The Transfer of Land 



345 



few. As a rule the title maps are sufficiently 

 correct." And again, 390 :— " I may say that 

 our entire expenses, including the examination 

 of documents, the perambulation of the property, 

 and the preparation of maps, &c., have varied 

 from about ^3, the lowest, to ^20, the highest." 

 441 :— " Since the commencement of the work 

 we have not found the slightest difficulty either 

 as regards the maps or in ascertaining all neces- 

 sary particulars respecting the boundaries of the 

 properties registered." Fortunately this is so ; 

 for this objection, if well founded, would lie, not 

 against the Westbury method, but against the 

 applicability of registration of title under any 

 method whatever ; for as Colonel Leach says, 

 query 373 : " An indefeasible title would be of 

 comparatively little value unless the lands to 

 which the title apj^lied were defined. Such 

 a title would, in fact, apply to the individual, 

 not to the land, and not a plot of land could 

 he said to have or be dealt with as having 

 an indefeasible title." Suiely immunity against 

 disputes and litigation between neighbours, 

 thenceforth for all time, may amply compensate 

 for this trifling delay and expense incurred once 

 for all in the preliminary stage. But be this as 

 it may, those who argue against the requirement 

 of strict definition of boundaries, forget that the 

 aim and object of registration of titles — the 

 motives for incurring inconvenience and outlay 

 which the first placing land on the record 

 entails — is the security, facility, expedition, and 

 economy in future transactions attained by 

 cutting off the retrospective character of the 

 titles. If parties deahng are still to be necessi- 

 tated, or even permitted, to look behind the 

 simple entry in the record, and to refer to old 

 deeds or other evidences, whether for encum- 

 brances, boundaries, or any other purposes, the 

 end and object of registration of titles, its raison 

 iPefre, in short, will be lost. They will be 

 thrown back into the power of the attorneys, 

 bound hand and foot. The third alleged cause 

 of failure is the admission of trusts to be dis- 

 closed on the register, which practically involves 

 the recording officer, or the party dealing in the 

 responsibility of interpreting deeds and looking 

 after the appropriation of proceeds, conditions 

 scarcely compatible with the simplicity and 

 facility in dealing aimed at in the Bill brought 

 forward by Lord Cairns, and practically secured 

 under the measure in operation in Australia ; 

 which, though permitting declarations of 

 trusts to be deposited for safe custody and 

 reference, rec[uires the trustees to be re- 

 gistered, with absolute powers of disposition 



and sale, beneficiaries and cestui que trusts 

 being protected by a system of caveats requiring 

 notice of intention to deal, and by a " no survi- 

 vorship" clause amongst trustees. This defect, 

 though dwelt on by all the witnesses as weighty 

 and valid, is but slightly adverted to in the 

 report coming incidentally under their objection 

 " C," registering partial interest. The legal 

 committee, whose report I have before c[uoted, 

 give their judgment upon the main question as 

 follows : — "The point concerns the fundamental 

 principle of registration of titles as distinguished 

 from registration of deeds — namely, that the 

 entry in the record alone shall constitute an 

 official dealing, the instrument executed by the 

 owners being, like the railway transfer or bill of 

 sale of a ship, only the authority to the officers 

 to make the entry which confers the title. The 

 Torrens system has adopted this principle, and 

 appears to carry it out fully and consistently. 

 There is, we think, considerable room for doubt 

 whether the corresponding provisions of the 

 government bill are adequate and sufficiently 

 clear." Out of eleven commissioners six express 

 dissent from the report upon this point, and their 

 views upon it are thus forcibly expressed by one 

 of them (Mr H. Thring) : — "In my opinion, a 

 register of title should in no case be a register of 

 the contents of deeds, but should be restricted 

 to the nanies of owners of certain estates in 

 land known to the law, or capable of being 

 defined by statute ; in other words, a register of 

 titles should not be in any respect a record of 

 evidences of title. The system of registers estab- 

 lished by the act of 1862 is not in accordance with 

 the above principles. That act requires a 

 record of legal instruments affecting registered 

 land to be entered on the register, and 

 allows in certain cases the whole con- 

 tents of such instruments to form part of the 

 registered title. Such a system appears to me 

 to differ little from an incomplete registry of 

 assurances, and to possess all the disadvantages 

 without the advantages of the numerous schemes 

 formerly proposed for the registry of deeds. I 

 therefore think the existing system of registry 

 should be altogether discontinued." I would 

 wish to call special attention to this, the opinion 

 of an actual majority of the Commissioners, 

 because there is great danger lest the acknow- 

 ledged failure of Lord Westbury's Act of 1862, 

 and of the corresponding Act of 1866, applied 

 to Ireland, should be mistaken as involving the 

 failure of the principle of registration of title, so 

 long advocated by this Association. Whereas, 

 in truth, that great principle has not been 



