§ 16-78. Definitions.

(a) "Marketable record title" means a title of record as indicated in Section 71 of this title, which operates to extinguish such interests and claims, existing prior to the effective date of the root of title, as are stated in Section 73 of this title.

(b) "Records" includes probate and other official public records, as well as records in the county clerk's office.

(c) "Recording," when applied to the official public records of any office or court, includes filing.

(d) "Person dealing with land" includes a purchaser of any estate or interest therein, a mortgagee, a levying or attaching creditor, a land contract vendee, or any other person seeking to acquire an estate or interest therein, or impose a lien thereon.

(e) "Root of title" means that conveyance or other title transaction in the chain of title of a person, purporting to create the interest claimed by such person, upon which he relies as a basis for the marketability of his title, and which was the most recent to be recorded as of a date thirty (30) years prior to the time when marketability is being determined.  The effective date of the "root of title" is the date on which it is recorded.

(f) "Title transaction" means any transaction affecting title to any interest in land, including title by will or descent, title by tax deed, mineral deed, lease or reservation, or by trustee's, referee's, guardian's, executor's, administrator's, master in chancery's, sheriff's or marshal's deed, or decree of any court, as well as warranty deed, quitclaim deed, or mortgage.

Laws 1963, c. 31, § 8; Laws 1970, c. 92, § 4, eff. July 1, 1972.