The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-02-21
TIT. TxlRRENS' SYSTEM AND ItfF'
LAWYERS.

of the Torrens system, ana Itpoi'e
it without prejudice
1t s one of the most important acts
would do more to make land eNs1y AM
Icbeaplv Transferred than any means
ever brought forward. Under the
present outgrown system every tune
a piece of land passes TO another own
er or is mortgaged there is delay ana
COST in uD the title md in
drawing the deed or mortgage, anu
in registering and recording. II plli
seeks to end this, and after a title mas
once been examined n perfected
there is no more cost no matter no"
often It passes from one owner 20
another. The bill requires no owner
to have his title perfected under this
system, imposing no expense except
such as individuals voluntarily as
sumo, and is q measure that is forced
upon no one.
Did you ever try to borrow money
on land? Then YOU know the cost,
delay and trouble to pledge land as
security for a loan. Did you ever try
10 bUIJON I!tICS Oh tJttllk SttCh. II
costs nothing, and all the owner has
to do is to sign a note and write his
name on the stock, and naturally
there is more demand for such prop
.erty than for land.
The Torrens system would enable
any owner Of land to have his title
guaranteed, and why should this bet
ter system be denied him?
Most Of the lawyers are against the
change. Naturally so. A profession
that is necessarily 50 largely governed
by precedent and is SO dependent
upon what has been in its argument
and practice is slow to make any
change in long-established uses. While
in every crisis lawyers have been
among the foremost they rarely lead
n reforms that go contrary ito prece
dent. Neither Golden Q Bright were
lawyers. There habit Of regarding as
fixed and settled what has been de-
clared by the courts and accepted for
generations is SO ingrained that law
yers could not have led the revolu-
ton by which Golden and Bright
freed the commerce of England and
made 1t the master Of the seas and
the controller Of worldwide trade.
This paper expressed the hope some
days age that the lawyers in the IT,
islaturc would rise out of their natur-
al devotion to precedent and the old
order and help to give a trial to the
Torrens. system. Some of them
thought this paper meant to say that
all the opposition from lawyers was
selfish and sprung from love tf fees
derived from Investigating title and
from law suits. Not SO. This paper
did not reflect upon honorable attor-
neys who oppose the Torrens system.
They are honest and sincere, and
most OF them are not Iegislating for
their own pockets. There are, OF
course, small lawyers who in and out
of the Legislature See nothing but
their private interests, as there are
like men in all callings. But the truth
is that lawyers ought to reflect and
ask themselves whether it is not the
.ingrained devotion to tradition and
precedent and old conditions tha. un-
consciously gives them bias against
the bill. We think that is the trouble
with some OF them. Many lawyers
resented the change in the courts
when ali cases We're not tried under
the title John Doe Z. Richard Roe,
and every step out Of black letter law
has been resisted by many Of the
ablest lawyers. though. of course.
there have been and are progressive
lawyers, who are not governed SO
much by what has been decided as by
what is best for the day in which
they live.
Let US give the Tocrens system a
trial IN North Carolina. 1t Will be a
long step forward in this practical
age when land should be as cas- ly
transferred as merchandise and made