The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-03-02

under the Land Registration Act, the
| following article from the San Fran
cisco Recorder of February II should
be read with interest. 1t refers to
/ the successful issue of a test case of
the Torrens law in California.
Mrs. Charlotte Robinson brought suit
to register title and Judge Kerrigan of
the San Francisco Superior Court re-
fused to proceed on the ground of I'M
constitutionality. She then brought a
writ of mandamus against him and the
Supreme Court handed down deci-
sion sustaining the act in every par
ticular against an attack on all posi-
| BILE grounds. and ordering the court
to proceed. Mrs Robinson secured a
| decree of registration in February,
1907, which is the first granted in the
State, although the act has been in
| force since 1897.
This is the Recorder IS article:
STARTING THE TORRENS SYSTEM.
1t is automatic that the first step is
the hardest and most difficult to take.
This applies from babyhood to the
grave. In the important affairs of life
we are inclined to hang back and count
consequences, but once over the door
sill, as it were, we go forward boldly
enough.
The first real step in matter of
great Importance to owners of real
property in this State, and particularly
in San Francisco, was taken yesterday,
when the first decree directing the reg
istration of land titles under the So
called Torrens Act was granted by
Judge Graham.
While the statute under which this
decree was made has been law of
this State since March. 1897, this is the
| first time advantage has been taken
of its provisions. While the system of
registration of land titles, as distin-
guished from the present system of
record titles, has been in vogue in Aus
tralia, in several European countries,
and in a number of Eastern States,
notably Massachusetts,, Illinois and
Minnesota, for many years, and its
advantages are well known, it was a
new and strange procedure, tbHre
seemed TO be no particular occasion
for having recourse to it, and like
sa15 Of
equal or perhaps greater merit, it slum-
bered peacefully.
1t has been only since the great con-
fagration of 1906 destroyed the record
| title to real property in San Francisco
and made necessary the restoration of
those titles, that the Torrens Act and
its manifold advantages over the pres
ent system have been given prominence.
The MeEnerney Act provided the means
for restoring and establishing real es-
tate titles, and as the foundation of the
Torrens system is decree quoting
title, it also provided a starting point
for the registration of titles under the
The Real Estate Board took the mat
ter up and the matter was very thor
oughly and ably discussed by lawyers
and laymen, the weight of opinion be-
ing in favor of the registration of land
titles.
The modern tendency is toward sim
plifeation in everything. There is
nothing so complex as the transfer of
a piece of real estate under the pres
ent system. Ten million dollars worth
of bonds or stocks can be transferred
by few scratches of a pen and the
issuance of new certificate. But
two hundred-dollar lot must go the
office before the buyer is sure of his
title; and even then there may be a
flaw in it.
The purpose of the Torrens Act is to
put the transfer of real estate upon
exactly the same plane as bonds or
stock, so that that title, once registered,
~ u e1hoAC1ACI ny LhS Ed1CCI1et-
ton of one certificate and the issu-
anee of a new one to the purchaser.
Such system would also make it easier
to put up real estate as collateral for
loan. If man wants to borrow
money on stocks or bonds, he deposits
his certificates or the bonds with the
lender as security; the Torrens system
makes land just as available and as
quick an asset as any form of per-
sonal property. The cost of transfer
ring piece of property, often seri-
Gus drawback to poor people, is great
ly reduced, and a feature of the sys-
tenn, unfortunately not as yet included
in the California law, is the State IS
guarantee that the title is perfect,
which guarantee is supported from a
fund created by a very small tax upon
the purchase price or value of the
property on each transfer.
The Torrens system, as before stated,
is in vogue in a number of other
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