Sec. 213. Burdens Assumed By Purchaser

The purchaser often specifically assumes certain burdens as mortgages, building restrictions, special assessments yet unpaid, etc.

We have already noticed that the buyer may assume certain burdens when he signs a contract. There may be an existing mortgage which as a part of his consideralion he assumes and agrees to pay or there may be building restrictions upon the record which are assumed by him. In case there is no mortgage, very often one is made as a part of the transaction where all of the purchase price is not paid down at some later period. Thus the deed is given to the buyer, and as a part of the same transaction he gives back a mortgage to secure a part of the purchase price. Such a mortgage is called a "purchase money" mortgage. It may of course be in the form of a trust deed.

Sec. 214. Describing The Property

The property may be described by metes and bounds or by the legal description if there is any such.

It is desirable that we insert at some place in this book something respecting the description of real property, for this is a very important subject. The reader should be impressed with the importance of care in this respect because a great deal of litigation has been occasioned by mis-descriptions of real property. Very often the property will be wrongly described and the mistake will not be noticed for, perhaps, years afterwards, when it becomes very difficult to clear up the matter. It is very easy to insert "Northeast" for "Northwest," for example.

Property may be described in two general ways: first. by its "metes and bounds" and second, by its "legal description." Property was formerly described, and it is even now sometimes necessary to describe it, by bounding it with reference to natural or artificial monuments. This form of description is quite vague and often results in doubt and confusion. Thus in early days a piece of land would be described by starting at a point indicated by a certain tree, describing the tree, or a certain artificial monument, then proceeding in a certain direction to another monument, and so on until the point of beginning. In this description would be found: first, a reference to monuments, natural or artificial; second, the distance traversed in going from monument to monument; third, the direction; and fourth, the quantity of land thus enclosed. These four were known as (1) monuments, natural or artificial, (2) measures, (3) courses, (4) quantity, and are sometimes referred to as the four "calls." Where these were inconsistent they would be regarded as important and controlling in the order named. Sometimes where we have a legal description it is still necessary to refer to the metes and bounds as shown in the following example which is a mixture of the old and the new form of description:

Part of the north 52 acres of the south 1/2 of the Northeast Quarter of Section 30, Township 41 North, Range 14 East, in the City of Evanston, Cook County, Illinois: Beginning at the intersection of the south line of Mulford Avenue and the west side line of Chicago Avenue, in the City of Evanston; thence southeasterly, along said west line of Chicago Avenue, 186 feet to a point; thence west, at right angles, 53.5 feet to the easterly right of way line of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway; thence north along said easterly right of way line of Chicago & Northwestern Railway 200 feet to the south line of Mulford Avenue; thence east along said south line of Mulford Avenue, being on a line parallel to and 66 feet south of the north line of said South 1/2 of the Northeast Quarter, Section 30, 51.5 feet to the place of beginning; containing 0.232 of an acre (10,132.5 square feet).

The reader will find it interesting to draw, from this description, a plat of the land described.

Monuments, either natural or artificial, tend to disappear, especially when they consist in trees, posts, etc., and descriptions by metes and bounds are hard to follow. So it was that in the settlement of the states - West of the Atlantic Coast States - the surveyors worked out and applied a description which makes the identification of real property a matter of great simplicity and perfect accuracy. The United States was divided by the surveyors from time to time, as occasion required, into "meridian lines," running North and South, of which there are twenty-four, the first one of which is the dividing line between Ohio and Indiana. It is also divided by lines running East and West which are known as "base lines." East and West of the meridians run parallel lines known as "ranges," which are six miles apart; and North and South of the base lines run parallel lines known as "township lines," which are also six miles apart. These range lines and township lines of course cross each other, making squares six miles by six miles, and containing therefore, thirty-six square miles, and these squares constitute "townships." Each township thus created is divided into thirty-six "sections," which are therefore one mile square, and these sections are numbered consecutively from one to thirty-six and contain 640 acres. Sections are themselves subdivided into "quarter sections" and so on indefinitely. Any section may contain in it a "subdivision," known by the name of the subdivider or some other name, or the sections may be divided simply into blocks and lots. A description of real estate is thus rendered exact and easy, reading somewhat as follows: "Lot 9 in block 3, in John Brown's subdivision of the East half of the N. W. quarter of section 18, township 39 North, range 14 East of the third principal meridian, in Cook County, Illinois."

The following outline will show the character of this division:

Sec 214 Describing The Property 3001