ENT; COPYRIGHT; TRADE-MARK.
The title to personal property is acquired and lost by transfer by act of law, in various ways : by forfeiture; succession; marriage; judgment; insolvency; intestacy.
Title is acquired and lost by the act of the party, by gift, by contract or sale.
In general, possession constitutes the crite rion of title of personal property (q. v.), be cause no other means exist by which a knowl edge of the fact to whom it belongs can be attained. A seller of a chattel is not, there fore, 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 pur chaser 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.
Ordinarily possession of personal property constitutes the indicia of title thereto. It is, however, at best but prima facie evidence of qwnership; Miller Piano Co. v. Parker, 135 Pa. 208, 26 Atl. 303, 35 Am. St. Rep. 873. One who is not the owner cannot in general pass the title. The chief exception is under the doctrine of market overt, which see. There are exceptions also in cases where one in possession has evidences of title which en able him to commit a fraud on 'a third par. ty, in which cases the law may protect the third party. One in possession of stolen mon ey or negotiable securities may pass title to them.
See SALES; FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES; POSSESSION ; MARK ET OVERT ; MARKETABLE TITLE; FINDER; VESSEL; F. 0. B.
As an exception 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. Ch. 60; 8 Price 256.
In Legislation. That part of an act of the legislature by which it is knows and dis tinguished from other acts; the name of the act. While the title of a statute cannot be used to add to or take from the body thereof, yet in cases of doubt, it may be referred to as a help to the interpretation ; Church of Holy Trinity v. U. S., 143 U. S. 457, 12 Sup. Ct. 511, 36 L. Ed. 226. 'See CONSTRUCTION.
Formerly the title was held to be no part of a bill, though it could be looked to when the statute was ambiguous ; Patterson v. The Eudora, 190 U. S. 169, 23 Sup. Ct. 821, 47 L. Ed. 1002; Cornell v. Coyne, 192 U. S. 418, 24 Sup. Ct. 383, 48 L. Ed. 504; Smith v. Scott, 31 Wis. 431; but it could not enlarge or restrain the provisions of the act itself ; Hadden v. The Collector, 5 Wall. (U. S.) 107, 18 L. Ed. 518. In later years constitutional provisions have required that the title of every legislative act shall correctly indicate the subject-matter of the act ; Cooley, Const. Lim. 172. The object of this was mainly to prevent surprise in legislation.
An act must have but one general object, which is fairly indicated by the title ; a ti tle may be general if it does not cover in congruous legislation ; Endl. Interp. Stat. 59 ; Indiana C. Ry. Co. v. Potts, 7 Ind. 681; Peo Iple v. Briggs, 50 N. Y. 553 ; the use of the words "other purposes" have no effect; Town of Fishkill v. Road Co., 22 Barb. (N. Y.) 642; Board of County Com'rs v. Smelting Co., 3 Colo, App. 223, 32 Pac. 717. It is said that the courts will construe these provisions liberally rather than embarrass legislation by a construction, the strictness of which is unnecessary to the attainment of the bene ficial purposes for which they were adopted ; Cooley, Const. Lim. 178. In construing an act, the court will strike from it all that re lates to the object not indicated by the ti tle, and sustain the rest if it is complete in itself ; id. 181; Ex parte Cowert, 92 Ala. 94, 9 South. 225. These provisions are usually considered mandatory, though they were held to be directory in Washington v. Page, 4 Cal. 388. In Pennsylvania, where an act of as sembly is entitled a supplement to a former act, and the subject thereof is germane to that of the original act, its subject is suffi ciently expressed ; State Line & J. R. Co.'s Appeal, 77 Pa. 429.
Where the constitution requires that the subject of evtry act shall be clearly expressed in its title, if the title of an act Is materially changed after its passage and before enroll ment and approval, the act is invalid ; cago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Smyth, 103 Fed. 376.
The inclusion in a statute of a section for eign to the subject of the act and not men tioned in the title does not invalidate the re mainder of the act, though it may itself be void; Southern Pac. Co. v. Bartine, 170 Fed. 725.
In England the title was formerly held to be no part of a statute. but Was commonly framed by the clerk after the bill had pass ed ; Eby's Appeal, 70 Pa. 314, per Shars wood, J. It is now held to be a part of a statute; [1899] 1 Ch. 3.
Personal Relations. A distinctive appella tion denoting the rank to which the individ ual belongs in society. See RANK ; NOBILITY.
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 Int. Law, 3d Eng. ed. § 159.
In Pleading. 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 can not be cured by any of the future pleadings. Bacon, Abr. Pleas, etc. (B 1).
In Rights. The name of a newspaper, a book, and the like. See TRADE-MARK.