86 HISTOEICAL SKETCH OF THE [n. 



to ascertain, from an inspection of the register, what 

 documents there are in existence which affect the 

 title to the land. Now Lord Hard wick decided 1 that 

 a purchaser of land in Middlesex, having notice of a 

 document affecting the land, was bound by it, 

 although the document had not been registered 

 according to the Middlesex Register Act ; and a 

 purchaser was thus rendered liable to be deprived of 

 his purchase, through forgetfulness or some slight 

 inadvertence on the part of himself or his agent. 

 Lord Hardwick has been blamed for this decision, 

 which went far to destroy the utility of the registers 

 of Middlesex and Yorkshire. 2 The censure was, how- 

 ever, undeserved, as the decision was in accordance 

 with the intention of the Act, as disclosed by the 

 preamble. 



As these Acts are acknowledged to be defective in 

 allowing a purchaser to be affected by an unregistered 

 document, I suggest that the defect should be re- 

 moved, and an efficient system of registration made 

 general throughout England. 



I venture to propose that any one in possession of 

 land, for a freehold estate, or leasehold estate of 

 twenty-one years or upwards, should be entitled to 

 have the land entered on the Register, upon paying 

 the expense of surveying the boundaries, by an 

 official surveyor ; that the boundaries should be 



1 In Le Neve v. Le Neve, Arab. 436. 



2 The Yorkshire Acts have been amended by 47 & 48 Viet. c. 54. 



