220 Timehri. 



this (Cape) Colony on its first settlement and has been acted on invariably 

 ever since, except that, by certain Colonial laws, the Registrar of Deeds 

 has been substituted for the Magistrates before whom in Holland transfers 

 were by law required to be made." There has been no such change in 

 British Guiana and such transfers have still to be made before the Judges. 

 The words quoted above may be applied to this Colony. This rule as to 

 transfer was introduced into this Colony, with the law of Holland, on its 

 first settlement and has been acted on invariably (with occasional lapses) 

 ever since. There is no statute or ordinance changing in any way this 

 solemn legal transfer of immovable property, but rather such references 

 as we have in any ordinance, as is to be expected, assume that the re- 

 quirements of the Common, law are complied with. Such a reference is 

 to be met with in Section 26, Ord. 6., 1880 (Registrar's Ordinaire) which 

 deals with the execution and custody of transports and mortgages, etc. 

 There it is laid down that " any transport, mortgage, lease, or other 

 document executed before a Judge may in the discretion of such Judge, 

 be executed in any part of the Colony." The execution before the Judge 

 is naturally assumed, because, unlike Cape Colony, we have here never 

 replaced the requirements of the Common law with any statutory pro- 

 visions or brought the sj'stem up to date. And to digress somewhat 

 here, it is of great interest to read what Mr. Justice Wessels (the author 

 of a well-known History of Roman-Dutch law) says in his judgment in 

 the case Houtpoort Syndicate v. Jacobs (1904. T. S. 105). " In the 

 Roman law T ," he says, " we find nothing about registration in the transfer 

 of land. In Western Europe, however, a custom sprang up in many 

 places which required the seller and the purchaser to appear before some 

 official and to state in the presence of witnesses that a sale of land had 

 taken place. The transaction was then noted in a book kept specially for 

 the purpose. This custom prevailed throughout the greater part of the 

 Netherlands and was in the time of Grotius regarded as an inveter- 

 ate custom. In many parts of the Netherlands, in addition to the 

 registration, the sale had 10 be publicly proclaimed on three Saturdays 

 or on three church days (Recht. Ubs. part 3. obs. 32). 1 here can there- 

 fore be but little doubt that the registration (or passing as we would call 

 it in British Guiana) coram judice loci rei sitae was for the purpose 

 of publicity, partly that land should not be sold twice over to different 

 purchasers and partly so that persons wdio had any claims upon the lands 

 might assert these claims before the purchaser took possession. In 

 Holland the registration took place before the Schepenen of the district 

 where the land was situated. The system of registration was afterwards, 

 by vari us Placaats, extended to hypothecations, servitudes, and other 

 burdens. When the Dutch settled in the Cape Colony they brought over 

 from Holland this system of registration and the titles to land gi anted by 

 the Governors were registered before the Commissioners of the Court of 

 Justice. No sales of this land and no servitudes imposed thereon were 

 recognised unless these were registered against the title before the 

 Commissioners.'' 



