188 LAND LAWS AND TKANSFEK 



lirst step in the proceeding. The exclusion of rightful 

 owners in cases of error appears cruel ; but it is less hard 

 than our existing system, which confiscates the invested 

 capital of innocent and hond fide purchasers. The 

 guarantee should, it is submitted, be paid at once to 

 aggrieved purchasers, and the registrars should, in their 

 names, enforce all their remedies against fraudulent 

 vendors. It is greatly to be hoped that a Bill, the 

 advantages of which are so numerous, will be speedily 

 passed. 



The system is not new in this country, but as old as 

 the Norman Conquest. Registrars resemble Stewards of 

 Copyhold Courts, to whom the old estate is surrendered 

 and by whom the new one is granted. Titles cease to be 

 derivative, and rest upon the last entry in the registry; 

 examinations, abstracts, deeds disappear; landowners can 

 carry their certificates of ownership in their waistcoat 

 pockets. Since mortgagees need not receive the legal 

 estate, or ' sit upon their deeds,' mortgages are effected 

 with the utmost ease for such small sums as hi. or lOZ., 

 and foreclosure becomes a simple inexpensive process. 

 Consequently charges will be effected at cheaper rates, 

 and second mortgages will not be dearer than first. Land 

 transfer by registration saves 90 per cent, in expense, pre- 

 vents any possible litigation, is completed in a quarter of 

 an hour, and is so simple a process that men of ordinary 

 intelligence can safely transact then' own business. No 

 class is more interested in the removal of legal cobwebs 

 than the English landlords. Recent experience of land- 

 owning has not been favourable ; future prospects are 

 gloomy. They have been severely taught the danger of 

 storing all their eggs in one basket, especially when the 

 bottom has fallen out. Many must be anxious to sell. 



