Also known as: priorities · precedence · lien priority
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A ranking of competing claims to real or personal property that determines which interest holder prevails when multiple parties assert rights in the same asset. Recording statutes establish the order by protecting subsequent purchasers who take without notice and record first under notice or race-notice rules. Priority also governs servitudes and liens, with earlier-created interests generally prevailing unless a later interest takes free under a recording act or statute.
The precedence that duties of judicial office hold over a judge's personal and extrajudicial activities.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A ranking of competing claims to real or personal property that determines which interest holder prevails when multiple parties assert rights in the same asset. Recording statutes establish the order by protecting subsequent purchasers who take without notice and record first under notice or race-notice rules. Priority also governs servitudes and liens, with earlier-created interests generally prevailing unless a later interest takes free under a recording act or statute.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Pierce Patterson conveyed Blackacre to Phuong Pham by deed on Monday. On Tuesday Patterson conveyed the same parcel to Preston Pratt, who paid value and had no notice of the prior deed. Pratt recorded first on Wednesday while Pham recorded on Thursday. Under the applicable recording act Pratt holds priority and prevails in a quiet title action.
Philip Powell purchased Greenacre from a seller who had previously conveyed an unrecorded easement to Pearl Porter. Powell observed a worn path across the land and received a tip from a neighbor about Porter's claim before closing. Because Powell had inquiry notice, he is not a bona fide purchaser and Porter's prior interest retains priority.
Pacific Bank holds an access easement across a parcel burdened by a later-created utility easement held by Pinnacle Holdings. The two easements conflict at a narrow corridor. Because the bank easement was created first, it receives priority in use and the utility company must relocate its lines to avoid unreasonable interference.
Race statutes award priority to the first party to record. Notice statutes protect a subsequent purchaser who takes without notice of a prior unrecorded interest. Race-notice statutes require both lack of notice and first recording by the subsequent purchaser.
Supporting sources
A purchaser who has actual knowledge of facts that would prompt a reasonable investigation into a prior claim is charged with inquiry notice. That purchaser cannot qualify as a bona fide purchaser and therefore cannot prevail over the prior unrecorded interest even if the purchaser records first.
Supporting sources
The precedence that duties of judicial office hold over a judge's personal and extrajudicial activities.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Judge Pilar Pena received an invitation to speak at a private investment conference hosted by Prosperity Investments. The conference date conflicted with a previously scheduled criminal trial in her courtroom. Pena declined the invitation because her judicial obligations took precedence over the extrajudicial engagement.
The duties of judicial office take precedence over all personal and extrajudicial activities. A judge must therefore decline or reschedule conflicting engagements to ensure official responsibilities are fulfilled first.
Supporting sources
Premier Manufacturing acquired a mortgage on Whiteacre. A prior unrecorded deed from the same grantor to Prosperity Investments appeared outside the chain of title because an intermediate deed had been recorded in the wrong book. Premier therefore lacked constructive notice and its mortgage receives priority over the earlier deed.
Pinnacle Holdings held a conservation easement created in 2015. In 2018 a bank recorded a mortgage on the servient parcel that later went into foreclosure. Because the easement predated the mortgage, the foreclosure sale does not extinguish the easement and the easement holder retains its priority rights.
When separate servitudes burden the same property and their uses conflict irreconcilably, the earlier-created servitude generally receives priority. A later servitude may nevertheless prevail if it takes free of the earlier one under the applicable recording act.
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A servitude is not extinguished by foreclosure unless the foreclosed lien has priority over the servitude. When the lien was created after the servitude, foreclosure does not destroy the servitude unless a non-recording statute expressly grants the lien superior priority.
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