Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS^ GUIDE.





YoL. XX.





NEW YOEK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBEE 29, 1877.





No. 498.





Published Weekly by

TERMS.
ONK YEAR, in advance....$10.00.
Communicafcions should be addressed fco

C. W.  SWEET,

Nos. 345 AND 347 Broadway.





C0NVEYANCIN(3^.

As incredible as it may appear, it is neverthe¬
less true, that in nearly every real estate title or
contract there is a possible law-suit. The titles
are such mere abstractions of law so totaUy dis¬
sociated and disconnected from the land, that
every one bristles with more or less intricate and
profound legal questions. The foreclosure of
mortgages, the probate of wiUs, and bankruptcy
proceedings frequently intervene to compUcate
the features ordinarily ai-ising. When we consi¬
der that the common law ofiEngland, oi-iginating
with a pre-Adamite race, and carefuUy hand¬
ed down to Noah, Julius Caesar and WiUiam
the Conqueror, modified and emended as it is in
this State by special statutes evolved from the
superlative wisdom of our legislators, not always
the most inteUigent or highly educated persons
in the community, is the code governing aU ques¬
tions in real estate, we can form some conception
of the difliculties and labors involved in carefully
examining and precisely determining the merits
of a real estate title. Property not infrequently
becomes the subject of special covenants and
agreements between owners, and of the disturbing
effectSi of tax sales, all of which impinge very
sharply upon the chain of the title. In inaking im¬
provements and estabUshing bmlding lines, con¬
crete obstacles frequently originate that cause no
little embarrassment in arriving at a clear title.
In aU these cases questions of the most deUcate
and sensitive nature constantly arise that effect
the essence of title, and unless properly squared
and settled upon the record prejudice or vitiate
its clearness and negotiability. It is too much to
say that there is no absolutely perfect title to real
estate in our city, but this much safely may be
aUeged, that there are comparatively few titles
which skillful and learned coimsel would be wiU¬
ing to certify to as absolutely good and free from
any contingency of litigation. There are sources
of title, such as the corporation of the city of
New York, also some weU known estates and in¬
dividuals, upon whoni age has conferred an inde¬
feasible title which are esteemed preferable to
others. And yet after the lapse of time and
many conveyances, through carelessness and ne¬
glect these titles may become so compUcated and
involved as to require great discrimination arid
care on the part of the examiner in unravelling
them. There are abstracts, known in law offices,
which resemble in their perplexing chain of pro¬
positions Professor Airy's mathematical tracts,
or problems in the Calculus.    A multitude of

titles have been brought, through much legal assi¬
duity and acuinen, tp what is popsidesed a mer¬





chantable state, and no reputable office woiUdrisk
its standing by calUng them into question. Many
titles have been hotly Utigated, have run the
gauntlets of the several courts, and been finaUy
adjudicated in the highest tribunal. A favorite
remedy for formidable defects is an act of the
Legislature, constituting what is called a "Statu¬
tory title." Although binding and vaUd, these are
not generally looked upon with favor. Usually
there is a well-beaten track, a sort of macada-
nUzed road, the result of successive and laboi-ious
examinations running clear through the majority
of our titles, supplying landmarks, bridging
chasms and hiatuses, aud affording dugways,
around difficult and unsurmountable points.

In very rare cases have obstacles proved them¬
selves too formidable for legal skill to measure
and overcome. Considering the comparative
antiquity of many of our titles, we may congrat-
lUate ourselves upon having a large proportion of
merchantable and accepted ones, and an incon¬
siderable number of those that totally fail to pass
muster.

These reflections are intended to suggest the
superlative importance of employing responsible
and careful examiners, and to magnify rather
than disparage their particular labors. In this
department of the business no superficial or care¬
less work can be tolerated or countenanced. An
examination, to be of any value, must be complete
and exhaustive. The absti-act should present every
feature and ramification of the title in minutest
detail, and be accompanied with original or well
authenticated official searches—such an abstract
when met with is a treasure which no intelligent
landowner can afford to dispense with. It is the
virtue of carefulness that is required in a convey¬
ancer, rather than a high order of ability, because
sheer neglect may create obstacles which the high¬
est legal skUl subsequently can scarcely overcome.
The questions arising in this department of law
become important on account of the gi-eat money
value at stake, rather than owing to any excep¬
tional abstruseness or intricacy belonging to them.
We rarely find the great lights of the profession
bending their inteUects to this particular branch.
On the contrary, it is of tener relegated to the sub¬
ordinates and jimiors of the office, as a matter of
ordinary routine. The principles of real estate
law are usuaUy famUiar to the freshest graduate
from the law-school, and form the customary stock
in trade of nearly every one who essays the prac¬
tice of law.

WhUe we would lay particxUar stress upon the
necessity of careful examinations, we would by
no means recognize the propriety of exorbitant
charges for the performance of this service. As
every case in surgery is not a compound fracture,
or in midwifery a placenta presentation, so in the
examiuation of titles the knotty problems occur
so seldom, that the highest skiU is rarely invoked
or exercised. Greater labor and drudgery may
be involved than in any other department of prac¬
tice, and it is probably iu this respect that the
semblance of justification is found for heavy
charges. This feature doubtless prompts many
an aspiring attorney to magnify his office by the
exaggeration of minor defects connected "jyith a





title, such as should be remedied without com¬
ment and cei-tainly without extra charge to his
client, as a part of the usual detail of the work.
Verbal errors frequently occur in the engrossing
of preceding conveyances, mistakes of description,
of names, and particularly omissions or .errors in
the notary's certfficate, and sUght variations in
the  specified  metes  and  bounds  of  property,
on all of which items the youthful practitioner
delights  to  sharpen  his  wits and  display his
skill   and   erudition,   resulting   often   in   the
adoption of a systematic course of annoyance
and  extortion  towards   his  client.      The   lat¬
ter, through ignorance or inexperience, may be
unable to appreciate the effects of these laches,
or to discriminate as to the weight to be attached
to them.   Such a course of procedure is repre¬
hensible, and calciUated to disturb the confidence
of the pubUc in the vaUdity of titles generaUy.
Many a merchant who has essayed the task of
real estate ownership for the first time becomes
overwhelmed on the presentation of his abstract
at the mere sight of its voluminous and incom¬
prehensible contents.   Where such impUcit trust
is reposed in tjhe good faith and abUity of counsel
^visdom and propriety should admonish him to
refrain from presenting to his client any but the
most vital defects that may arise, and then only
such as are irremediable.   In the current exami¬
nations  the amount of labor involved may be
deemed pretty nearly equal, and as a consequence
the range of fees for this service should show but
trifling variations.   It is faithfulness more than
talent that the real estate owner looks for in his
attorney, and for this quality surely no inordi¬
nate fee should be exacted.

In the past the greatest abuses connected with
real estate have originated in the broker's and
lawyer's offices, and particularly in the latter,
where transactions usuaUy reach their final con¬
summation. In many a case the laviryer's fee has
been made to include the unlawful bonus which
was exacted for loans. Apart from unlawfid
practices, even the steady and sober members of
the profession have been Uttle loath to sweU the
magnitude of their fees in keeping with the gen¬
eral inflation, untU they reached the dimensions
of an onerous tax upon property, and a prohibi¬
tive assessment upon transactions in real estate.
We are happy to say, hewever, that these things
are of the past; that within two years notable
changes and reforms have been introduced, fol¬
lowing in the wake of the reduction of the inter¬
est rate on loans. The plethora of money and
the limited demand for it have combined to do
away with usurious rates, and rendered the ex¬
penses of consummating a loan the legitimate
subject of bargain and discussion. The leading
firms of the city have promptly and readUy ac¬
cepted the situation, and reduced their fees to ac¬
ceptable proportions. We have heard of many
offices where the standard charge for examining
a title is one hvmdred dollars, without reference
to the magnitude of the loan or purchase price,
abandoning entirely the percentage system which
was once so offensively practiced. Whether
these fees have settled upon their lowest scale or
not is a question which the future must deter-