The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-04-04 00:00:00

THE TRANSFER OF LAND.

In the House of Lords, on Friday evening, the Lord Chan-
cellor called attention to the state of the law relating to the
transfer of and title to land, premising that in consequence of
the discussions which had arisen on the subject in recent
vears, upon the occasion of theintroduction of bills by himself,
by Lord Westbury, and by Lord Sellionte, the question was
no longer a novel one, and therefore he would on the present
occuion without any prelude proceed to explain the legis-
lation he proposed for adoption. The bill of last Session in-
troduced by Lord Selborne was mainly founded on the Report
of the Commission of 1867, and adopted the true principle
with regard to the registration of titles to land, lint as
the time of that Session was greatly occupied with
the consideration of the Judicature Bill, a sugges-
tion he made was adopted by Lord Selborne, and
the Bill, instead of being pressed forward, was
submitted to the consideration of Sir C Hall, the present
Vice-Chancellor, than whom there was no one in the pro-
fession bettor qualified to deal with a measure of the kin-I.
He felt indebted to Lord Selbonme for his spontaneous offer
of all the papers in his possession relating to the matter, and
acknowledged that It was only by such help that he wu
enabled within a week after the opening of Parliament to
lay before the House the Bill he was now about to present.
With regard to the question of registration, he could not
bring himself to propose the registration of what in popular
phraeeology wan called a good holding title, for there was no
legal precision in the expression, and opinions might vary as
to what really was a good holding title, but he would allow the
registrar. on application to the Court, to register a market-
able title which might be perfectly good, notwithstand-
ing the existence of some theoretical imperfection with re.
spect to it This arrangement, together with other provi-
mon., would, he believed, carry with it all the advantages
desired by thou wishing for the registration of a good hold-
ing title. With regard to the question of boundaries between
adjoining properties, he proposed that the registrar should
not be charged with the duty of deciding on that point, for
It was one which never created difficulty in buying and selling
property ; while, on the other hand, the attempt to settle the
boundaries upon registration might stir up unneceseary
litigation. If he were asked what it was he proposed
to register, his reply would be that he proposed to re-
gister fee-simples leaseholds of a certain period, and
charges. With regard to the question whether the measure
should be compulsory or voluntary, he explained that it
was his intention that there should be no compulsion in any
form for three years after the passing of the Act, and he WAS
sanguine enough to expect that in those three years a great
quantity of land would- come upon the register, for the ques-
tion had been maturing during the had 15 years, and there
had been a desire generally expressed for the registration of
titles such as he had described. He did not anticipate from
solicitors any opposition which would prevent the measure
from succeeding, for whatever created greater facilities in
destine with land was of advantage to them ; and, inde-.
pendently of that consideration, he knew from experience
that they were as a body enlightened and liberal to their
views, and anxious for improvements in the law. At
the conclusion of three years, he proposed that whenever a ante
of land occurred there should be an obligation to register the
land, or in case of omission to do so the purchaser should
obtain only an equitable title, and not a legal title
until after registration The title would be registered in the
Office of Land Registry, for it was desirable that this office,
which was already created, should be utilized, though he
confessed he would have beers more pleased with th • estab-
lishment of a Landed Estates Court after the fashion of the
one existing in Ireland. With regard to local registries, he
proposed to proceed tentatively, and to allow a local regis-
tration office in any particular part of the country where, on
account of the amount of business, it was likely to be self-
supper ing. In conclusion, the Lord Chancellor also pro-
posed the first reading of two other bills, for abridging the
term within which actions and suits with regard to real pro-
perty might be brought, nail to facilitate proceedings between
vendors and purchasent
Lord Selborne said that of all the consequences of the late
change of Administration the iOAAt he regretted was that the
conduct of the proposed Bills had fallen into the hands of the
Lord Chancellor With regard to registration offices, he had
no doubt that, in the course of the working of the measure,
they would to found neceasary, but at present it appeared to
be a safe principle to establish them in the first instance
where they were likely to pay their own expenses. He hoped
there was at last a prospect of the adoption of legislation on
this important subject
Lord Hatherley expressed his satisfaction at the introduc-
tion of the proposed Bills, and Lord Romilly thought it worth
consideration whether • Landed Estates Court, similar to the
one in Ireland, should not be utablished in England.
The three Bills wore then read a first time