Title Examination Standards
Chapter 1, App.
Chapter 1. Examination Generally
§1.1. Marketable Title Defined.

A marketable title is one free from apparent defects, grave doubts and litigious uncertainty, and consists of both legal and equitable title fairly deducible of record.

Cross Reference: See Standard 30.1.

Authority: Pearce v. Freeman, 122 Okla. 285, 254 P. 719 (1927); Campbell v. Harsh, 31 Okla. 436, 122 P. 127 (1912); Empire Gas & Fuel Co. v. Stern, 15 F.2d 323 (8th Cir. 1926); Sipe v. Greenfield, 116 Okla. 241, 244 P. 424 (1926); McCubbins v. Simpson, 186 Okla. 417, 98 P.2d 49 (1939); Hawkins v. Wright, 204 Okla. 55, 226 P.2d 957 (1951).

Comment: Marketable title is a title free of adverse claims, liens and defects that are apparent from the record. Any objections should be reasonable and not based on speculation. For purposes of this definition, words describing the quality of title such as perfect, merchantable, marketable and good, mean one and the same thing.

Adopted as 11, November 16, 1946, 17 O.B.A.J. 1729 (1946), printed, id. at 1751-1752; became 1 on renumbering in 1948, 19 O.B.A.J. 223 (1948), at which time the Leedy case was added to the cited authority. On November 30, 1960, the last five cases cited were added, 1960 Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Oklahoma Bar Association at 20. Cross reference added, December 2, 1965. Resolution No. 2, 1965 Real Property Committee, 36 O.B.A.J. 2094 (1965), id , at 2182. Approved by Real Property Section and adopted by House of Delegates, 37 O.B.A.J. 437 (1966).

The 1995 Report of the Title Examination Standards Committee recommended amending this standard to better reflect the corpus of the law defining "marketable title." 66 O.B.J. 3256-57 (10/21/95). The Real Property Section approved the Committee's recommendation on November 9, 1995; the House of Delegates adopted the amendment on November 10, 1995, 66 O.B.J. 3751 (1995).