What is the difference between obtaining title to a car and registering a car? In the United States, a person can obtain a government-issued &quot;certificate of title&quot; for a car. There is also a &quot;registration&quot; process, and there are registration forms. What is the difference between a certificate of title, and registration forms?
The short answer: The title is, more or less, a record of who &quot;owns&quot; the vehicle. It's you if you own it free and clear, the dealer if you're leasing it, and it depends what state you're in if you're financing the car. The registration is a permit to operate the vehicle. In all three situations above, you would hold the registration (you could also not register your vehicle if you're not using it, for instance by filing for a certificate of non-operation in California).
I couldn't find any decisions on CanLII where someone was punished for a fictitious or out-of-province front plate in Alberta, however the Traffic Safety Act states the following: 1(1)(s) “licence plate” means a licence plate that is issued under this Act and includes an object that is recognized under this Act as a licence plate; (9) For the purposes of sections 1(1)(rr) and 11.1 and Part 8, licence plate includes a licence plate issued in another jurisdiction. 53(1) Except as otherwise permitted under this Act, a person shall not do any of the following: (b) display on a motor vehicle or trailer a licence plate other than a licence plate issued or authorized for use on that vehicle; (c) operate or park a motor vehicle or trailer on a highway with an expired licence plate displayed on it; (Part 8) 168(1) If a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe (a) that a vehicle is displaying licence plates that (i) were not issued for that vehicle . . . the peace officer may seize and take possession of the licence plates displayed on that vehicle. 169(1) A peace officer may arrest a person without warrant if the peace officer, on reasonable grounds, believes . . . (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the following are the provisions for which a person may be arrested without a warrant: (c) section 53(1)(b) relating to the displaying of a licence plate other than one authorized under this Act; While the connection of the extended definition in s.9 to s.53(1) is a little vague, the connection to Part 8 is not, and therefore I can confidently say that the Act clearly states it is a violation to use out-of-province plates on the front of a vehicle. The plates can be seized and you may be arrested. It may further be a violation of the BC Motor Vehicle Act if/when you travel there.
Governmental disclosure of information on death certificates is controlled by state law. In Washington, vital records are controlled by RCW 70.58A. §520 limits the possible recipients of such records. One category is &quot;for research&quot;, which involves a review that covers guarantees of confidentiality among other things. §530 allows certain other disclosures, specifically to (a) The decedent's spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, stepparent, stepchild, sibling, grandparent, great grandparent, grandchild, legal guardian immediately prior to death, legal representative, authorized representative, or next of kin as specified in RCW 11.28.120; (b) A funeral director, the funeral establishment licensed pursuant to chapter 18.39 RCW, or the person having the right to control the disposition of the human remains under RCW 68.50.160 named on the death record, within twelve months of the date of death; or (c) A government agency or court, if the certification will be used in the conduct of the agency's or court's official duties. and additionally (10) The state or local registrar may issue a short form certification of death that does not display information relating to cause and manner of death to a qualified applicant. In addition to the qualified applicants listed in subsection (9) of this section, a qualified applicant for a short form certification of death includes: (a) A title insurer or title insurance agent handling a transaction involving real property in which the decedent held some right, title, or interest; or (b) A person that demonstrates that the certified copy is necessary for a determination related to the death or the protection of a personal or property right related to the death. Then finally, and this is as close to a &quot;public information&quot; clause that you get, (17) The state or local registrar must issue an informational copy from the central vital records system to anyone. Informational copies must contain only the information allowed by rule. Informational copies of death records must not display information related to cause and manner of death. Vital records are specifically exempted from the Public Records Act. California also allows disclosure of a subset of death certificate information. The records are exempt from mandatory disclosure under the California Public Records Act, but the registrar will release &quot;noncomprehensive death record indices for public release shall be comprised of first, middle, and last name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, place of death, date of death, and father’s last name&quot;. One would first have to determine what state a person died in, in case that state has fewer restrictions on disclosing personal information.
What you are describing may be the crime of insurance fraud: to avoid that, you would have to admit to the insurance company that you put a "Please steal me" sign in an unlocked car with the keys in the ignition, in a high-crime area. If we remove some of the elements of the scenario and reduce this to "leaving the keys in the ignition", this would probably be be considered contributory negligence, meaning that you failed to act prudently to protect your property. This can reduce the amount that the insurance company has to pay you. At this point, it depends on what state you're in, since sometimes a little bit of negligence (in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia) means that you may get nothing. However, negligence hinges on an assessment of the actions and intentions of a party, and what you describe isn't "neglect", there is the direct intent that the car be stolen. Insurance policies exclude coverage for intentional loss. So the bottom line would be that the person would be out a car, and could be in prison for fraud if they did not reveal what they actually did. One should assume that the thieves took a lulz video of the sign before they stole the car, and posted it on FaceTube where it entered the viral hall of fame and was used against you in a court of law, so fraud is the worst choice. An alternative if you have a car is to donate it to charity, and take a tax write-off.
How Are Liability And Insurance Matters Usually Disclosed? Normally, in a car sharing arrangement, you must establish a membership or account with the car sharing firm that includes all of the terms and conditions of the agreement between the parties (at least by reference to a document that you acknowledge that you have had an opportunity to read), often in connection with downloading an app necessary to use the service. I also strongly suspect (as a comment below indicates) that if you dug around enough on the firm's webpage that a link to the relevant terms and conditions could be found, even if it wasn't in the most obvious place. But, this information will often not be on the firm's main landing page of their website, and can instead often only be reached with multiple clicks and/or drop down menus. Sometimes this is called a &quot;terms of service&quot;, sometimes this is called a &quot;master agreement&quot;, sometimes it is called a &quot;membership agreement&quot; or &quot;account agreement&quot;. My list of names for this agreement is not exhaustive. Often these terms are also described elsewhere in simplified form, such as a &quot;how to&quot; brochure, or information that is posted on the interior of the vehicle itself or in a sleeve of documents in the car. Usually, in the course of the sign up process there would typically be a box to click and a link or scrollable portion of the screen at which you can review all of those terms and conditions which are the terms of the contract. What Must Advertising Say And Why? It is not generally necessary for the advertising itself to disclose every term and condition and detail of the arrangement. Generally speaking, an advertisement is considered merely an &quot;invitation to make an offer&quot; to enter into a contract, rather than an offer which can be accepted directly and form a contract. Of course, a particular jurisdiction's legislature certainly has the power to require that a car sharing company disclose liability and insurance information in a particular fashion set forth in a statute or regulation, if that jurisdiction's legislative body chooses to do so. Even when these issues are mentioned in advertising (even when some disclosure is required by law in adverising), usually this would be in the form of a sentence that incorporates another document by reference like &quot;Additional terms and conditions, including terms and conditions related to liability and insurance, that can be found at . . . . apply.&quot; This is due to the practical reality that TV and radio ads are usually just 15-60 seconds allowing about 25-100 words or perhaps a few more if the announcer speaks quickly, and that ads in print or on a screen also typically have room for only a very small amount of text. Websites, in principle, provide an effectively infinite amount of capacity to host content, but considerations of ease of website use and the need to make the landing page striking for marketing purposes (as well as the need to make websites mobile user friendly when that is the only way that many Internet users can access the web) usually relegates the legal terms of the agreement to less attention grabbing locations. Often, these terms are disclosed more conspicuously when the terms and conditions change materially, something that often has its own little PR campaign accompanying it. Unilaterally Imposed Contracts of Adhesion One reason that disclosure isn't such a huge issue is that car share agreements are almost always mass produced, not up for negotiation, &quot;contracts of adhesion&quot; that only senior management of the firm has the authority to modify. In the case of these intangible contractually agreed services, the terms of the agreement are more akin to a non-negotiable product design than to the paradigmatic haggled legal agreement between parties. Thus, a customer has only two choices. Use the service according to the standard terms, or don't use the service. Given this reality, the average buyer of the services relies upon the market place rejecting contracts of adhesion with bad terms, upon testimonials (good and bad) from prior users of the service, and upon media publicity for notorious terms or incidents that makes it look like the business doesn't treat it customers well, to keep the agreements reasonable, rather than upon individualized decisions to use or not use the service based upon a detailed review of the contract terms. There are legal doctrines pertaining to contracts of adhesion that invalidate terms that are unconscionable or not within the reasonable expectation of a consumer unless those terms of conspicuously disclosed. A classic example, for example, would be that a car share agreement that imposed extraction of a kidney as a fine for being one days late in paying an invoice would be void as a matter of law, even if the referenced document said so in bold large face type and the customer clicked a box acknowledging having read the agreement. What Happens If There Is No Agreement Or Disclosure? If there was never a step at which the terms and conditions were disclosed or accepted, then the default rules of law pertaining to personal property leasing, together with the laws pertaining to automobile accidents and insurance (both statutory and case law) in the jurisdiction in question. In almost all cases, liability to third parties for accidents is generally a matter of tort law or statute imposed by the government, rather than being something that can be modified by agreement. Also, usually the government imposes minimum insurance requirements and the owner of the car also has an incentive (and often a legal requirement) to have car insurance in force. In the United States, the default rules of law pertaining to personal property leasing, are set forth in Article 2A of the Uniform Commercial Code, which has been adopted in every U.S. State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and each self-governing U.S. territory with its own internal laws. In countries Europe or Latin American or Asia known as &quot;civil law&quot; countries (i.e. in those countries outside the British common law tradition, the Islamic law legal tradition, tribal or clan or caste law, or legal systems with communist regime roots established in the 20th century), the equivalent default rules of law (governing personal property leases, contracts to provide services, leases and insurance) would be contained in either a civil code or a commercial code of that country in most cases. In common law countries, the contractual agreements tend to be longer than the default provisions of law are skinnier. In civil law countries, the reverse is true. A hybrid of these two approaches which also limits the need of customers to monitor contract terms is the regulatory model commonly used in the insurance industry in the United States takes the reality that contracts of adhesion are the norm and gives it a regulatory twist. In this hybrid model, all of the boilerplate language of every insurance contract down to the last word of non-customized or only semi-customized language, and often fee schedules as well, must be substantively improved by a state agency that regulates insurance. In these models, a public official negotiates the terms of the contracts with the firms, subject to intervention in and participation in the process by industry associations and non-profits or interested individuals on behalf of consumers or other interested parties. In these hybrid systems, the approved contract language which can't be modified in the boilerplate language by either the firms or the customers, is on file with the regulatory agency and provides constructive notice to all parties in much the same way as a statute or government regulation. If not enough material terms of the agreement (e.g. the rental rate) were disclosed to form a contract, then there would be no enforcement contractual arrangement involved in the car share and the car share company would have to rely on the law of unjust enrichment to recover the fair market value of the services provided in each case, which as a practical matter, wouldn't be viable as a business model. Distinctions Between The Two Kinds Of Car Sharing Arrangements There is some ambiguity in the question because there are a couple main types of car sharing arrangements. One is more like a rental car and you drive the vehicle yourself (Car2Go is one of them). In this case, the firm typically provides car insurance and does a limited background of a prospective account holders driving record before allowing someone to use the service. But, the user of the service, who drives the car, would be primarily liable for any accident that the car gets into. The other kind, sometimes called a &quot;car share&quot; and sometimes called a &quot;ride share&quot; is more like an Uber or Lyft, which is a glorified, on demand taxi service, in which a driver provides the services of the driver and the vehicle and takes car of insurance and will be primarily liable for any accident the car gets into as a driver and owner of the car.
As mentioned in the comments, the simple answer is 'probably not' because you probably haven't yet gotten around to taking your halftrack in to get the necessary paperwork to demonstrate eligibility for registration, even if said halftrack was eligible for registration. I'm also going to confine this answer to whether you can legally drive the halftrack on public roads. I am not aware of any special laws about merely owning a halftrack that (say) you keep on a farm as decoration, but in any case I think you are more interested in whether the vehicle in question can be registered. Vehicle registration standards are (mostly) dealt with under State and territory law. I can give you an answer for Victoria, to at least illustrate the issues and where to look for answers. However, (at least some of) the relevant standards appear to be uniform across Australia. The starting point is that it is an offence to operate a vehicle on a public road without registering said vehicle: Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic), s 7. The Act provides that: the Regulations may prescribe how registration is applied for and granted or refused: s 9; and the Minister may prescribe standards for registration by notice in the Gazette: s 10. The standards cover "the construction, efficiency, performance, safety, design and equipment of, and the method of identifying" vehicles. I'm not good at searching Gazettes so I'm going to wave my hand over a gap and skip straight to things like: 'Guide to Modifications for Motor Vehicles' on the VicRoads website (VicRoads being the road traffic authority in Victoria, the government agency in charge of registering vehicles): https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/~/media/files/documents/safety-and-road-rules/vsinumber8guidetomodificationsformotorvehicles.ashx?la=en 'National Code of Practice for Light Vehicle Construction and Modification (NCOP)', which is an Australia-wide document: https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/vsb_ncop.aspx This is one of those areas where you probably need a mechanic more than a lawyer. Once you have satisfied yourself that your halftrack meets the applicable standards, you need to go and get a 'VASS Approval Certificate' ('Vehicle Assessment Signatory Scheme') from a certified tester and then register the vehicle with VicRoads. Happy driving!
Let's say one of us borrows the other one's car (with permission) and has an accident. Whose coverage is responsible at that point to satisfy the legally mandated insurance coverage? I assume that's only coverage against damage to others (which should go under liability insurance?) but if I'm wrong please correct me. There are different types of insurance that may be required: liability insurance - pays damage to others (usually including your own passengers) which you are responsible for. This is legally required almost everywhere (both in the USA, where this depends on the state, and elsewhere). Rules vary on the required minimum amount, and the exact coverage (e.g. whether lost wages are covered in case of injury). uninsured motorist coverage - pays damages you or others suffered, which are the responsibility of another driver who is not insured. This is mandatory in some states of the USA. In some other countries, these damages are covered by a public insurance or trust (such as the Verkehrsopferhilfe in Germany). personal injury protection - pays your own medical costs, no matter who is at fault. Required in some states of the USA. Is the lender's insurance supposed to cover it? This depends on the insurance policy, but in almost all cases the policy is for the vehicle (and often has to be, under the laws requiring insurance). So if yes, if you lend your car to someone else, your insurance will cover them. Note, however, that some insurance policies restrict your right to lend your car - read the fine print! There is one situation where your own policy may be relevant: If the damages exceed the limit of the vehicle's insurance policy, your own policy may pay the rest - again, this will depend on the policy. If so, wouldn't this not make sense? Insurance companies look at your driving history (&amp; risk) when they offer you a plan, and if the borrower has a poor history, you've increased the company's risk without their knowledge, right? It would seem to open insurance rates to abuse. Yes, exactly. That is why many (if not most) insurance policies place limits on lending your car. You may only be allowed to lend it to people over 21 years of age, or only to people who you have registered as car users with the insurance company. Is the borrower's insurance supposed to cover it? If so, wouldn't this not make sense? Insurance companies charge you differently based on what and how many vehicles you want covered, so wouldn't borrowing someone's Lamborghini suddenly open your insurance company to a massive risk without their knowledge again? No, the borrower's insurance does not usually apply. Making the borrower's insurance apply would be problematic because the risk is based on the vehicle (type), too. Also, the borrower may not have insurance (e.g. may not own a car). In particular, enforcing the mandatory liability insurance is easier in practice if it is per vehicle, because you can check the insurance at vehicle registration (which practically all countries already require). If the liability insurance were per driver, it would be difficult to prevent a person w/o insurance to borrow a car (as in your example). Finally, sometimes after an accident there is a dispute about who was driving the car (especially with hit-and-run accidents), but there is usually clear evidence (collision damage) what vehicle was involved. If insurance applies to the vehicle, a dispute over who was driving will not interfere with the victim's restitution.Thanks to supercat for pointing this out.
Companies have a registry of their shareholders. Anyone with at least one share registered in their name is a shareholder of record. However, the vast majority of people who consider themselves &quot;shareholders&quot; aren't actually registered owners of a stock. Instead, almost all public stock in the US is held &quot;in street name.&quot; That means that the stock is formally held in the name of a brokerage. What an individual has is &quot;beneficial ownership:&quot; the brokerage passes dividends on to the beneficial owner, will vote how the beneficial owner tells it to vote, and requires agreement from the beneficial owner before it can sell the stock. To make stuff even more complicated, the broker itself generally holds the stock in street name. Almost all public stock in the US is really owned by the Depository Trust Corporation in the name of Cede and Company (a general partnership of a few DTC officers). The reason public stock is mostly held in street name is efficiency. Transferring the legal owner of a piece of stock is a nontrivial process; until recently, it involved physically shipping stock certificates to the new owner. Even now that stock ownership can typically be transferred electronically, it's much easier to tell Cede &amp; Co. &quot;the new beneficial owner is this person.&quot; Because beneficial ownership is just a contract, you can skip all the formalities of updating the company's official register of shareholders.