Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-03-01

5l- IA our gay tue Nf@- "'i-'''---
real estate lrstro-e transacted ih me
larger cues mas completely chahReu
the state of things in which our prcSSL1
! arose and to which # was well adapted
During the agitation tcr The a-ol Oh
of The TOrrens system 49, Illinois a.
/ asserted. know not on what basis o.
! facts. that abstractiug and Otre" lr "a
! aynensoS incident 10 inc change or a.
| tie in real estate cost the people OIL I'LL
nois about ten millions OF dollars per
annum: and if this be ,Iuo the cot 10
the people of the United state Tor me
same purpose must, after making ever!
allowance for the greater activity ci me
people of Chicago, amount yearly 10 d
hundred millions of dollars. This, OF
course. is independent g. the vast cA-
pense incurred by the counties for m 4
ing the Official records to he found IN
the Office of the recorder or register OF
deeds.
Not long since I read in q newspaper
a description of the labor now "ons'd-
cred necessary IN examining the the
to a piece OF Chicago real estate.
Many of the details have 10 doubt. e5-
capped my memory rut Z retain ? most
vivid recollection OF & ho vast extent OF
the the records necessary 10 examine
and the great number OF courts "E"se
| journals were necessary 10 con
and the most disheartening thing about
! it was that after one had exercised all
practicable diligence. he could not but
be aware that after all he was ont TAX
| ing his chances, not merely of the be-
ginning of new suits just prior TO the
final passing of the papers, but in many
other ways
Even in Toledo have paid myself as
high as a hundred dollars for an a0-
stract of title for a single piece OF prop
| erty. A great deal of the contents OF
some of these. must say, without airy
! intention to reflect upon our abstract
ing fraternity, appeared 20 me like
writing for space is sometimes said TO
be in the newspapers-mere padding.
1t is amusing and even startling to
contrast the awkwardness of our pres
ent methods with the fact that every
year stocks and bonds are transferred
in New York alone aggregating per-
haps a hundred times the value of the
lands transferred in the whole country
during the same year, and al without
the expense of a penny.
The evils of the existing system do
not consist simply in the expense in
volyed. An objection quite as Sreat
arises from the delay and limitation OF
use which must be attributed to our
system of land tenure.
If real estate could be mortgaged and
transferred as readily and with as much
| security as certificate Of stock in a
corporation It is safe to say that the
volume of real estate transactions
would multiply several fold. To state
the same thing in another form, the
owners of real estate would get Just so
much more use out of their property,
and it's value arising from its capablllty
of such use would be increased accord
ingly.
If insurance and other loaning COM
panies were saved the trouble and risk
of examining titles, we should probably
have I per cent money in Che market
instead of a minimum of . per cent.
Indeed. l firmly believe if an absolute
title guaranteed by the State, could be
sold or pledged as readily as share OF
stock in a corporation, the value of real
estate. more particularly IN cites
would be increased from . 10 10 per
cent
The insecurity of titles under our
present land system is another great
objection to them Errors creep mo
abstracts as they do i'm all other human
transactions. Of the four abstractors
with whom have frequently done bus
mess i'm this city. not one has failed TO
make an error, even in my briei and
comDaratively limited experience.
We all know that the bar itself Is
very far from infallible. Even our
Judges we are forced to conclude
when they decide against us are some
times blind and perverse. \ humble
lawyer. therefore must be presumed
TO commit fragrant errors very ire
quently. and, i'm fact. within twenty
minutes of the time | am writing
these words / have had to differ on
point of law relating to land from an
other member Of the bar, and one OF
us must be in error.
If you will step into the Recorders
office and look long enough. you viii
find where our most distinguished pre-
decessor at the bar the learned and
careful Chief Justice Waite. undertook
TO release mortgage without having
his power Of attorney TO do so record
ed and apparently without knowing
that il was necessary ! do not need
to argue this point of my case, for no
maxim is more firmly established I'm
the affections of the legal profession
than the one which presume5 every
man to know the law except lawyer.
Suffice il TO say that the errors in the
preDaration Of the abstract and In the
opinion passed upon it by the lawyer
give wide scope for error, and even
aside from the many questions OF fact
which the abstract does not pretend
TO set uD afford a serious menace to
security i'm real estate transactions.
The Torrens system of registration
of land titles is now being advocated
I'm MANY States as a remedy for the Ills
incident 10 our present system.
Something like il is said 10 have exist
ed for hundreds Of years in Hamburg
and a few other places.
It's modern history has been in brief
as follows. il was adopted i'm South
Australia in 1858. by the other Aus
trglian colonies. New Zealand and
Tasmania. soon afterward. by Van
couver Island in 1861, by British Col
umbfa I'm 1870. and by Manitoba and
ontario I'm 1856. \ bill was enacted
/ the present year In Illinois and COM
/ miss ions TO consider the subject have
been appointed in Massachusetts,
r.fo qDd o-he~ States.
feature OF this system Of
land titles is that the ownership Of
ir.n- rr-~a--uted by single ins'rU-
...L- -n-1,n .rInt Min. In I