The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-01 00:00:00

feet remedy), of all that he has purchased and so
dearly paid for.

If we turn from the deduction of title to the
conveyance, we find a state of things which is far
from being satisfactory. A considerable part of
it is occupied, like the abstract, with a review of
the past, in the form of " recitals." Then the
description of the property—the main object, as
it should seem, of a conveyance—is accomplished
in the most barbarous fashion. " All that piece
or parcel of land situate, lying, and being," dm., &c.,
may be accepted as a specimen of the manner in
which the purchaser is, legally, informed of the
nature, extent, and situation of his purchase. A
handbill prepared by the most ignorant auo-
tioneer's clerk would give him better information on
that subject, and the veriest daub, in the form
of a plan, made by a mere tyro in a surveyor's
office, would give him a clearer idea of his newly-
acquired possessions than the legal " descrip-
tion" in the deed will supply. _ _

If the property which is about to change hands
has been purchased from different parties, there
must be a separate deduction of each title. The
tributary streams must be surveyed to their re-
respective sources by the laborious convey-
ancer, although, at present, they have become
combined together. lf, on the other hand,
a property is to undergo the contrary process of
being divided and sold in lots to separate parties,
each employs his own legal functionary to inquire
into the title, and, as the title-deeds cannot be
übiquitous, the difficulty as to the custody of
them can only be met by the largest purchaser
being the custodian of them, while small pur-
chasers must be content with copies. These are
some examples of the working of a system which
makes the evidence of ownership dependent on the
possession and contents of deeds in the hands of
private parties. It would be easy to bring proofs
of the enormous expense attending the present
mode of conveying land, and of its frequently
unsatisfactory results.

The evils of the present system demand a
searching cure ; not a half-and-half me,asuie of
reform which will unsettle, the present and con-
fuse the future ; but a complete and entire change.
The obvious remedy is Registration. But what
kind of Registration ? Are the deeds to be lodged,
bodily, in some place of public deposit, or are
certain extracts only, to be lodged according to
the present practice of " Memorials" existing in
the Middlesex Registry-office ? Either of these
measures would be a lame and abortive proceed-
ing. They do not touch the real evils of the present
system ; the best proof of which is that existing
registries do not render unnecessary all that inves-
tigation of the past history of titles, which,. as we
have seen, the abstract system requires. Indeed,
it would be difficult to point out the precise ad-
vantages gained by existing registries ; they
undoubtedly require more inquiries to be made,
and more expense to be incurred ; and we really
are unable to state that, in return for that increas-
ed trouble and outlay, any compensating benefit is
obtained. Assuming, then, that neither copies
of, nor extracts from, prolix legal documents, in
the form in which they are now prepared, would
satisfy the expectations and intelligence of the age,
what, it will be asked, is the form of registry that
should now be adopted ?

It is now usual to refer to the plan of register-
ing the ownership of title to Government stocks,
railway shares, and the shares in other public
companies, as an example of the mode which
might and ought to be adopted in registering the
title to landed property. The success of this
system, and the general satisfaction which it gives,
afford so strong an argument in favour of its
application to the registration of title to land,
that the onus of showing (if it can be shown) that
it is unsuited to that purpose is shifted to the
side of the supporters of the system of conveyanc-
ing now in use. Why cannot the same process
be resorted to? What are the objections to
it ? Nothing is more common than to hear
assertions that it cannot be done ; but no
proof of the kind has ever been attempted. The
immense amount of property dealt with, in this
way, and the very rare cases which have occurred
of improper transfers having been made are
enough to satisfy us of its safety. Against such
cases of fraudulent transfer must be set those of
purchasers of land, under the present system,
having been defrauded of their just rights by
secret deeds and other frauds, and by the over-
sight of their legal advisers. We suspect that
the balance of mischief will be very heavy against
the present mode of conveying land. Improper
transfers of a tangible visible property, like land
and houses, may be made much more difficult
than transfers of an ideal property, like money
in the funds ; indeed, such checks might be
adopted as would make fraudulent representations
of ownership impossible, or, at least, in the
highest degree improbable.

The peculiarity of the system of registration
adopted in the case of the funds and shares of
various kinds, and that which distinguishes it
from our present system of conveyancing, is that
trusts are not recognised. Certain persons are
entered in books as the legal owners (whether
trustees or absolutely entitled), and these persons
alone can transfer the property. The purchaser
from these parties is absolutely free from all ad-
verse claim on the part of persons having equit-
able rights. If such persons have been injured,
they must use their remedy against the trustees
or other persons having the legal interest. They
cannot victimise an innocent purchaser, but they
must exercise their remedies against the persons
whom they themselves have selected and trusted
as their legal representatives.

In the case of conveyances of land, the pur-
chaser is now made the scapegoat of all the vices,
defects, and infirmities of the title. If there are
latent claims affecting the whole or a part of the
property, he must bear the brunt of them ; and
fortunate will it be for him if the parties from
whom he purchases are sufficiently responsible to
indemnify him from the consequences.
So absurd and pernicious a system clearly ought
to be altered ; and the responsibility, wherever it
occurs, of conveying that which parties have no right
to sell, should be. transferred to the proper parties.

It is a matter of no slight surprise that so prac-
tical a people as the English should have so long
tolerated the present process of conveyancing,
utterly at variance, as it is, with the wants :and
intelligence of the present age.

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO THE DUBLIN EXHIBITION.
—lt has now been definitively settled that her Majesty
will stay two days at the Dublin Exhibition. She will
leave London early in the morning, and will travel by
the London and North-Western Railway as far as
Holyhead, where she will sleep the same night and de-
part on the following morning for Dublin. Her Majesty
will be entertained during her stay by the Lord Lieu-
tenant (Earl of St. Germans). The Countess of St.
Germans and the Hon. Mary Eliot have arrived in
Dublin for the purpose of meeting Lord Eliot, and
making the necessary arrangements.
THEATRE ROYAL, D RIIRY-LANE. —Signor Puzzi's annual
benefit takes place on Tuesday next, when the favourite
opera of Sonnambula will be given for this occasion only,
introducing that charming singer, Miss Louisa Pyne,
as Amina —her first effort in Italian opera judiciously
supported by the favourite Senor Gardoni, in the part
of Elvino ; after which a well-selected concert, the prin
cipal pieces from the admired operas of La Cenerentola,
Nozzi di Figaro, Semiramide, Am., in which Madame
Viardot, Madame Clara Novelle, Mr. Bodda, and the
celebrated French romance singer, Jules Le Fort, will
appear. Signors Puzzi, Bazzini, and the eminent pian-
ist, Prudent, will, during the evening, each perform a
solo. The high and deserving esteem which Signor
Puzzi enjoys from the profession, and a large circle of
friends, will, no doubt, bring within the walls of Old
Drury a crowded and fashionable audience.
MARRIAGES IN HIGH LlFE.—Yetterday two mar—
riages in high life were performed at the church of St.
George's, Hanover-square ; the first being that of Hast-
ings Dent, Esq., with the Lady Beaujolois Bury, sister
to the Earl of Charleville. The marriage ceremony was
performed by the (rector, the Rev. Mr. Howorth,
M.A., in the presence of a distinguished circle, in-
cluding the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, the Earl and
Countess of Charleville, Lord and Lady John Manner,
&c. The second marriage was that of Capt. George
Drought Warburton, R.A., with the Hon. Elizabeth
Augusta Bateman Hanbury,. sister to Lord Bateman.
The ceremony was performed; by the Veneaable Arch-
deacon Waring, in the presence of a brilliant circle of
the nobility. Lord Bateman gave his sister away. The
bride and bridegroom subsequently left town for Kirth-
ington Park, the seat of Sir George and Lady Dash-
wood, in Oxfordshire. Capt. Warburton, who has
written some well-known works, is brother to the
lamented Eliot Warburton, who lost his life in the
Amazon, also to the Rev. Mr. Warburton, who lately
married the Hon. Miss Lister, step-daughter to Lord
4144 Lady John Ituosoll, and sister to Lord Ribblesdale.