Also known as: strangers · stranger to the deed · stranger to the contract
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A person who is not a party to a transaction or who lacks privity with the parties involved.
A person outside the chain of title to land.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A person who is not a party to a transaction or who lacks privity with the parties involved.
After a car accident left Ivan in a persistent vegetative state, his parents sought to discontinue life support. State officials opposed the request and insisted on continued treatment. The court observed that the state officials stood as strangers to Ivan and therefore could not substitute their judgment for the choice his family believed he would have made.
A person outside the chain of title to land.
Samantha Stone purchased Blackacre from a grantor who had received title through a recorded deed. An earlier deed from the common grantor conveyed an easement to a neighbor who had no other connection to the parcel. The neighbor's deed was recorded but appeared only in a separate chain. Samantha had no actual knowledge of the easement. When the neighbor later asserted the easement against Samantha, the court held that the recording did not charge her with constructive notice because the neighbor qualified as a stranger to her chain of title.
Summit Bank purchased a used car from a dealer. The dealer had bought the car from Buick, which had negligently installed a defective wheel. When the wheel collapsed and injured a passenger, the court extended Buick's liability beyond its immediate buyer to the remote purchaser who stood as a stranger to the original sale contract.
Police stopped a car containing four people and found drugs hidden under the seat. The driver and passengers included both known associates and one individual who had no prior connection to the others. The court considered whether the stranger to the group could be presumed to know about the drugs.
A developer sought to build a commercial store in a residential district. City officials argued that allowing the store would invite strangers into the neighborhood who would otherwise be viewed with suspicion, thereby increasing the need for police protection.
A federal statute barred corporations from using general treasury funds for electioneering communications. The Court noted that treating a corporation as a stranger to the political process would suppress speech that the First Amendment protects regardless of the speaker's corporate form.
A person qualifies as a stranger when the person voluntarily pays another's debt without any agreement or assignment of subrogation rights and without the payor's own property being affected by the creditor's rights.
A state stands as a stranger to an incompetent patient and therefore may not substitute its own judgment for the choice the patient would have made or that a close family member would select on the patient's behalf.
No. A deed from a common grantor to a stranger to the purchaser's chain of title lies outside the chain and does not impart constructive notice under the recording acts.
…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…