PD wrote:
So they did not put it in the definition eh? Please retread [sic] it...
Actually, for once you're correct. The terms legal and equitable title are indeed found in some of the material. I was looking at the wrong post, and I stand corrected on that.
That's the first mistake I've made in Quatloos in many months, so you should really get excited.
As others here have pointed out, "title" (in the narrow legal sense of
ownership) is not something physical. It's not a piece of paper. You cannot hold in your hand.
In this narrow sense, a "contract" is not a piece of paper.
In this narrow legal sense, "property" is not the land, or the car, or the boat, etc. Indeed, in this narrow sense, the actual physical object is known not as the "property" but instead by the Latin legal term, the
res, which means the "thing" -- that is, the
thing itself.
However, all these terms are ALSO used by lawyers (and other people) in a
different way: to mean the piece of paper called the title certificate (in the case of "title"), or the document that you signed when you bought a product (in the case of "contract") or the land or car or boat (in the case of "property").
The term "legal title" (in the ownership sense, not in the "piece of paper" sense) roughly means the sum of the attributes of ownership relating to possession and control. The term "equitable title" (or "beneficial title") roughly means the sum of the attributes of ownership relating to use and benefit. In a trust arrangement, for example, a person (called a trustee) holds "legal title" (the power to control the property) for the benefit of another person (called a beneficiary) who holds "equitable title" which is generally the right to receive a benefit from the property. In a trust, there is something called a
title split. That is, in some way there is a separation between at least some of the control over the property (legal title) and some of the right to receive the benefits from the property (the equitable title). Generally, to have a valid trust, no one person can hold both 100% of the legal title and 100% of the equitable title at the same time.
All this usually has nothing to do with "title" to (in the sense of ownership of) a motor vehicle. In most cases, the person owning the vehicle owns it "outright" -- meaning that he holds 100% of legal title and 100% of equitable title. An exception would be where the vehicle is held in trust.
Again, this is not rocket science. Most people -- including most non-lawyers -- are able to handle the fact that both legal terms and other terms in English have
more than one meaning. And most people are able to keep the different meanings straight without the help that you apparently feel you need.
Example: Pull out a good collegiate English dictionary and look up the word "run". Your silly posts here are the equivalent of trying to convince us that someone is being "vague" if he says he is going to "run" a computer program, because for you the term "run" means using one's legs to propel oneself down the street.
How old are you, anyway? Are you in grade school? Do you act this way in grade school? Are you the one playing dumb with the teacher - pretending not to understand the material? Do you act this way with your mother? Does she put up with this?
"My greatest fear is that the audience will beat me to the punch line." -- David Mamet