Main Aims of the Land Registration Acts and Meeting Them

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Main Aims of the Land Registration Acts and Meeting Them

The aims of the extensive restructuring of English property law that

took place in 1925 can be accurately summarisedby Lord Upjohn[1]: "it

has been the policy of the law for over a hundred years to simplify

and facilitate transactions in real property. It is of great

importance that persons should be able freely and easily to raise

money on the security of their tenure." Prior to 1925, the system for

the transfer of land remained complex and haphazard. The legislation

of 1925 sought to rectify this by several means, the most notable of

which was the expansion of the registered land system. The need for a

comprehensive register of title to land had long been the primary

ambition of law reformers. This is plainly evident in a 1857 Royal

Commission[2] which wanted land owners "to deal with land in as simple

and easy a manner, as far as title is concerned…" The realisation of

this goal depended ultimately upon a definitive record of the rights

and obligations relating to all land in England and Wales[3].

Consequently, the Land Registry Act (1862) introduced an early system

of Land Registration. However, the system proved unworkable and an

entirely new system was established by the Land Transfer Acts of 1875

and 1897[4]. While it is true that the aims of the Royal Commission

have never been fully met by the Land Registration Act (1925), the Act

(and subsequent Acts) do go someway towards establishing a purposeful

system for the regulation of transactions with land. The purpose of

registration is to make the transfer of land simpler, quicker, cheaper

and safer; it is the aim of t...

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[40] (1988) AC 54

[41] I.e. that the transfer of land was safer, simpler and economical,

legal title was guaranteed, the risk of fraud was reduced and there

was no need to trace good root of title

[42] Central London Commercial Estates Ltd v Kato Kagaku Co Ltd (1998)

Sedley J: 'The [LRA] has not had good press'. Clark v Chief Land

Registrar (1994) Nourse LJ: 'Legislation of extremely low quality'.

[43] Those of 1986, 1988 and 1997

[44] During the 1980s the Commission issued four reports directed

towards a reformulation of major features of the 1925 Act. This

culminated in 1998 with the Draft Land Registration Bill, which never

reached the statute book and has been overtaken by more recent

proposals.

[45] Law Commission, Property Law: 4th Report on Land Registration

(Law Com No 123, 8 Nov 1988)

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