THE LAND TRANSFER ACT.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2491, 9 February 1871, Page 2

THE LAND TRANSFER ACT.

NO. I. Notwithstanding the very general antipathy to the in' erfcreuce of lawyers, there is one subject on which most men in these Colonies, however peaceable their disposition, are n cessitatecl to seek legal assistance; and although very many legislative att -mpts have been made in England to simplify the matter as to make that assistance only optional, the consistent and resolute opposition of the profession there has hitherto been so effectual as to leave Imt little hope of the success of efforts of the kind. We allude to the transfer of land. In a ountry like England where the title to real estate has become so intricate and involved that in the great majority of cases it is out of the power of the proprietor of land to register an indefeasible title, however anxious he may be to do so, the recommeiuUtion not to register loses much of its importance ; but in these young Colonies—where as yet most titles are comparatively simp’e and the oldest is still within the statutory limit of forty years, and certainly within the period of sixty years, beyond which no conveyancer ever goes in the examination of a title in an open sale—any opposition on the part of the profession is highly improper and selfdestructive; for we venture to affirm that, for some years at any rate, the legal profession will reap a rich harvest in placing titles upon the register, although we admit that subsequent transactions will be greatly siirplilied and cheapened ; so that any intell : » gent man possessed of real estate may deal with it in whatever way he choses without the intervention of a lawyer. The Laud Transfer Act, 1870, does not profess to convert bad tit'es into good ones, nor, as Lord St Leonards alliteratively puts it, convert good titles into bad ones. The Act provides that where the evidence of title set forth by the applicant is imperfect, th r n and in such case it shall be lawful for the Examiner and Registrar to reject such application altogether or take such further steps as are pointed out in section 25 for the purpose of deducing a good title, if that is posr sihle. The Examiner of Titles no doubt will consider a title imperfect unless it should appear to he such as a Court of Equity would hold to be a valid, marketable title; and in this would be the groat public safeguard, for a valid, marketable title—that is a title which a Court of Equity would enforce on an unwilling purchaser under an unqualified contract for sale—is rarely met with in practice. It is notorious that in marly all sales of real estate the property is sold subject to spw ial conditions which preclude the purchaser from demanding proofs of a title which he could register as indefeasible under the Act; whereas the. Examiner of Titles is untrammelled by conditions, and is, further, authorised by the Act to cause notice to be served upon all persons other than the applicant who shall appear to him to have any interest in the land which is the subject of such application, and to advertise in the district ami elsewhere, and to take such other stops as a prudent purchaser would take ; so that the State actually assists the owner of an imperfect title to make a good and marketable title of it.