Harper v Paradise 210 S.E.2d 710

Case citation

Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...

 (1974) is a case heard by the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Facts

Susan Harper conveyed a life estate

Life estate

A life estate is a concept used in common law and statutory law to designate the ownership of land for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms it is an estate in real property that ends at death when there is a "reversion" to the original owner...

 on a piece of property to Maude Harper for life, with the remainder

Remainder (law)

A remainder in property law is a future interest given to a person that is capable of becoming possessory upon the natural end of a prior estate created by the same instrument...

 in fee simple

Fee simple

In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...

 to go to Maude's children. This deed was not recorded

Recorder of deeds

Recorder of deeds is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over that property.-Background:...

, and was lost.

Susan Harper died, and her heirs gave Maude Harper a quitclaim deed

Quitclaim deed

A quitclaim deed is a legal instrument by which the owner of a piece of real property, called the grantor, transfers his interest to a recipient, called the grantee. The owner/grantor terminates his right and claim to the property, thereby allowing claim to transfer to the...

 to the same property. The deed mentioned the earlier lost deed. This quitclaim deed was not for life, it was to Maude Harper straight out; she owned it. This deed was first recorded in 1928.

Maude Harper put the property up as collateral

Collateral (finance)

In lending agreements, collateral is a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan.The collateral serves as protection for a lender against a borrower's default - that is, any borrower failing to pay the principal and interest under the terms of a loan obligation...

 on a loan, which she could not repay, and the property was conveyed by Sheriff's deed

Sheriff's deed

A Sheriff's Deed is a deed issued to the buyer of property that was sold under court order to pay off a debt....

 to Ella Thornton, who then conveyed it to the defendant

Defendant

A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...

s. All these deeds were recorded. There is a Code in Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 that says that all "bona fide

Bona Fide

Bona Fide is a studio album from rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the first studio album in six years and is the only studio album to feature guitarist Ben Granfelt...

purchasers for value" who purchase from an heir of a deceased person are protected against unrecorded conveyances

Conveyancing

In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien....

 to the same extent as if the property had been purchased from the deceased themselves.

Procedural Posture

The trial court granted a directed verdict

Directed verdict

In a jury trial, a directed verdict is an order from the presiding judge to the jury to return a particular verdict. Typically, the judge orders a directed verdict after finding that no reasonable jury could reach a decision to the contrary...

 to Paradise. Harper claims title as remainder men

Remainderman

A remainderman is a person who inherits or is entitled to inherit property upon the termination of the estate of the former owner. Usually this occurs due to the death or termination of the former owner's life estate, but this can also occur due to a specific notation in a trust passing ownership...

 under a deed to a life tenant with the remainder interest to the named children of the life tenant. This court reverses with a direction that judgment be entered in favor of Harper.

Issue

Does a reference to an earlier deed within a deed in the chain of title provide constructive notice

Constructive notice

Constructive notice also known as the Doctrine of Constructive Notice is a legal fiction used in the law of both common law and civil law systems to signify that a person or entity is legally presumed to have knowledge of something, even if they have no actual knowledge of it.-Intellectual...

of that deed?

Rule

A deed which specifically refers to an earlier unrecorded deed puts a subsequent purchaser on notice of the existence of the earlier deed: thus, the purchaser claiming under the later deed is not entitled to priority though the later deed was recorded first.

Rationale

This is a race/notice jurisdiction. In a normal situation, the deed that was recorded first, the 1928 deed, would have had priority. But this deed mentioned the earlier deed. This mention of the earlier deed put that deed within the chain of title. Therefore, all the subsequent purchasers, including the defendants, had constructive notice that the property would go to the heirs of Maude Harper upon her death. Maude should not have conveyed the property to Thornton, because it was a life estate only, and was not hers to convey.