The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-04 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY:)
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
Lord FEVERSHAM presented a petition from York
against the admission of Jews into Parliament.
Lord LYNDHURST gave notice that he would to-
morrow put a question to the noble earl at the head of
the Government with regard to the asylum afforded in
this country to foreign refugees,
The Earl of HARROWBY presented &petition from
Walsall against the admission of Jews into Parliament.
REGISTRATION OF ASSURANCES BILL.
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the second read-
ing of this bill, the object of which he explained to be to
put an end to insecurity of title. He would gladly
enhance the transferable value of land. It was not his
intention by it to change the manner by which land as
a species of property could be dealt with, but only give
more facility to its transference. Property in land was
very different to any other species of property, and in
the transfer ait the vendor had all sorts of difficult opera-
tions to go through before he could effect a sale. The ven-
dor had it thrown upon him to prove a negative, and though
he did not mean to say•that there were many cases of
fraud under this state of things, yet without some mea-
sure of this sort, no security could be obtained. If such
a measure had been passed 20 years ago, when the first
report of the Commissioners was published, he had no
doubt that incalculable benefits would have resulted from
it. (Hear.) The outline of the bill was this. 'He would
suppose a man to purchase an estate—sayßellpnden Park
—for 5,0001. After that the man married and made a
settlement of the property on his wife,. to be held by her
on his demise, and after her death by their son. Now,
by the present law, in the event of the son wishing to
sell or raise money on that land, he should produce in-
numerable deeds and documents to prove his title. It
would be also necessary to examine into the question as
to whether any money had been raised, by mortgage or
otherwise, on the property during the lifetime of the
vendor's father ; and further, to ascertain if a deed of
appointment had been executed by him. The family
solicitor might be applied to on the subject, and he might
answer "no." But he also might add, that "deceased
was some time in York, where he might have executed
such deed of appointment without the knowledge of his
family ;" so that they would be entirely dependent on
the honesty of the father, who was the original purchaser.
Now, all that would be obviated by the present mea-
sure ; for, instead of overhauling title-deeds and heaps
of documents, they need only apply to the registrar, in
case of sale or mortgage of the property, when the title
could be easily ascertained ; as, also, every pecuniary
circumstance connected with the property. (Hear,
hear.) That was the scope and object of the measure
then before their lordships ; and without such a measure,
he believed perfect security, in cases of purchase and
sale of landed property, was impossible. (Hear, hear.)
From the very dawn of modern civilisation, in the time
of Henry VIII., the registration of deeds had been
more or less recognised. In the reign of Henry VIII.
an act was passed for the " enrolment of bargains and
sales." Again, in the time of the Commonwealth, and
subsequently, in the reign of Charles 11., the principle
was recognised. In the reign of George I. three ridings
of Yorkshire and a portion of Middlesex were brought
under the operation of the system. Attempts were
made towards the close of the 18th century to extend
the system ; but nothing was done until the reign of
George IV., when the noble and learned lord (Lord
Brougham) made his great speech on law reform, which
was followed by the Lord Chancellor of the day attaching
the Great Seal to a commission constituted to inquire as
to what amendments could be made in the law, particu-
larly as regarded that important subject— real property.
That commission consisted of some very eminent men,
one from the common law bar, two from Chancery, and
five of the most excellent conveyancers of the day.
They investigated the subject very minutely and made
several reports. In their second elaborate report they
recommended unanimously this system of registration as
" a system necessarily the foundation of all real and
practical improvements." They added these remarks,
"very inadequate estimate's will be formed of the
evils of the present system in considering the cases
where loss arises•to purchasers or mortgagees. It is a
consideration of the greatest importance, and one which
presents the existing evil in the strongest light, that, in
all transactions respecting the sale of real property, the
suppression of title is treated as a risk to be apprehended
and guarded against." In that report the establishment
of a general registry was recommended as the founda-
tion of every improvement ; and he believed it was in con-
sequence of that report that his noble and learned friend
(Lord Brougham, we believe), who had not at the time
been in office, had introduced a bill into the House of
Commons. That bill had not been proceeded with, al-
though a committee of the other house had unanimously
approved of the principle on which it proceeded. His
noble and learned friend had introduced another bill,
which had been thrown out by a considerable majority.
The fact was, that great opposition had been offered to
the measure thronghout the country, and had been of-
fered mainly by solicitors, acting, he believed, for the
most part, from perfectly conscientious motives, and in-
fluenced by a sincere conviction that the bill, instead of
remedying existing evils, would greatly aggravate them.
He did not wonder that they should entertain such a
conviction. He did not wonder that persons who had
not fully investigated the subject should come to the
conclusion that the measure would be attended with
dangers which there were no advantages to counterba-
lance. It had been said that it would lead to the ex-
posure of family transactions, and that persons would
go prying into those deeds frosm a feeling of improper
curiosity. But if parties really wished to invest their
money in purchasing property, or in advancing loans
upon it, there could be no reason why they should not
have access to the deeds by which the title to the pro-
perty was regulated ; and as to the fear that persons
might examine those documents from motives of mere
curiosity, he believed that such an apprehension was un-
founded, and that people seldom or never looked over
deeds without some justifiable reason. It had also been
said that there would be a risk of losing those docu-
ments. But that risk would be entirely removed by en-
abling parties to register, not the deeds themselves, but
copies of them. In the year 1846 there had taken
place some proceedings bearing upon that question. At
that time the corn laws had ,been abolished, and many
persons thought that measure would very prejudicially
affect the landed interest, and that some measure ought
to be adopted for the relief of that interest. A com-
mittee of their lordships' house had consequently been
appointed to inquire into the burdens on land, and
more especially into the system of local taxation. That
committee did not consist of mere theoretical law
reformers, and among its members were many of those
among their lordships most conversant with the wants
and the general condition of the landed interest. He
would name a few of these members. There were Lord
Redesdale, Lord Colchester, the Duke of Richmond, the
Duke of Buckingham, the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord
Stanley (at present Earl of Derby), the Duke of Buc-
clench, the Earl of Malmesbury, and other practical
authorities on questions relating to landed property.
In their report they declared that " the marketable
value of real property was seriously diminished by the
tedious process of the transfer of land, and that a regis-
try of the titles of all real property was essential to any
attempt to simplify the system of conveyancing." Some
years later a commission had been appointed to inquire
into that subject. That commission had consisted of the
late Lord Langdale, of three barristers, namely, Mr.
Bellenden Ser, Mr. Colston, and Mr. Humphrey ; and
of two eminent solicitors, in order that every important
interest might be repyreessteingtaetdedtthhreouggnheosuttieints, iannqduitriheesy.
i
They had carefully n
had come to the conclusion that without a registry it
would be idle to speculate on any other reform in respect
to real property. They had made their report in the
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of Queen's Bench had, as the organ of the Government,
introduced into their lordships' house a bill carrying out
the recommendations of the commissioners. That bill,
after having been read a second time, had been referred
to a select committee. which, after having sifted the
question to the 'bottom, had suggested what they had
believed would be improvements in the measure ; and
their suggestions having been adopted the amended bill
had been read a third time, and passed their lordships'
house unanimously, or at least without any division. It
had been sent down to the other house, but at so late a
period of the session, unfortunately, that it could not
have been discussed there, and the measure had conse-
quently been lost. Then came the year 1852. The Go-
vernment had been changed early in that year ; and the
new Administration had not thought proper to deal with
that subject. He did not blame them for that. It was
well known that they had had many other important
measures of legal reform to consider ; and besides, their
highest legal functionary, his noble and learned friend
who had preceded him as Lord Chancellor, was hostile
to the change in question. As soon as he (the Lord
Chancellor) had had the honour of receiving the Great
Seal, it had occurred to him that he ought at once to
direct his attention to that subject, and to take up the
measure which their lordships had already sanctioned,
unless he should find some very strong reason for not
doing so. The bill, as it had been referred to the select
committee of their lordships in the year 1851, would
have carried out the recommendations of the commis-
tions in their integrity, and would have settled the re-
gistry on the basis of a general map of the whole
country on the large scale, as well as he could recollect,
of six inches to the mile. Two of the commissioners,
however, had thought that such a map would not afford
the best mode of attaining the objects of the bill ; but
he confessed that for his part he believed that it would
be the best plan if it should be practicable. It appeared,
however, that the formation of the map would cost be-
tween 2,000,0001. and 3,000,0001. ; and it had been
thought that if it were proposed that the bill should be
postponed until the map should be made, the public
would very naturally think that there existed no serious
intention of proceeding with the contemplated reforms.
Now he did not wish that they should expose themselves
to that imputation ; and as the map was not essential
o
to the operation of the bill, while it might be engrafted
it hereafter, and while every private proprietor might
get a map drawn up of his own property, y,it had been
thought advisable not to insist on
the formation of
the map as the indispensable basis of the measure.
While he endeavoured to make their lordships
h.ch had
,
ac-
quainted with the nature of the bill he felt that he ought
not to omit to notice the main objections w
been urged against it. He could not but feel that among
one which was certainly entitled to very great weight,
a great number of persons the real objection to it was
and it was this—that, in spite of the great and almost
overwhelming array of authority in its favour, there
was one very distinguished authority opposed to it—his
noble and learned friend, his predecessor in the office of
Lord Chancellor. There were, no doubt, many people
who thought that no person was more capable than