law and modified by code.
§ III
What Students Will Study
The commitments of the School.
A School commits to a set of questions and to a method of reading them. The following are the working commitments of this department.
- 01
The estates in land and the future interests recognized at common law
- 02
The execution, delivery, and recording of a deed
- 03
The mechanics of title examination and the abstract of title
- 04
The operation of recording acts and the priority of competing interests
- 05
The treatment of easements, covenants, and equitable servitudes
§ IV
Curriculum
The syllabus.
The syllabus is read in sequence. Foundations are not optional; advanced study presumes them.
Foundations
- 01
Fee simple, life estate, and the defeasible estates
- 02
The Rule Against Perpetuities, in the form a state applies it
- 03
Deed types: warranty, special warranty, quitclaim
Intermediate Study
- 01
Delivery, acceptance, and the recording requirements
- 02
Race, notice, and race-notice statutes compared
- 03
Mortgages: creation, recording, and the satisfaction of record
Advanced Study
- 01
Easements appurtenant, in gross, by necessity, and by prescription
- 02
Real covenants and equitable servitudes
- 03
Adverse possession under a recording state's rules
Research & Method
- 01
Examining a chain of title from patent to current record
- 02
Reading a state recording statute against the common-law rule
- 03
Surveying state variations on the Marketable Record Title Act
Reference Materials
- 01
State recording statutes
- 02
Restatement (Third) of Property: Mortgages; Servitudes
Suggested Reading
- 01
Stoebuck & Whitman, The Law of Property
- 02
Powell on Real Property
§ V
Learning Outcomes
The capacities a member should leave with.
Outcomes are stated as capacities, not credentials. They describe what a member should be able to do after sustained reading.
- 01
Trace a chain of title and identify breaks of record
- 02
Apply a state's recording statute to a competing-interests problem
- 03
Distinguish covenants that run from those that bind only the parties
§ VI
Primary Authorities
The texts the School takes seriously.
Authorities are listed by category. Entries marked in preparation are catalogued and reviewed before they enter the working record.
Statutes
2 entries
Authority
State recording acts
Authority
Uniform Marketable Title Act, where adopted
Treatises & Restatements
3 entries
Authority
Restatement (Third) of Property: Mortgages
Authority
Restatement (Third) of Property: Servitudes
Authority
Powell on Real Property
Practice Manuals
1 entry
In Preparation
Forthcoming — catalogue in preparation
§ VII
Featured Publications
From the press of the institution.
The following volumes are drawn from, or supply, the work of this School. Each is reviewed by faculty before publication.
Vol. I
The Duties of a Trustee
MMXXV
In Press
The Duties of a Trustee
A reading of the Uniform Trust Code with annotations from the Restatement (Third) of Trusts.
Faculty of the School of Trust Law & Fiduciary Administration
Monograph No. 1
An Introduction to Legal Research
MMXXV
In Press
An Introduction to Legal Research
The hierarchy of authority and the discipline of citation.
Faculty of the School of Legal Research
The Society Press
All publications →§ VIII
Research in the Library
Where this School reads.
The divisions below carry the primary materials this School draws on. The catalogue opens in stages as the index is reviewed.
Library Division
Statutes
Codified federal and state statutory law, organized by title and chapter.
Library Division
Treatises
Restatements, hornbooks, and reference works of accepted authority.
Library Division
Forms
Court-approved forms, registers, and recorder instruments.
Catalogue · XI Divisions
Enter the Research Library →§ IX
Related Schools
Departments that read alongside this one.
Doctrine does not respect departmental boundaries. The following Schools take up adjacent questions.
Admission
Join the founding cohort of the Property Law department.
All Founding Members are admitted into every School. Tuition and dues are not yet open.
The Real Law Society · Est. MMXXVRead Law. Not Lore.Vol. I — Folio I