The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-18 00:00:00

to all intents and purposes give the same lien on the estate
as if the whole title deeds of the estate had been deposited.
If this measure be adopted there will not, therefore, be the
smallest difficulty or impediment in the way of such
transactions. All that will be done will be to supersede
and dispense with the mass of useless, cumbrous, and
obscure parchment deeds, and b provide a substitute of
the most simple, the most certain, and the most easily
accessible character. The whole machinery will be ar-
ranged, and every means tried so as, I believe, to leave no
room or opening for fraud. The only possibility of danger
that I can foresee may possibly be this,;that in the first
investigation of title there may, perchance, be some latent
right that may not be discovered till after the estate has
been absolutely disposed of, Ido not propose that a Par-
liamentary title should be given till the estate has been
sold or mortgaged for valuable consideration. The object
being to give greater facility of dealing with the estate, it
would be unjust to give perfect immunity until the owner
has made the registry the means of selling or disposing of his
property. The noment he has sold it to a purchaser for
valuable consideration the statutory title will arise. During
the last quarter of a century I may say that millions of pur-
chases of land have been made for railway purposes. The
railway comr anies are subject to the obligation I have men-
tioned, and if any dormant interest arises with respect to
the land taken by them, which had not been ascertained and
provided for at the time of the purchase, they are made liable
to pay for it. Yet, so few are the instances of that kind which
have occurred that I hardly venture to mention the number
lest it should seem too inconsiderable to be credited. I be-
lieve that not more than a dozen discoveries of latent into
rests have been made during the last 25 years. It is not
probable, therefore, that we shall have much difficulty in
this reelect. With regard to registration, 1 propose, of
course, that it should be voluntary, but after an estate has
once been put upon the register it must remain there until,
by the application of all the persons interested in it, it is
desired to be taken off. At any time it may thus be removed
from the register. The great benefit attending the proposed
registration without a guarantee of title would be that an
accurate record would be kept of alt the future dealingswith
the land, and after the lapse of a certain number of years,
which may be defined by the judge or the registrar when
the title is put upon the register, the non-guaranteed title
would pass into the category of statutory titles. There are
many other provisions in the bill which I should have liked
to describe to your lordships ; but I am afraid I have already
trespassed too long upon your attention, and therefore I
shall only add that, in addition to the ordinary mode of re-
gistration, there are two other methods provided by the bill.
One is the registration of an estate under a decree of the
Court of Chancery, and the other is a power given to that
Court of selling an estate with a Parliamentary title.
Either of them may be advantageously resorted to in cases
where the parties may not be desirous of subjecting their
titles to the examination which must take place in the
case of a private registration. I propose to extend regis-
tration to freehold land and also to leasehold estates ; but to
copyhold land I do not propose to extend it. One peculi-
arity of the bill is that it will be worked through the exist-
ing courts. In that respect it differs from the measure
brought forward some time ago by Sir Hugh Cairns. lam
afraid if I were to adopt his proposal, there would always
be conflicts of jurisdiction, and it is better therefore as well
as easier to work the measure by the judicial aid we already
possess. The bill, of course, will come gradually into opera-
tion, and if it should be accepted generally it may be neces-
sary to have other registries in aid of the metropolitan
registry. Allow me, in conclusion, to entreat your lord-
ships to give this measure your most favourable considera-
tion, remembering always that no reform or amendment of
the law was ever perfect at first. All such measures have
their origin in some crude designs, which are matured and
completed by experience. The present bill is directed to an
end which it has been the desire of almost all who have con-
sidered the subject for the last 200 years to see accomplished.
I hope, therefore, that your lordships will address yourselves

to the work, not frightened by any superstitious terror with
respect to the alterations which you may be called upon to
make, but with the conviction that there is a great existing
evil which has grown up from accidental circumstances and
from neglect, and which may be removed if there be a union
of fairness and firmness, of skill and courage, such as I
think will be found among your lordships, with an earnest
desire to grapple with the difficulty and devise a remedy.
Lord ST. LEONARDS was sure their. lordships were
thankful to his noble and learned friend for his singularly
able and lucid description of a very important bill. (Hear.)
It had been his duty for 30 years to oppose all the measures
brought forward for the registration of assurances, and,
although he had frequently found himself in opposition to
the general sense of both Houses of Parliament, at the pre-
sent moment there was a universal concurrence of opinion
that nothing could be more mischievous than a general
registration of assurances. He never had any objec-
tion to a registration as such. His objection was that it would
do more harm than good, for, while the expense would be
enormous the benefits would be very doubtful. lithe object
which his noble and learned friend had in view, viz., a re-
gistration of titles, although he was afraid it would degene-
rate, unless great care were taken, into a registration of as-
surances—could be accomplished, nobody would more
readily support it than himself. Anything which gave se-
curity to purchasers must be beneficial, and during the
greater part of his life he had laboured to effect that object,
(Hear.) His noble and learned friend had told them that a
period of 60 years must be gone over before a man could
make a title. That term was originally taken, no doubt,
with a view to the probable duration of life. Did their lord-
ships recollect what happened not more than two years ago?
In the session of 1860 he brought forward a well-matured
scheme for reducing the term from 60 to 40 years, and so '
reducing the liability of sellers ; but, unfortunately, both
sides of the house were decidedly against him, and the law
remained unaltered, to the great cost of the landed interest,
Their lordships in a previous session sent down to the other
house a bill for the registration of assurances. It was not
sanctioned ; but a commission was issued to inquire into
the registration of titles. The scheme of the commissioners
was that there should he one representative of the fee, that
no equitable interest should appear, on the register, that
one nominee should represent the entire property, so that
the estates of any one of these lordships might stand in
the name of John Doe or Richard Roe, and the real
owner appear to be wholly divested of his interest. The
scheme which his friend. Sir Hugh Cairns proposed in the
other house would have established a new court, and the
new court would have become a landed estate court. The
title was there intended to be confined to a sole owner, but
the owner was to bacapable of making equitable charges,
which were to be kept in a distinct manner. He preferred
the scheme. of the noble and learned lord on the woolsack
to either of the two he had .mentioned, • Their lordships
would bear in mind that this bill was quite permissive. If
anyone, for the facility of conveying his property by a short
process, chose to register it, he would be able to deal with
his estates just the same as at present. The law relating to
devises and descents would not be altered, and the owner's
powers of disposition would not be taken away or limited.
Even if a man who, for the sake of obtaining an indefeasi-
ble title, transmissible to purchasers through all genera.
tions, had registered, chose to have recourse again to the
ordinary deeds of conveyance, he might direct the registrar
to strike the entries out, of the register and withdraw his
property from it. There were certain payments to be made
for registration ; but it was proposed that if any one regis.
tered anindefeasible title so as to exclude rightful claim-
ants> the rightful claimants should be indemnified out of
the Consolidated Fund. The State was to become an in-
surance office, and the losses were to be borne by the Con-
solidated Fund. If ha noble and learned friend obtained
the assent of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to that pro-
position, it would show that he possessed more influence
over his colleague than he was disposed to give him credit
fur. He was inclined to think that if the title was'good, it
could be insured without resorting to the guarantee of the
State.. The scheme, in other respects, was of this nature.
It was-intended for, two classes of owners. The first class
consisted of those who had such a title as a Court of Chan-
cery would compel a purchaser to accept, and the second of
those who had not such a title. But if a man had a perfect
title, why should_ he go to the Court at all ? If any man
wished to have a title under this bill his first step would be-
tut go to his counsel, who after the usual examination would
itite whether or not.he had such a title as the Court of
ange'rr would compel a man to, accept. If ho went to the
Courttoberegistered and the re • t '' d his a lication
rarrerc e pp ho sesAd bed
that his title "'aging
his own title. Everybody would know
But, auppooi %15 one which the registrar would not accept.
would not wangtehie title was really a good one, the registrar
possible for a atart itsvithota examination. It would be im-
Wit he had pro:l2‘itisthe best. title to get on the register
every sale. In pulublZaatat he would have to prove now on
ensemkkhfacit he, would not save any of the' I
tremble and exp
The same her would' have now to incur."
was on the, register-tingeeveryas place after the property
to be a now examination, es.tbste wale al-eale• 'There was
But men did not want es ba°,llcitange of proprietorship.
20 years or so. It might ,ban al g into their titles every
sauteed that on every change
of ownership there would be a new
beerinernient and a new in-
surance. The State would then
immense amount. The principle might besn Insurer to an
but he saw
only
who would
great difficulty in working it. The other clad
be entitled to make use of this bill were
ouYtrettquired to
have a 10 years' title to prove immediate desc
duce the last deed. They were to be put on the" pm-
uno uaranteed. The noble lord was understood to ae6ist‘r
the measure being permissive rather than compulsoryl3l,"
Lord CRAN WORTH thought the state of the housenot
very erecuragir g for the discussion of a measure of this
kind. With the first part of the noble and learned lord's
bill, which related to procuring a Parliamentary title, he
was disposed to concur ; but with regard to the latter por-
tion of the measure, though the noble and learned lord had
made his statement in a singularly clear and lucid manner,
yet, notwithstanding, be was unable then to enter into any
discussion of the bill, because he could not comprehend it.
He was convinced that if anything could have made the
subject clear the noble and learned lord's statement would
have, done it, but to discuss the bill they must have the
details before them. • He had himself proposed a measure
that had the first object in view, that of procuring a 'Parlia-
mentary title, just before he quitted the (Treat Seal. He had
often had the question before him, and he had ereployed
the leisure of the preparing two
refe-
rence to it, which he in
measures in By the consent of the nobleoid ask leave to lay on the table.
and learned lord he should have