2021 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
§ 44-1-12. What Constitutes Perfect Title

One person may have the right of possession of certain property and another person may have the right to the property itself. A union of those rights constitutes a perfect title.

(Orig. Code 1863, § 2321; Code 1868, § 2318; Code 1873, § 2349; Code 1882, § 2349; Civil Code 1895, § 3209; Civil Code 1910, § 3797; Code 1933, § 85-103.)

- For article discussing the problems with acquiring good title, see 15 Ga. B.J. 281 (1953). For article advocating the adoption of a marketable title statute in Georgia, see 16 Ga. B.J. 263 (1954).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

"Perfect title" as used in

§ 53-12-4 to be construed with this section. - Phrase "perfect title," as used in former Code 1933, § 108-112 was to be construed in connection with the definition of a "perfect title" given in former Code 1933, § 85-103 (see O.C.G.A. § 44-1-12), i.e., the union of right of property and right of possession. Sanders v. First Nat'l Bank, 189 Ga. 450, 6 S.E.2d 294 (1939).

- One in possession of personal property is presumed to be the owner until the contrary appears, and the burden of rebutting the presumption is upon the party claiming adversely to the one in possession. Hattaway v. Keefe, 191 Ga. App. 315, 381 S.E.2d 569 (1989).

Possession of a negotiable instrument is presumptive evidence of title, but it is not conclusive. Hattaway v. Keefe, 191 Ga. App. 315, 381 S.E.2d 569 (1989).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Property, §§ 22 et seq., 31. 77 Am. Jur. 2d, Vendor and Purchaser, §§ 86, 89, 93, 96.

- 73 C.J.S., Property, §§ 39 et seq., 47, 49 et seq.

- Merger, as to other than intervening lienor, on purchase of paramount mortgage by owner of fee, 46 A.L.R. 322.

Restriction forbidding manufacture or sale of liquor as breach of covenant of title or against encumbrances, or as negativing marketable title, 51 A.L.R. 1460.

Marketable title, 57 A.L.R. 1253; 81 A.L.R.2d 1020.

Marketability of title derived from or through tax proceedings, 115 A.L.R. 140.

Right of holder of bond or other instrument representing or based upon assessment for benefits or improvement, to purchase tax sale, or acquire tax title and hold same in his own right as against owner of land, 123 A.L.R. 398.

Marketability of title as affected by question as to constitutionality of statute upon which vendor's title depends, of statute creating encumbrance or restriction upon the property, 152 A.L.R. 963.

Vendor and purchaser: marketability of title as affected by lack or insufficiency of proof that one of the parties to an instrument or proceeding in the chain of title was not married, 161 A.L.R. 1472; 2 A.L.R.3d 1335.

Marketability of title as affected by fact that grantor or mortgagor in chain of title acquired complete or perfect title after conveyance, 163 A.L.R. 437.

Modern trends as to pleading a particular cause of injury or act of negligence as waiving or barring the right to rely on res ipsa loquitur, 2 A.L.R.3d 1335.

Right to inundate land as rendering title thereto unmarketable, 15 A.L.R.2d 966.

Determination of property rights between local church and parent church body: modern view, 52 A.L.R.3d 324.

Use of property by public as affecting acquisition of title by adverse possession, 56 A.L.R.3d 1182.