[2088] in Humor
HUMOR: Property title
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (abennett@MIT.EDU)
Tue May 27 09:49:46 1997
From: <abennett@MIT.EDU>
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 09:40:08 EDT
Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 20:25:38 -0700
From: Connie Kleinjans <connie@interserve.com>
From: Christopher Hapka <Christopher_Hapka@next.com>
From: Tony Frey <tfrey>
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA (Federal Housing Administration)
loan for a client. He was told that the loan would be granted if he
could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as
collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took
the lawyer three months to track down.
After sending the information to FHA, he received the following reply:
"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application,
we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we
compliment the able manner in which you prepared and presented the
application, we must point out that you have only cleared the Title
to the proposed collateral property back to the year 1803. Before final
approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title
back to it's origin."
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:
"Your letter regarding Titles in Case No. 189156 has been received. I
note that you wish to have Titles extended further than the 194 years
covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated
person in this country, particularly those working in the property
arena, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the U.S. From
France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application.
For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land
prior to U.S. Ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired
it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into possession of
Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named
Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a
new route to India by the then reigning monarch, Isabella. The good
queen, being a pious woman and careful about titles, almost as much
as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope
before she sold her jewels to fund Columbus' expedition. Now the Pope,
as I'm sure you know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And
God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe
it is safe to presume that He also made that part of the world called
Louisiana. I hope you are satisfied. Now, may we have our Title?"
