three hundred and fifty such persons have kept a cow each, the results having been advantageous to the people, while the farmers have never wanted a plentiful supply of labour.

A new epoch has commenced in the history of English agriculture, owing to the improved education of the labourer, and his growing discontent with country life. The small wages he receives in the South of England as compared with the North, with all the patronage of the Lady Bountiful of the parish added to them, are not sufficient to attract him. Without going into further detail, it seems to the writer that it has become one of the duties of landowners to study the labourer, to comprehend him and his needs, and the methods by which he may be more firmly attached to the soil.

HENRY EVERSHED.

CHAPTER LXXV.

REGISTRATION OF TITLE TO LAND.

By S. A. SILLEM, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.

The

THE question of the Registration of Title to Land is one which has now for many years occupied the attention of those interested in the reform of the land laws. subject is one of great importance, inasmuch as an effectual system of registration of title would undoubtedly facilitate and cheapen the transfer of land, and would, therefore, tend to make it a more marketable commodity -an end which parties of every shade of political opinion agree to be in the last degree desirable. Unfortunately the subject is one of extreme difficulty, and although two measures (viz., the Land Transfer Acts of 1862 and 1875) have been passed with a view to securing registration of title, and passed too, under the guidance of such men as Lords Westbury and Cairns, no success has attended the passing of these Acts, which have hitherto remained practically dead letters.

It would be convenient before dealing with these Acts to point out the evils which they were intended to abolish. Foremost among these evils is the necessity which exists of an examination of the title of a yendor of land by a purchaser extending over a considerable number of years. An abstract, or epitome, of the vendor's title has to be delivered, the original deeds

have to be compared with the abstract, any births, marriages, or deaths on which the title may depend have to be proved, inquiries or "requisitions" have to be made on any points which may require to be explained, and the exact nature of the vendor's interest ascertained. Such an examination obviously is frequently a matter of great expense. But the evil does not end there, for should the purchaser having acquired the estate desire at a later date to sell it, precisely the same operation has to be again gone through by the second purchaser, who must enter on an examination of the title of the first purchaser, who has now become a vendor. There are, too, the risks of the suppression by the vendor of material deeds, which after the purchase of the property by the purchaser may be sprung upon him, and may then be found to depreciate the value of the property, or even to deprive him altogether of its enjoyment. The scheme, therefore, of the Acts has been to have an official investigation of the title of a landowner, whose name is then entered on the register according to the nature of his title. A purchaser then has to look at the register and nothing but the register, and in dealing with the person whose name appears thereon acquires a title according to the nature of the registration. It is, perhaps, worth while to point out the distinction between a registration of title, such as has just been described, and a registration of deeds. The latter form of registration (which exists at the present time in the counties of Yorkshire and Middlesex) is essentially different in character, the various documents of title only being registered. A purchaser, therefore, is still under the necessity and subject to the expense of an examination of the deeds. of his vendor, and has himself to make out whether his vendor is in a position to make a valid transfer to

him of the estate. He is, however, protected to the extent that (subject to the provisions of the various Middlesex and Yorkshire Registration Acts) he is not affected by any unregistered deed, and is not therefore liable to be prejudiced in his estate by the production of any deed, the existence of which was at the time he made his purchase unknown to him.

The Land Transfer Act of 1862, commonly known as Lord Westbury's Act, was the first measure passed in England which created a registry of titles as distinct from a registry of deeds or mere evidence of titles. This Act having failed entirely to effect the reforms which it was intended to carry out, was virtually repealed by Lord Cairns' Land Transfer Act of 1875. Under Lord Westbury's Act (as also under Lord Cairns' Act) the application for registration of title was made a purely voluntary act on the part of the person applying, and with so little favour and confidence did the landowning class regard its provisions that during the thirteen years in which the Act remained in force only 410 applications were made; the number of applications during the last three years of its existence dwindling down to seven, five and four respectively. Under these circumstances it will suffice to state but shortly its provisions, and the reasons which led to its being ultimately superseded by Lord Cairns' Act of 1875. The scheme of Lord Westbury's Act was to enable application to be made for registration by the owner of the fee simple, or persons being collectively the owners of the fee simple or having power of disposition over the fee simple. The main object of the Act was to enable such persons to apply for the registration of a title as indefeasible, and it was provided that no title should be accepted as indefeasible unless it should appear to be such as a court of equity

would hold to be a "valid marketable title" (Section 5). Subject to any exception mentioned in the record of title the persons named in the record were to be deemed absolutely and indefeasibly entitled to the estate, free from all rights whatsoever. It was, however, soon discovered that a title absolute and indefeasible could be but rarely obtained, and then only at great expense and after long and tedious delay. In the case of land in settlement there would be seldom any person or persons having the power to apply for registration, and this had the effect of altogether excluding large quantities of land from the operation of the Act. Even where there was a person within the definition of those entitled to apply for registration, great difficulty was experienced in obtaining registration of a title which should be indefeasible against all the world. In transactions between a vendor and purchaser outside the Act, it is not unusual for a purchaser where a defect in title appears insignificant to run the risk of a claim being made upon him in respect of that defect and to accept a conveyance. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that this is a matter of every-day occurrence, and it is only in an infinitesimally small number of cases that a purchaser suffers any loss from incurring the risk. But it is one thing for a purchaser to accept such a risk and another for an official ignoring the defect, to register the purchaser's title as indefeasible, and so to bar absolutely any person who might have a claim under the defect. The officials at the Land Registry, therefore, were obliged to act with a caution and deliberation which threw serious impediments on the expeditious alienation of land, and in a way that often resulted in the imposition of heavy costs and expenses upon the party applying for registration. The Act, moreover, contained no provision by which any person entitled to any interest in land could obtain compensation for loss of that interest