The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-07-15
LAND TITLES.

Call, which we gladly republish:
A subject of special interest to
farmers is discussed in the May Fo-
rum by Hon. William @. Mains, un-
der the title of ''The Registration of
Title to Real Property" He says:
"The defects in our own system are
patent. Our business procedure pre-
scribes a transfer by deed, and COM
pels the grantor to show, at the time
of transfer, that his conveyance is the
last in a chain of instruments prop
erly drawn, executed, and recorded,
and that these extend backward for a
period of from sixty to eighty years
without flaw or defect. 1t is at once
evident that the investigation of this
chain of title requires the services of
person learned in the law of real
property, and that the fee for his en-
ployment, whether paid by the seller
or the purchaser, is a tax upon the
transfer. Whether the property re-
mains in the hands of single owner
for half a century or is transferred
dozen times in a dozen years, this
fixed charge recurs with every con-
veyance.
"In the second place, an examina-
tion of title involves in each case
considerable delay; and this is an
item of embarrassment which preju
dices the use of real property for the
securing of emergency funds, even
when no defect in title is shown.
From two weeks to thirty days must
elapse between the signing of a con-
tract and the closing of title; and this
delay may be prolonged on occasion
for months, to satisfy legal require
ments that are merely technical.
FINALLY, the result obtained in the
matter of the title is in no case alb
solutely certain. Error may intervene
not only because of carelessness in the
searching of the records, but because
of the inability of the attorney to fore
see how peculiar phraseology or un-
usual transactions of record would be
viewed by a court in case of litigation.
It is not at all impossible, in practice,
for one attorney to refuse to pass title
upon the very record which another
attorney, of equal standing, has ex-
amined and approved. Further, it
frequently happens that matters which
are not part of the record at all, and
which no ordinary prudence could
have anticipated, so develop as to
modify the results. A simple illus
tration of this may be found in a
widows claim for dover in land which
has been passed by deed without her
signature. 1t sometimes happens that
a married realty holder passes in the
community in which he lives as a
bachelor. He may give deeds and
make afidavits setting forth that such
he really is. The existence of a wife,
therefore, may not be suspected until
after his death, when she appears
from some unforeseen quarter, max
ing her claim for dover in his estate,
and submitting proofs which the
courts are bound to recognize.
"It may accordingly be urged in to-
ia against the present system that it
is expensive. dilatory, and, being un-
official in it's character, at best incon-
elusive, and this no matter how learn
ed or how competent may be those who
are responsible for the title examina-
tion. The TOrrens system substitutes
for the necessity of examining deeds
and conveyances for decades back an
official examination of the title in the
| first instance. The title is then reg
istered, and subsequent transfer is ac-
complished at nominal expense, while
the time required to verify the owner
ship is shOrteued few hours"
Of course every reader knows that
this is true presentation of the case
Our prevailing system of real estate
transfers is clumsy and expensive. It
is a fine thing for the lawyers. A
lawyer gets a fee for examining the
title every time any real estate is
transferred. Then the system of
transfer is so full of opportunities for
fraud or mistake that lawsuits not in
frequently result, and the lawyers
have another feast. Probably one
reason why the cumbersome, antigua
ted system of real estate transfers is
not replaced by something betters is
that the lawyers who constitute