The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-01-12
TRANSFERRING LAND.
Something About the Australian system
OF Irrigation.

OF Irrigation.
OGDEN, Utah, Jan. Il, 1898.
To The Editor OF THE HERALD.
1t was with great pleasure that 1 read
your editorial on the Australian system OF
transferring land by registration invented
by Sir Robert Torrens, and wish to say
through your columns something about
that system.
Sir Robert Torrens had been engaged,
IN his youth, in the registration OF the
transfer or ships and of shares therein, in
Great Britain, in the government registry
ONCE. Under that system when a vessel
or shares IN vessel were to be transferred
all existing documentary evidence of title
was taken up by the registry Office, and
certificate of title issued which
was not only evidence of the title but a
tltle absolute and indefeasible, as
II granted or determined by a court with
all parties having an interest before it.
When Torrens went to Australia he found
the lano titles IN a very bad condition.
Large tracts had been granted to cadets of
noble families, who finding that land
without population was worthless, had
abandoned their grants. Squatters upon
these tracts could not get titles in many
instances, and hence they remained I'M
improved. Torrens conceived the idea
OF applying the indefegsible quality OF
shipping registry and certificate to land
titles. and the system became law in
South Australia, and it has since been
enacted in a modified form in British
Columbia and in seven other British COL
onies or provinces.
Stating the idea Of the Torrens system
without detail, but so that it can be read
lily understood by those not versed in the
law, II is as If the seller of land should
convey TO the state and the state should
patent it 10 the purchaser and warrant
the title. For this warranty the state
receives a commission, usually one-eighth
OF per cent, which goes into fund to
make the warranty good. OF course mis-
takes will be made, and this fund has
been called upon to make the title in such
cases good but in Australia the fund is
constantly increasing. OF course it is
unnecessary for the two conveyances to be (
made; the certificate OF registry issued !
under the authority of the state or gov
ernment being sufficient to operate as an
indeieasible patent with warranty to the
purchaser.
Owing to the limitations of our state
constitutions the Torrens system has
been thought to be impracticable in the
United States. That clause usual in
state constitutions and in the constitu-
ton OF the United States relating to the |
deprivation of a person of his property /
without due process of law, and generally |
forbidding il, has been considered by some |
as an insuperable obstacle TO the intro
duction OF the system. / have thought, |
however, that when the constitution of |
the state of Utah shall be framed pro- /
vision could be made for court of regis I
tration of titles to land, wherein the Tor |
6ens system could be engrafted. Some
thing of this kind was attempted in Ire !
n ff,raD
hshed such court there in 1860, but its
powers were too limited to make it of
much avail as an entering wedge for the
Torrens system.
Certain it is, however, that if we would
adopt that system in Utah, we must pro-
vide Tor it in our state constitution. II
we do not so provide for it we will proba-
bly, be hampered by the limitations and
guarantees. of the fundamental laws of
the state.
Stating briefly the ideas of Sir Robert
Iorrens as to the requisites for the sue
cessful working OF his system. they are
these:
First-The estate should pass on the
of the title, not on the exc
cution of the deed or transfer of the GER
tifcate.
Second-The registered title should be
ndefeasible- that is TO say, when regis
-ered after a sale to a purchaser in good
aith, the title should be as absolute as a
United States patent.
phird-The registration should be COM
ouisory on the first dealing with the free
hold after the act becomes operative. 6
FOurth-The register shoald be metro
Doiitan, as Torrens calls it-that is, there 1
lhould be but few places of registration,
lot more than four in Utah. Torrens
would have recommended but one. The
necessity Tor this metropolitan character
s the greatest objection to the system.