Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1890-04-15
ToRRENS' LAND ACT.



a Needed Change In Passing Deeds tG
Rcal Estate.
We hear a great deal about the Aus
tralian ballot act, but why do none OF
our legislators turn their attention to
the Australian land act? No one ac-
uuainted with the history of England's
great colonies in the South Pacific will
deny that Australia's prosperity is much
more due to the last-named measure
than to the other
The system OF land transfer, insepara-
bly, associated with the name of Torrens,
and now adopted not only throughout
Australia, but also in New Zealand, car
ries out the complete assimilation OF
real estate to personal property recon-
mended twenty-four years ago by Mr..
David Dudley Field, one of the commits
sioners appointed to frame civil code
for the State of New York. Fourteen
years ago the capital features of the
Torrens act were outlined in the New
York Sun, with the result that there
have since been established two Title
Guarantee Companies in the City of
New York and one in New Jersey. But
in the Australian colonies the titles to
real estate are searched and insured.
not by private companies, which may
become bankrupt but by the common
wealth.
Throughout Australia you may trans
fer or mortgage piece of reality as
easily, as quickly and almost as cheaply
as you can negotiate promissory note
or sell government bond. The titles
to all the real estate in an Australian
colony have been investigated and
registered, and are now guaranteed
by the State. The registration officers
are almost as numerous and accessible
as the post-oflces, and for small fee,
ranging from few pence in Victoria to
few shillings in New Zealand, you
may sell or mortgage real estate by an
endorsement on the back of a certificate
of title, the endorsement being counter
signed by registrar.
Think what such a saving OF time and
pecuniary outlay means to the great
majority of citizens, who are either poor
or possess only moderate means Lord
Brougham said that the work performed
by Torrens was the greatest reform of
which law was susceptible More than
once it has been proposed to bring about
similar state of things in England,
but the innovation has been resisted by
the large body of lawyers who live by
conveyancing and litigation about titles.
1t has been said that in long-settled
country, where the chain OF title was
both long and intricate, the State could
not safely confront the risk of whole
sale guarantees. If private companies
can do it--and they are doing it daily in
New York City-why can not the State?
Undoubtedly the Australian system of
land transfer can be introduced most
easily and cheaply in the Territories of
the United States, where real estate can
have passed through only a few hands.
What an opportunity, for instance,
would well-informed man have had in
the conventions which lately framed
constitutions for the new States OF
North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana
and Washington! What an impulse
would have been given to the prosperity
of these communities, and what a
stimulus to emigration, had funda-
mental law been passed and published
to tho world, enacting that within their
| limits real estate should be transferred
and mortgaged as quickly and well-nigh
was such an occasion missed? Was IL
because knowledge and brains were
wanted?--N. Y. Ledger