Maine's Actions to Try Title: A Historical Perspective

Actions to try title are commonly used by Maine lawyers to adjudicate real estate title conflicts. Though often time consuming, expensive, and complicated, such actions are necessary in any state that seeks to foster a stable, economically efficient real estate market. Actions to try title have been necessary in all states because no protective statutory scheme for land titles has ever succeeded in eliminating all title defects that interfere with quiet possession or salability. Maine is no exception. Until a more effective statutory scheme for securing titles and restoring land's marketability becomes available, actions to try title will remain important to the real estate bar. In Maine, title may be established by any action in which proof of title is a required element. This Comment will analyze Maine's three prevalent statutory actions to try title by tracing their historical development and suggesting how various features of the individual actions should be viewed from a modem perspective.