Also known as: actual notice · constructive notice · actual/constructive notice · notice · imputed notice
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Knowledge of a fact acquired directly by a party or imputed to the party by operation of law. Actual notice arises from personal awareness or explicit communication. Constructive notice is imposed when the fact is recorded in a manner that a diligent searcher would discover or when circumstances would prompt further inquiry.
Anchor Bank holds a recorded mortgage on land owned by Albert Allen. When Anchor Bank initiates foreclosure, a junior lienholder who searched the records before lending learns of the senior mortgage through the filing. The junior lienholder's interest is extinguished at sale because the recording provided constructive notice of Anchor Bank's claim.
Aurora Biotech moves to dismiss Anita Ali's complaint under Rule 12. The court denies the motion on day ten. Aurora Biotech receives actual notice of the order through personal delivery and must serve its answer within fourteen days. The party's direct awareness fixes the deadline and prevents any claim that the time never began to run.
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Andrew Avery supplies the court with National Weather Service reports showing hail on his farm. The reports are recorded official publications that a diligent searcher would discover. The court imputes constructive notice of the hail because the fact appears in a manner reasonably available to any party.
Anthony Arnold enters a not-guilty plea but fails to file written notice of an insanity defense within ten days. At trial he attempts to introduce evidence of mental disease. The court excludes the evidence because the statute imputes constructive notice of the filing requirement, barring the defense absent timely actual notice to the prosecution.
Alexandra Armstrong leases commercial space to Arcadia Retail under a month-to-month agreement. Arcadia Retail decides to vacate but gives no advance notice. The lease continues because a periodic tenancy endures until one party provides the required notice. The landlord is charged with constructive notice only after proper service.
Alan Ackerman is served with a state-court complaint. He files a notice of removal in federal court that includes a short statement of grounds and copies of all process and pleadings. The notice satisfies the statute because Alan had actual notice of the served documents and the filing supplies constructive notice to the court of all prior proceedings.
Actual notice occurs when a purchaser personally learns of an unrecorded interest through direct communication or inspection. Constructive notice is imputed when the interest is properly recorded so that a diligent title search would reveal it. Recording acts protect subsequent purchasers who lack either form of notice and who record first.
No. A later purchaser prevails only if the purchaser took without actual or constructive notice of the prior interest and complied with the recording act's requirements. If the purchaser had actual knowledge or the prior deed was recorded in the chain of title, the prior interest retains priority.
A party is charged with inquiry notice when circumstances would lead a reasonable person to investigate further. If the investigation would have revealed the adverse claim, the party is treated as having constructive notice of that claim even without actual knowledge.
…An act of Congress repugnant to the Constitution cannot become a law. The courts of the United States are bound to take notice of the Constitution. A commission is not necessary to the appointment of an officer by the Executive. A commission is only evidence of an appointment. Delivery is not necessary to the…