REGISTRATION

OF

TITLE

TO

LAND

JAMES

EDWARD

HOGG

Lincoln's

Inn,

London

Registration

of

title

is

something more

than

what

is

ordinarily

meant

by

registration

or

recording-the

entry

in

a

public

office.

Both

in

the British

Empire

and

in

the

United

States

of America

-registration

of

title

is

regarded

as

a

system

of

conveyancing which

is

intended

to

supersede

the

ordinary

method

of

conveyance

by

execution

of

a

deed

only.

Herein registration

of

title

differs

from

ordinary

deed

regis-

tration,

for

in

the

latter

the

mere

act

of

recording

the

assurance

does

not

pass

the

property

but

only

makes

the grantee

more

secure.

It

also

differs

from the registration

of

a

mere

judicial

declaration

of

title,

for

the

latter

is

only

the

record

of

the fact

that

the

person

affected

has

a

good

title

to

his

land.

In

addition to being

thus

dis-

tinguished

from

deed

registration

and

judicial

declaration

of

title,

an

essential

feature

of

registration

of

title

as

generally

understood

is

that

the

complete

property

in

the

land

should

pass-and

pass

only-

on

registration

being

effected;

this

is

usually

referred

to

as

state

warranty

of

title.

The

typical

form

of

registration

of

title

is

to

be

found

in

the

Torrens

system,

though

there

are

other

systems

that

have

grown

up independently

of this,

and

of

the Torrens

system

itself

there

are

many

varieties,

both in

Australia-its

original

home-

and

in

territories

where

it

has

served as

a

model

for

local

systems.

How

does

registration

of

title stand

as

a

system

among

other

sys-

tems

of

conveyancing

and

registration?

What

are

the

important

points

on which

the

various

systems

of

registration

of

title

differ

among

themselves?

What

would be

an

ideal

system,

and

what

prospect

is

there

of

its

realization?

It is

proposed

to

give

some

answer

to

each

of

these

questions.

COMPARISON

WITH

OTHER

SYSTEMS

OF

CONVEYANCE

AND

REGISTRATION

There

seems

to

be only one

territory

(using

the

word

in

a

neutral

and

non-technical

sense)

in

the

whole

of

the

Anglo-American

world-

the

British Empire

and

the United

States-where

conveyancing

is

carried

on

without

the adjunct

of

some

kind of

registration.

'That

territory

is

England,

where

registration

is

only

in use in

certain

areas

and

as

regards

certain

classes

of

land.

The

experience

of

the

rest

of

the

Empire,

of

America,

and.indeed

of

the

rest

of

the

civ ilized

world,

is-judged

by

the

prevailing

practice-that

any

system

of

registration

is

better

than

none.

It

can

hardly

be contended

that

regis-

tration

of

title

is

inferior

to

a

system

of

conveyance

without registration.

The

registration

of

a

judicial

declaration

of

title

is

not

in

any

sense

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