1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
67 
% 
THE TORRENS SYSTEM OF REGISTRATION 
OF TITLES. 
A MUCH—DISCUSSED SYSTEM EXPLAINED. 
Compared With the Old Plan. 
The legislatures of several States, during their last 
session, appointed commissions to make investiga¬ 
tions, and inquire into the practical workings of what 
is known as the Torrens system of registration of 
titles, as compared with the present system. 
Present System Reviewed. —In nearly all the 
States, transfers are made by deed, the seller always 
being compelled to show that his deed is the last link 
in an unbroken chain of properly-drawn, executed 
and recorded conveyances reaching back to the patent 
from the Government. Each dealing with the land 
necessitates a careful inspection of the claim of title. 
The mere making of a perfect abstract of title to a 
piece of land, with all the incumbrances which affect 
it, involves a great exercise of legal learning and 
careful research, and can be safely done only by skill¬ 
ful persons. After an abstract is once acquired, the 
owner must have it brought down by the abstract 
makers to show all matters of record affecting the 
title which have transpired during his ownership. 
The abstract is then submitted to the attorney for the 
buyer, who gives his client an opinion upon the title 
as disclosed by the abstract, upon which opinion, if 
satisfactory, the proposed transfer is effected by the 
payment of the consideration arid the delivery of the 
deed. The last-named act passes title. The present 
system is claimed to be unsatisfactory in the follow¬ 
ing particulars: 
The Expense. —The cost of the abstract, either in 
whole or in its continuation, is necessary in each 
transfer of title. To this must be added the cost of 
its examination by the attorney for the buyer. The 
average outlay for these items will be not far from 
S20. It is estimated that, in some States, the annual 
costs of abstracts of title and their examination by 
counsel, is upwards of 810,000,000. 
The Delay. —Too long a time intervenes between 
making contract and delivery of deed. Delays con¬ 
sequent upon procuring abstracts, their examination 
and hunting up matters that do not appear of record, 
frequently run into months. 
The Insecurity. —Errors may occur, not only in 
the making of the abstract, but in the opinion of the 
buyer’s attorney. As against these, the buyer assumes 
the risk. If the defects be sufficiently serious, he may 
lose the land, and then may recover damages from 
his grantor under covenants of warranty. 
Voluminous Records. —The necessarily increas¬ 
ing records of instruments and matters connected 
with the title, the lengthening of the abstracts in¬ 
creasing steadily the costs of transfers, and the risk 
of errors. At the present rate of annual increase, in 
a short time, these books will be so numerous in some 
counties as to require a large building for their keep¬ 
ing ; and the time and expense necessary for their 
examination will very seriously interfere with 
transfers. 
Increasing Burden.— These defects in the present 
system operate as a perpetual tax upon the holders 
of real estate, directly reduce its ease of convertibility 
into money, and thus lower its market value. 
There being no perceivable way by which the pres¬ 
ent system can be retained and these defects removed, 
after careful examination of the different methods of 
transferring real property now in use in civilized 
countries, the essential features of what is commonly 
known as the Torrens System are receiving favorable 
consideration. This system has been in operation for 
over a century in some of the countries Jin the Old 
World, and has given general satisfaction to the land 
owners of every country where it has been tried. One 
country after another has adopted it, each with uni¬ 
form success. Wherever it has been tried, it is in 
actual use to-day. 
An Outline of the Torrens System.— The essen¬ 
tial features of the Torrens System are that the re¬ 
corders of deeds are made registrars, and in addition 
to their usual duties as recorders, shall conduct the 
registration of titles, and all dealings with registered 
lands. They are assisted by deputies and such ex¬ 
aminers of title (who must be competent attorneys at 
law) as may be necessary. The system does not neces¬ 
sitate the creation of any new offices or officials, will 
require less help, and all the machinery necessary to 
transfer land by registration of title is already to be 
found in the ordinary recorder’s office. 
Any owner may register his land. The owner files 
with the registrar his application in writing for the 
registration of his title, together with his abstract of 
title. These are passed upon by the examiners, and 
if, in their opinion, the title is in the applicant, the 
land is registered by its entry in the registry book of 
the registrar. Such entry is a certificate signed by 
the registrar, certifying the title of the land to be in 
the applicant. This is called the certificate of title, 
and is made in duplicate. One is kept by the registrar 
and bound to the register ; the other is delivered to 
the owner. During the first five years the land is first 
registered, the certificate of title is prima facie proof 
receivable in all courts that the person named therein 
is the owner of the land. After the expiration of five 
years (or any other period agreed upon) from the first 
registration, no suit attacking the title of the reg¬ 
istered owner can be brought, and the certificate of 
title is conclusive proof, in all courts, of the ownership 
of its holder. Provision, however, is made for the 
protection of the rights of all adverse owners whose 
right of action may not have accrued at the time of 
registration, and proper additional time is given in 
which to bring such actions. All constitutional rights 
of any owner or claimant adverse to the registered 
owner are fully protected. 
Certificates of Title as to all adverse rights out¬ 
standing at the time of first registration are absolute 
and indefeasible, subject only to the foregoing limi¬ 
tation period. As to all rights adverse to the title of 
the registered owner accruing subsequent to the first 
registration, all certificates of title, except as against 
a fraudulent holder, are absolute and indefeasible. 
If any such right be established, it is enforcible, not 
against the registered land held by one free from 
fraud, but only against the one fraudulently defeat¬ 
ing such right, or against the registrar upon his bond 
for negligence in improper registration. It is essen¬ 
tial to this method of registration that the act of the 
registrar in dealing with a registered title be held ab¬ 
solute ; and a transfer of or dealing with a title by 
him must be taken by all to be as unimpeachable and 
conclusive as though his act was the final decree of a 
court of last resort. Indefeasibility of title, as 
against adverse interests outstanding at the time of 
the first registration, and upon which cause of action 
has accrued, is not secured until after the expiration 
of the term of five years allowed for the establish¬ 
ment of such interests. No valid objection can be 
urged against the length of the limitation ; present 
statutes of limitation are more stringent, cutting off 
rights of property without compensation. The strik¬ 
ing advantage of the limitations in this system is 
that the statute begins to run upon the entry of the 
land upon the register, which is a matter of public 
record. 
How Transfers Are Ma<le.— Transfers of regis¬ 
tered land are made in the following manner : The 
owner executes the usual deed (quit claim, special or 
general warranty), and submits it, together with his 
certificate of title, to the buyer. In every transaction, 
the owner must produce his certificate of title. If 
lost or destroyed, a duplicate may be secured. No new 
forms of conveyance are required. The buyer, after 
inspection of the proper folium of title in the regis¬ 
ter, and finding thereon no incumbrance or lien, 
safely pays over the purchase money, and receives the 
deed and certificate of title. He then delivers them 
both to the registrar, who notes the transfer upon the 
register. This act operates to transfer the title. No 
title passes by the delivery of the deed. The deed, 
after delivery and before the registration of the trans¬ 
fer, is a mere contract between the parties. Its sole 
object is to authorize the registrar to register the 
transfer. When the transfer is registered, the regis¬ 
trar cancels the old certificate of title, and issues a 
new one in duplicate as before, one called the original, 
being retained in the register, and the other called 
the duplicate, delivered to the buyer, now the new 
owner. The deed is kept by the registrar, r. d. f. 
(To be continued.) 
Events of the Week. 
Domestic.—Daring highway robberies are on the increase in 
Chicago, six robberies with violence being reported in one day 
A young woman was held up and robbed in the doorway of the' 
First National Bank January 12. . . A combination of chew¬ 
ing-gum manufacturers has been effected. The trust has a capital 
of 115,000,000. . . Representative Nelson Dingiey, of Maine, chair¬ 
man of the Committee on Ways and Means, died at Washington 
January 13, of heart failure following pneumonia, aged 66 years. 
Mr. Dingiey was most widely known through his tariff bill. 
John Thomas, colored, died at Penn Yan, N. Y., January 13, aged 
120 years . . John C. Geer, of Long Eddy, N. Y., died January 
14, aged 85 years. He was a professional rattlesnake catcher, 
dealing in skins, oil, rattles, and live snakes, until the express 
companies refused to handle his shipments of the latter. , 
The naphtha launch Paul Jones foundered near the Mississippi 
coast January 14; four lives lost. . . The annual report of the 
New York State Board of Charities states that the number of 
beneficiaries under its care last year numbered over 2,500,000, 
the amount expended being about $22,000,000 annually. 
A law recently passed by the New Jersey legislature makes at¬ 
tempted suicide a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000 or 
imprisonment at hard labor not exceeding 15 years, or both. It 
is said that this law will be rigidly enforced. . . Highway rob¬ 
beries continue prevalent in Chicago, and January 17, three men 
held up and robbed a policeman. A few days previous another 
policeman was robbed of his revolver, star and c.ub. . . Five 
boys were drowned by breaking through thin ice while coasting 
at Scranton, Pa., January 17. . . It is proposed to develop the 
power of the Whirlpool Rapids, Niagara Falls, by means of a 
canal inside or under the Gorge road. This would give 35,000 
horse power, and cost $2,000,000. . . An 18-ton flywheel in Loril- 
lard’s tobacco factory, Jersey City, burst January 17, killing two 
persons and fatally injuring two; damage, $10,000. . . A Win¬ 
ter mail service has been provided for southern Alaska. Hereto¬ 
fore mail has been sent to Alaska only from April 1 to November 
1. . . Two children coasting at Scranton, Pa., were killed by 
running into a trolley car January 16. . . The transport Comal 
sailed from Savannah January 19 with 170 car-loads of provisions 
for starving Cubans. . . A fire in New York’s shopping dis¬ 
trict January 18 caused a loss of $350,000. . . A steel bridge 
crossing a ravine at Cleveland was destroyed by the breaking of 
an ice jam January 18; loss $100,000. . . A bill designed to pre¬ 
vent premature burial has been introduced into the New York 
Legislature. 
General Foreign News.—Passengers on the steamer Break¬ 
water, from Guatemala, reported January 12 that Ameri can rev¬ 
olutionists are planning to seize Honduras. . . Great Britain 
has given the Thames Ironworks contracts for two first-class 
battleships, of 14,000 and 18,000 horse power respectively. . . A 
great fire at Bridgewater, N. S , January 12, resulted in $200,000 
damage, and left 100 persons without shelter. , . A terrible 
gale raged over the British Isles and English Channel January 
12, causing damage and loss of life in many places. Near Pen- 
maen-Mawr, Wales, a railway track was washed away, and a 
freight train dashed into the sea, drowning the engineer and 
fireman, Telegraph communication was interrupted and many 
disasters at sea are reported. The gale passed over the Con¬ 
tinent, causing loss of life in Belgium, Germany, and Russia 
. . . Russia contemplates an expenditure of 50,000,000 roubles 
for army and navy, which does not suggest disarmament. . , 
The London Admirality Court, investigating the collision between 
the Bourgogne and Cromartyshire, by wine 1 ! many lives were lost 
last year, finds that the French steamer was to blame, being out 
of her course and proceeding at a high rate of speed. . . Dis¬ 
turbed conditions continue in France, and the republic appears 
ripe for revolution. . . The White Star steamer Oceanic, 
launched at Belfast January 14, is the largest vessel now afloat, 
her length, 704 feet, being 24 feet more than that of the Great 
Eastern. She is to have engines of 40,000 horse power, ard is ex¬ 
pected to cross the Atlantic in 4*4 days, consuming about 700 tons 
of coal a day . . The Chinese at Szechuan are attacking 
foreign missions. 
War Investigation.—The dispute over the army beef is assum¬ 
ing a more acrimonious and-personal phase. In testimony given 
January 12, Gen. Eagan, Commissary-General of Subsistence, 
indulged in virulent abuse of Gen. Miles. This abuse wasem- 
bodied in a typewritten statement, which was returned by the 
Commission, with a rebuke. January 17, Gen. Eagan returned 
his statement to the Commission with the violent language elim¬ 
inated, pleading great provocation. . . Capt. J. C. Irvine, of 
the transport Panama, testified to receiving, at Ponce, Porto 
Rico, beef which had been shipped on the Manitoba. Within 
three days, the beef had to be thrown overboard, because its 
peculiar putrid odor permeated the entire ship. Gen. Humphreys 
stated that there was so much confusion on the Santiago expe¬ 
dition that no one knew where the stores were and what was 
landed. . . An order was given to court-martial Gen. Eagan, 
January 17. The inquiry is to begin January 25. The court in¬ 
cludes 13 officers, Gen. Merritt being at the head. 
Congress.—Warm debate followed the discussion of the Peace 
Treaty January 12. It was held that this treaty should not be 
discussed in open session. . . The Pillager Indians made an 
appeal for justice to the Senate Indian Committee January 12 
This is the tribe concerned in the recent Minnesota outbreak. 
They ask for protection against the rapacity of the whites. . 
January 14 Mr. Hoar offered a resolution to turn the Philippines 
over to the insurgents. . . The Naval Personnel Bill was 
passed by the House January 17. This provides for the proposed 
increase of the Marine Corps to 6,000. . . Opponents of the 
Peace Treaty are using every effort to prevent its ratification. 
Cuba.—Thomas Doane, a well-known customs inspector, died 
at Havana of yellow fever January 12. . . It is decided to give 
local self-government to Santiago, instead of centralizing the 
power at Havana, and this decision c luses great public rejoic¬ 
ing. . . Gen. Sternberg is arranging for the establishment of 
three army hospitals in Havana and one in Matanzas. The gen¬ 
eral health of the troops is very good at present, but it is feared 
that there will be an increase in sickness as the unhealthful 
season approaches. Gen. Sternberg states that he considers it 
entirely impracticable to put Havana in such a condition that it 
will be safe for an unacclimated person during the coming Sum¬ 
mer, although Gen. Ludlow is doing all in his power to improve 
sanitary arrangements. The epidemic of yellow fever usually 
begins in May, and its extent deppnds upon the number of unac¬ 
climated strangers. . . The Havana municipal hospital at 
Aldecoa is in a frightful condition, the patients including crimi¬ 
nals and lunatics, who are wretchedly cared for. Gen Ludlow 
will improve the arrangements. . . Mrs. Leonard Wood, with 
other women, is o-ganizing a branch of the Society for the Pre¬ 
vention of Cruelty to Animals at Santiago. Brutality to domestic 
animals is a common feature of life in Cuba, as in all Latin 
countries. 
Philippines.—The situation seems quieter at Manila, but the 
telegraph censorship limits the news. . . President Schurman, 
of Cornell University, has been appointed special commissioner 
to the Philippines, to investigate the condition of the Islands. . . 
Spain has called the attention of the United States Government 
to the provision in the Peace Treaty by which we promise to 
release the Spanish prisoners held by Aguinaldo, ami asks what 
has been done regarding it. This is a second inquiry. Owing to 
Aguinaldo’s attitude, it has been impossible, so far, to secure the 
release of the prisoners. . . The telegraph censorship at 
Manila causes absence of news, which the Spanish authorities 
attribute to fear of letting the true condition of affairs be known. 
It is understood, however, that affairs are less strained at noilo. 
. . . The Filipino government at Malolos announces that it 
will release the Spanish civilian prisoners, but not the friars. 
January 17, 300 Spanish prisoners left Manila for Spain, leaving 
7,500 still to be repatriated. 
The Navy.—The cruiser Albany was launched at the Arm- 
strong*’ shipyard in England, January 14. She is a sister ship 
to the New Orleans, both being purchased shortly before the out 
break of the war, from the Brazilian government. The Albany 
is the first American warship ever launched abroad, and was 
profusely decorated with American and English flags, an enthu¬ 
siastic crowd watching the ceremony. 
