Oregon Statutes 308.240 – Description of real property; assessment to unknown owners; mistake or omission in owners name; error in description of property
(1) Real property may be described by giving the subdivision according to the United States survey when coincident with the boundaries thereof, or by lots, blocks and addition names, or by giving the boundaries thereof by metes and bounds, or by reference to the book and page of any public record of the county where the description may be found, or in such other manner as to cause the description to be capable of being made certain. Initial letters, abbreviations, figures, fractions and exponents, to designate the township, range, section or part of a section, or the number of any lot or block or part thereof, or any distance, course, bearing or direction, may be employed in any such description of real property.
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 308.240
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- United States: includes territories, outlying possessions and the District of Columbia. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
(2) If the owner of any land is unknown, such land may be assessed to ‘unknown owner,’ or ‘unknown owners.’ If the property is correctly described, no assessment shall be invalidated by a mistake in the name of the owner of the real property assessed or by the omission of the name of the owner or the entry of a name other than that of the true owner. Where the name of the true owner, or the owner of record, of any parcel of real property is given, the assessment shall not be held invalid on account of any error or irregularity in the description if the description would be sufficient in a deed of conveyance from the owner, or is such that, in an action to enforce a contract to convey employing such description, a court with jurisdiction to grant equitable remedies would hold it to be good and sufficient.
(3) Any description of real property which conforms substantially to the requirements of this section shall be a sufficient description and designation in all proceedings of assessment for taxation, levy and collection of taxes, foreclosure and sale for delinquent taxes or assessments, and in any other proceeding related to or connected with the taxation of such property. [Amended by 1957 c.324 § 5; 1979 c.284 § 135; 1993 c.19 § 7]