LAND CERTIFICATION 71 



rate list of farm lands for sale in these respective states. This 

 tendency to take charge of the marketing of land in such a way 

 as to eliminate the huge wastes of the middleman, the overcapital- 

 ization of land, the robbery and ruin of the immigrant, is one of 

 the most hopeful tendencies now discernible in connection with 

 this subject. Indeed, some attention is now being given to the 

 advisability of land certification. 



The Torrens System. The weak point in our land title system 

 at present is the cumbersome method of recording land titles. 

 The title is registered with some governmental functionary com- 

 monly known as the County Register of Deeds. The purchaser, 

 to be sure of the soundness of his title, usually is put to the expense 

 of securing what is familiarly known as an abstract of title. The 

 records are searched from the original grant of the land down to 

 the present moment of sale to see if there are any outstanding 

 claims which would cast a shadow on the title. Where titles have 

 changed hands many times as is the case in the older sections the 

 expenses of this investigation are considerable. Even then a flaw 

 may be discovered later in the title. A new system is coming into 

 use in the United States known as the Torrens System. It is now 

 in use in about half of our states. This system originated in South 

 Australia in 1858 and has spread widely throughout the British 

 Colonies. The most important features of this system are simple 

 enough, namely: Land owners record their titles to real property 

 with a Registrar. This official, after due examination, grants a 

 Certificate of Ownership which is an absolute and indisputable 

 title against all the world. From that moment on transfers of 

 real property can be made by the transfer of the certificate and 

 proper registration of this fact. The title is given to owners in 

 actual possession. If, however, another person should later estab- 

 lish his legal right to the property he can claim indemnity only 

 for his loss but cannot recover the property itself. Funds for such 

 emergency payments are usually furnished by the state and come 

 largely from the registration fees. The adoption of this system 

 in this country would offset all necessity for securing the so-called 

 abstract of title, and would eliminate the very expensive work now 

 performed by the title guarantee companies. 



Land Certification. Progressive traders in the real estate 

 market are proposing that the purchaser of farm land be protected 

 by receiving a certificate with his land title, correctly setting forth 

 the topography and the soil conditions (based on the federal soil 

 survey), climatic conditions, based on official statistics as to tern- 



