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Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Edition (1856)

TITLE estates. A title is defined by Lord Coke to be the means whereby the
owner of lands hath the just possession of his property. Co. Lit. 345; 2 Bl.
Com. 195. Vide 1 Ohio Rep. 349. This is the definition of title to lands
only.
2. There are several stages or degrees requisite to form a complete
title to lands and tenements. 1st. The lowest and most imperfect degree of
title is the mere possession, or actual occupation of the estate, without
any apparent right to hold or continue such possession; this happens when
one man disseises another. 2 Bl. Com. 195. 2dly. The next step to a good and
perfect title is the right of possession, which may reside in one man, while
the actual possession is not in himself, but in another. This right of
possession is of two sorts; an apparent right of possession, which may be
defeated by proving a better; and an actual right of possession, which will
stand the test against all opponents. Idem. 196. 3dly. The mere right of
property, the jus proprietatis without either possession or the right of
possession. Id. 197.
3. A title is either good, marketable, doubtful, or bad.
4. A good title is that which entitles a man by right to a property or
estate, and to the lawful possession of the same.
5. A marketable title is one which a court of equity considers to be so
clear that it will enforce its acceptance by a purchaser. The ordinary
acceptation of the term marketable title, would convey but a very imperfect
notion of its legal and technical import.
6. To common apprehension, unfettered by the technical and conventional
distinction of lawyers, all titles being either good or bad, the former
would be considered marketable, the latter non-marketable. But this is not
the way they are regarded in courts of equity, the distinction taken there
being not between a title which is absolutely good or absolutely bad, but
between a title, which the court considers to be so clear that it will
enforce its acceptance by a purchaser, and one which the court will not go
so far as to declare a bad title, but only that it is subject to so much
doubt that a purchaser ought not to be compelled to accept it. 1 Jac. &
Walk. R. 568. In short, whatever may be the private opinion of the court, as
to the goodness of the title yet if there be a reasonable doubt either as to
a matter of law or fact involved in it, a purchaser will not be compelled to
complete his purchase; and such a title, though it may be perfectly secure
and unimpeachable as a holding title is said, in the current language of the
day, to be unmarketable. Atkins on Tit.2.
7. The doctrine of marketable titles is purely equitable and of modern
origin. Id. 26. At law every title not bad is marketable. 6 Taunt. R. 263; 5
Taunt. R. 625; S. C. 1 Marsh., R. 258. See Dalzell v. Crawford, 2 Penn. Law
Journ. 17.
8. A doubtful title is one which the court does not consider to be so
clear that it will enforce its acceptance by a purchaser, nor so defective
as to declare it a bad title, but only subject to so much doubt that a
purchaser ought not to be compelled to accept it. 1 Jac. & Walk. R. 568; 9
Cowen, R. 344; vide Title, Marketable.
9. At common law, doubtful, titles are unknown; there every title must
be either good or bad. Atkins on Tit. 17. See Dalzell v. Crawford, 2 Penn.
Law Journ. 17.
10. A bad title is one which conveys no property to a purchaser of an
estate.
11. Title to real estate is acquired by two methods, namely, by descent
and by purchase. (See these words.)
12. Title to personal property may accrue in three different ways. By
original acquisition. 2. By transfer, by act of law. 3. By transfer, by, act
of the parties.
13.-Sec. 1. Title by original acquisition is acquired, 1st. By
occupancy. This mode of acquiring title has become almost extinct in
civilized governments, and it is permitted to exist only in those few
special cases, in which it may be consistent with the public good. First.
Goods taken by capture in war were, by the common law, adjudged to belong to
the captor, but now goods taken from enemies in time of war, vest primarily
in the sovereign, and they belong to the individual captors only to the
extent and under such regulations, as positive laws may prescribe. Finch's
Law, 28, 178 Bro. tit. Property, pl. 18, 38; 1 Wilson, 211; 2 Kent, Com.
290, 95. Secondly. Another instance of acquisition by occupancy, which still
exists under certain limitations, is that of goods casually lost by the
owner, and unreclaimed, or designedly abandoned by him; and in both these
cases they belong to the fortunate finder. 1 Bl. Com. 296. See Derilict.
14.-2d. Title by original acquisition is acquired by accession. See
Accession.
15.-3d. It is acquired by intellectual labor. It consists of literary
property as the construction of maps and charts, the writing of books and
papers. The benefits arising from such labor are secured to the owner. 1. By
patent rights for inventions. See Patents. 2. By copyrights. See Copyrights.
16.-Sec. 2. The title to personal property is acquired and lost by
transfer, by act of law, in various ways. 1. By forfeiture. 2. By
succession. 3. By marriage. 4. By judgment. 5. By insolvency. 6. By
intestacy.
17.-Sec. 3. Title is also acquired and lost by transfer by the act of
the party. 1. By gift. 2. By contract or sale.
18. In general, possession constitutes the criterion of title of
personal property, because no other means exist by which a knowledge of the
fact to whom it belongs can be attained. A seller of a chattel is not,
therefore, required to show the origin of his title, nor, in general, is a
purchaser, without notice of the claim of the owner, compellable to make
restitution; but, it seems, that a purchaser from a tenant for life of
personal chattels, will not be secure against the claims of those entitled
in remainder. Cowp. 432; 1 Bro. C. C. 274; 2 T. R. 376; 3 Atk. 44; 3 V. & B.
16.
19. To the rule that possession is the criterion of title of property
may be mentioned the case of ships, the title of which can be ascertained by
the register. 15 Ves. 60; 17 Ves. 251; 8 Price, R. 256, 277.
20. To convey a title the seller must himself have a title to the
property which is the subject of the transfer. But to this general rule
there are exceptions. 1. The lawful coin of the United States will pass the
property along with the possession. 2. A negotiable instrument endorsed in
blank is transferable by any person holding it, so as by its delivery to
give a good title "to any person honestly acquiring it." 3 B. & C. 47; 3
Burr. 1516; 5 T. R. 683; 7 Bing. 284; 7 Taunt. 265, 278; 13 East, 509;
Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.


TITLE, persons. Titles are distinctions by which a person is known.
2. The constitution of the United States forbids the tyrant by the
United States, or any state of any title of nobility. (q.v.) Titles are
bestowed by courtesy on certain officers; the president of the United States
sometimes receives the title of excellency; judges and members of congress
that of honorable; and members of the bar and justices of the peace are
called esquires. Cooper's, Justinian, 416'; Brackenridge's Law Miscell.
Index, h.t.
3. Titles are assumed by foreign princes, and, among their subjects
they may exact these marks of honor, but in their intercourse with foreign
nations they are not entitled to them as a matter of right. Wheat. Intern.
Law, pt. 2, c. 3, Sec. 6.


TITLE, literature. The particular division of a subject, as a law, a book,
and the like; for example, Digest, book 1, title 2; for the law relating to
bills of exchange, see Bacon's Abridgment, title Merchant.


TITLE, rights. The name of a newspaper a book, and the like.
2. The owner of a newspaper, having particular title, has a right to
such title, an an injunction will lie to prevent its use un lawfully by
another. 8 Paige, 75. See Pardess. n. 170.


TITLE, pleading, rights. The right of action which the plaintiff has; the
declaration must show the plaintiff's title, and if such title be not shown
in that instrument, the defect cannot be cured by any of the future
pleadings. Bac. Ab. Pleas, &c. B 1.