Question

Smith owns a parcel of real property and sells it to Jones. Jones takes possession of the property but does not record the deed. Smith discovers that Jones has not recorded the deed and resells the property to Brown. Brown records his deed. Under these circumstances the legal owner would be:

Answer 1

The legal owner of the property is likely Brown, given that he recorded his deed and the system generally in place is a race-notice recording statute. Jones failed to record his deed, thus losing priority over Brown who had no notice of Jones's interest.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario presented, the legal owner of the property will depend on the laws of the jurisdiction, particularly the rules regarding recording deeds and notice. Generally, the United States follows a race-notice recording statute, meaning the first person to record the deed after taking possession without notice of any other claims typically has the superior claim. Since Jones did not record his deed and Brown did, Brown would likely be considered the legal owner unless Jones can prove that Brown had notice of his prior unrecorded interest.