184 LAND LAWS AND TEANSFEK 



market, but there are few buyers, because, among otber 

 reasons, land is an inconvenient form of property, awkward 

 to deal with, and therefore tempting only to the rich. The 

 result of such a system is that the majority of persons in 

 this country have no sympathy with ownership of land, 

 and neither feel respect for, nor desire to secure, the sacred- 

 ness of real property. 



The difficulties of introducing land transfer by means 

 of registration are undoubtedly great. They are courage- 

 ously met in Lord Halsbury's Land Transfer Bill of 1887. 

 The Lord Chancellor proposes to render transfer by regis- 

 tration universal, to bring estates gradually under the 

 Act through the agencies of local registries in districts 

 from time to time declared, to invalidate all dealings 

 with land by sales, mortgages, conveyances, or settle- 

 ments, except through the machinery of registration, and 

 to establish a guarantee fund for the compensation of 

 aggrieved purchasers. The details of the Bill will be 

 better understood if the proposal is compared, both in its 

 introduction and its working, with systems of land trans- 

 fer already in operation. 



In the Australian colonies the system has been in 

 force since it was introduced into South Australia thirty 

 years ago by Sir R. Torrens. Upon the Torrens Act Lord 

 Westbury and Lord Cairns based their legislation of 1862 

 and 1875, and on it the Prussian legislation of 1872 is 

 founded. All land alienated by the Crown subsequently 

 to 1858 was brought under the Act compulsorily, and 

 the title of the owner was the Registry ; land previously 

 alienated was registered voluntarily. In the latter case, 

 the applicant submits his title to examiners, who report 

 to the registrar upon the clearness of the title and of 

 the description of the parcels. Notices of the application 



