Also known as: foraneous · foranei · foreigner · stranger
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A historical term denoting an alien or foreigner. The label identifies a person outside the local community or lacking connection to a particular title, transaction, or proceeding.
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Francesca Fiore buys land from a grantor whose deed traces back through one branch of a common owner's conveyances. An easement recorded only in a deed to an unrelated buyer from the same common owner never appears in Francesca's chain. Because she is a foraneus to that separate instrument, the recording act does not charge her with notice of the easement.
George Grant purchases from one heir of a common grantor. A prior mortgage recorded solely in a conveyance to another heir's buyer never enters George's chain. As a foraneus to that instrument, he takes free of constructive notice.
Helen Hayes acquires title through a deed omitting one prior conveyance to a stranger. An easement appearing only in the omitted deed is outside her chain. Helen, a foraneus to the stranger's instrument, is not charged with notice.
Ivan Ivanov receives property via a will that traces to only one of two parcels once held by a common owner. A restriction recorded exclusively in the other parcel's chain does not bind him. Ivan is treated as a foraneus to the unrelated deed.
Julia Jensen buys from a seller whose recorded title omits a covenant given to an adjacent owner in a separate transaction. Because Julia is a foraneus to that covenant, the recording statute provides no notice.
Karl Klein examines only deeds in his seller's direct line. An instrument executed by the same former owner to an unrelated party never appears. Karl, a foraneus to the outside deed, acquires without imputed knowledge of its contents.
The word survives mainly in historical usage and in treatises. Modern opinions use the English equivalents foreigner, alien, or stranger when describing a person outside a chain of title or lacking privity.
A purchaser who is a foraneus to an instrument recorded outside the chain through which title is claimed receives no constructive notice from that instrument.
…of business in a residence neighborhood furnishes an excuse for any criminal to go into the neighborhood, where, otherwise, a stranger would be under the ban of suspicion. Besides, open shops invite loiterers and idlers to congregate; and the places of such congregations need police protection. In the second place, the…