The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-13
A NUCH-vEEDED REFoRN


Gradually but steadily the reform of
the existing system of land transfers is
making its way in the United States.
Yet today, as much as fifteen or twenty
years ago, is the perfection of the free
holders title to his real property
matter of individual judgment and OF
much uncertainty. There are abstracts
Of title today, as there were then; and
ahey are purely the production of the
officials of the Offices in which land
transfers are recorded, without a single
element of certainty to be attached to
them, save as a title insurance concern
Of solvency may be called in and it's in
Burance secured on such title
There are sections in the United States
especially in the more densely settled
sections of the East where today a land
title is regarded as just of value to
correspond to the reputation of the at
to1ney who last examined it; where the
expense and trouble of land transfers
are almost as great as they are in the
III which the danger is ever present and
fully recognized, of the title proving
worthless or so defective as to necessi-
tate large expenditures Of money in or
der to secure the vacation of some claim
of ownership or of lien which had for
gears been overlooked by all who had
owned the property or passed it's IT,
tie.
Even under the somewhat improved
methods which have come into vogue
with the appearance of private abstract
concerns the expense and uncertainty
still continues. No more today than
ten, twenty or thirty years ago is a
chain Of title one particle stronger than
its weakest link.
Here in ST. Paul we are especially at a
disadvantage in this respect by reason of
the additional cumbersome attachment
of a superfuous official known as alb
stract clerk. But everywhere in the
United States, save in Massachusetts
and Illinois, are we still encountered by
the needless, and unsatisfactory system
of land titles handed down to us from
the days when the profession of law was
black-letter science.
The measure offered by Senator Snyder
Of Minneapolis is designed to apply the
recognized, intelligent and intelligib;e
remedy to this-the Torrens system Of
tran -fo~, I II
reforms the Torrens system is much talk
ed of and but little known in actual op
Grafton. 1t is forcing itself to the front.
however; and it will not be long, judging
by the progress it has made of late,
until, even in this land of favored spe-
cial interests, it has been generally SUBJ
sututed for the present cumbersome, an
tiquated, uncertain and expensive sys-
tenn, with its wealth of machinery MAX
ing necessary the doing and doing again,
time after time, of the same thing when
ever a piece of real property is to be
transferred.
When we have acquired sense enough
to put the Torrens system in operation
we will have an official certificate of til
tie instead Of an unofficial abstract of IT,
tie. We will have the state guarantee
the title once and for all, instead of de-
pending on individual lawyers, or officials
or title insurance corporations. There
viii be one examination of the title to
given piece OF property and it will be
final 1t will be conducted by the Of
fetal named by law. If there is any
objection to the title so entered and
declared there is a full hearing Of the
contending claim, made on notice, and
the result is, as the lawyers say, res adj
jUdicata. It is settled by the highest
authority in the state and it is thereupon
embodied in the form Of a state certifi-
cate of title. When the property repre-
scented by that certificate is transferred
the former certificate is cancelled and
another certificate issued in the name Of
the purchaser; and that is all there is
to it.
Before this reform comes into opera
IiOH II VIII nave TO run the gauntlet of
politicians, abstracters, title insurance
companies and all the other special in
terests which sustain the present svs-
tenn. But it is bound to come, whether
or not Senator Snyder succeeds in enact
Ing his measure. 1t has been in vogue
in Australia over forty years; and 1t is
accepted by the people of Manitoba as
indispensable to perfect title even in
that newly settled commonwealth.
American society overrates it's prog
ressiveness, as it does its qualities in al
most every direction. We are among the
least progressive people in the world In
the adoption of public reforms. And
our lack of the progressive spirit In this
particular direction is manifested with
mere and more force as we advance
geographically toward those sections ana
communities which have the largest pre-
tensions Our Eastern communities are
water-logged in such matters. The
West alone can be looked to with anv
hope for the early adoption Of reforms