Licking Valley courier., 1918-04-04
SCISSORS & PASTE;
: Good Things Clipped from
f: Our Exchanges with an
{; Occasional Comment
! By the Editor.
What The Torrens System Is.

IL land titles are examined by
duly appointed and bonded Of
ficial, who certifies to the court
that they are good if found so.
The title is then entered of re-
cord and a copy given the owner
of the land. After that all ques-
tions about the validity Of the
title, all looking up of old titles
and old claims, all fear of unpaid
notes or taxes, are done away
with. Any claims against the
land are entered Of record along
side the title record where any
man can see them. Sales are al
so recorded there. A transfer
Of land is made by the simple
process of writing it on the back
of the Torrens deed or certificate
of ownership and turning that
over to the purchaser.
If the Torrens system should
be adopted in this state, it would
be in a voluntary form. That's,
the man who wished a Torrens
title could get it and the man who
did not wish to go to the expense
of getting one could let it alone.
The man wishing such a title
would apply to the court for one,
submitting his old deeds. The
official examiner of titles would
then look up the title record and
make an abstract of it Just as
lawyers do now when a piece of
land is transferred. If he found
the title clear, he would so certify.
If he found anything against it
that could be cleared up by the
owner he would notify him of it.
If he found the title doubtful, it
would have to be determined by
suit as now, or in some cases by
the publication of notice to any
possible climants who would be
given a certain length of time in
which to present their claims.
After all claims had been settled
and the title pronounced good,
the court would scrutinize the
work of the title examiner, Ii
! his work was found correct, and
1.-THE title good, the land would be
tsuf@eyed and the tfiIs corners duratbfiy
4 marked. Then a guaranteed
title would be issued to the land
owner and his title TO the land
would be good against all parties,
and he could transfer it, as de-
: scribed above, just as easily as
, he could transfer a stock certifi
cate or a bond, and with little
more expense. Even if it SHOULD
be found that the examiner made
= a mistake and gave him title t
which he was not entitled, HI
would still hold the land. Tit
{ state would have to satisfy tn,
| injured parties and, in turn, col
lect from the examiner and hi
bondsmen.
The purpose of the Torren
: system is to make land titles Ger
. tain and easy to transfer-to d
Y away with land title litigation an,
n the eternal expensive searching
> of records and making of alb
\ stracts which now cost landown
ers so much.
Of course, the man getting
Torrens title has to pay for il
The fee, however, need not b
large, not much larger than tn
cost now of an examination O
records and the making of an al
stract. Laws establishing tn
q system usually provide that tn
:. title fee shall be a certain pc
cent of the value of the land, an
{ this prevents the charges on
I small tract becoming too great
Z. If the Torrens system shoul
II be enacted into law, it is not like
n ly that many people would go t
the expense of getting a T,rren
6 title unless there was some clair
!, against their land which the
a felt would be set aside by a con
t petent examiner. Men buyin
n land would be likely, however
o to insist on Torrens titles. Gel
tainly they would if wise. Thu
y one after another the land title
II of the State would definitely b
- determined for all time and di'
u putes about boundaries, OVERLAP
y ping claims and disputed right
!? be done away with.
d Certainly, this is a consun
m ,.,nA.n.. lz.a,.ll., A.. H. la,;ral