Recording

The classic fact pattern is O conveys to A, A fails to record, then O conveys the same land to B — your job is to decide whether A or B owns. First classify the statute from its wording: “good faith” or “without notice” signals a notice act; “first recorded” with no notice language signals a race act; both phrases together mean race-notice. Then ask whether B is a bona-fide purchaser for value — a donee, heir, or devisee who paid nothing is no purchaser, so B loses to the prior grantee. Watch the shelter rule: a taker from a BFP inherits that protection even with notice.

The trap is treating recording as proof of ownership; it merely fixes priority, which is why a wild deed (recorded outside the chain of title) gives no constructive notice. Don’t confuse this with mortgage priority (foreclosure of a senior lien wipes out junior liens) or with the encumbrance covenant, which governs warranty-deed liability, not who prevails between buyers.