THE NUMERICAL REGISTRY OF DEEDS AND TITLES ACT.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 112, 16 November 1858, Page 3

THE NUMERICAL REGISTRY OF DEEDS AND TITLES ACT.

A Bill to provide for tho better Registration of Deeds and Instruments affecting Real Property, and to substitute other provision in lieu thereof, ('Concluded.) '54. And whereas it is expedient to facilitate the transfer of real property by rendering the telease of rights of dower by married women valid, without the same being acknowledged as now required: Be it therefore enacted, that any deed heretofore or to be hereafter executed by a married woman whereby she releases, extinguishes, or disposes of any dower or right of dower in any land, shall not require to be acknowledged by her, but every such deed, if made with the concurrence of her husband, shall be as valid and effectual without any acknowledgment as though the same had been acknowledged as was required by law before the passing thereof. 55. For the better security of titles from legal difficulties and obscurities, every deed or instrument conveying or assuring land or otherwise dealing with the same shall (so for as relates to the land itself) express one definite object, so that such deed or instrument shall in no wise convey or re-convey back again the same property in oi* upon the Same deed or parchment, and shall also clearly state on the back tlwreof what that definite object is, whether a conveyance, settlement, mortgage, re-conveyance, assignment, lease, or otherwise as the same may be ; and in every instance where: niGre deeds and instruments than one are presented for registration, the conveyancer will and shall also number the same in the order of precedence which the Registrar shall in the registration thereof give to each such deed or instruments. • '-■: ----y '--v. 56.: Every person by whom any instrument shall • be brought or sent to the Register Office for registration shall receive a receipt for the same, which shall have inserted' thereon the number which was endorsed upon such instrument, with the date when left, arid the Registrar's or Deputy Registrar's signature attached thereto. 57. Before any instrument which shall have been registered shall be returned to the person who presented the same for registration, such': person shall compare thesame with the copy thereof in the books of the, office, and shall sign his. name at the foot of such copy as an attestation of the correctness thereof. 58. The Registrar- or Deputy Registrar, shall supply copies of, or extracts from, any index to b"e kept, or copies of any instruments which shall hayebeejn recorded, or any memorial which shall have been deposited under the provisions of this act; to any person entitled to the1 same, which person shall have liberty to examine such index or recorded copy, or deposited memorial, for the purpose'of satisfying- himself of the correctness or the oopy or extract so supplied. . §9,, Before the Registrar shall supply any such eppy or .extract, the person applying for the same shall sigh a declaration that such copy or extract; is required in respect of land in which he has a claim or Itas'Cdntracifed for Boihe estate or interest, or jthat jhe.is a or solicitor employed by seine .other person to } be named and described^ and •6 interested as aforesaid, or that he is the authorised elerft of a "barrister or solicitor to be named and'.describe_l, employed its aforesaid. <SO. If any person/ shall, in any such declaration, wilfully; state" anything: that shall- be untrue, he

shall forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than five pounds nor more than twenty pounds, to be recovered in a summary way before any two Justices of the Peace. ■ " - 61. Every copy or extract so supplied as aforesaid shall liave written or endorsed thereon a certificate stating that such copy or extract is an examined copy of an extract from such index or recorded copy, or deposited memorial as aforesaid, and specifying the book and page from which the same is taken, which certificate shall be verified by the seal of the office. Every copy or extract so verified shall be admissable as secondary evidence of the contents of the instrument of which it purports to be a copy or extract. 62. Any person having an estate in land under any instrument hereby authorised to be registered may require any person in possession thereof to cause the same to be registered, and in case the person in whose possession the same shall be shall refuse so to do, it shall be lawful for any Judge of the Supreme Court, upon a summary application, to make such order respecting the registration of such instrument as shall seem meet. 63. If any person shall apply to the Registrar, or in his absence the Deputy Registrar, for the certificate of the state of the title of any registered property as exhibited upon the title page assigned to the same, such Registrar or Deputy Registrar, shall supply an attested copy of the contents of such title page to the person so requiring the same; provided always that the party so applying shall sign a declaration to the effect that such certificate is required in respect of land in which he has a claim or has contracted for some estate.or interest,, or that he is a barrister or solicitor employed by some other person, or the authorised clerk of a barrister or solicitor to be named and described, and is employed by them for that purpose ; and for every such certificate there shall be paid to the Registrar the fee of ss. 64. This act shall not extend or be construed to extend to perfect, improve, prejudice, invalidate, or in any way affect any registration or supposed registration of any instrument hcretefore registered, under or by virtue of the said recited ordinance, but such registration respectively shall have in all respects the same effect or want of effect as it respectively would have had if fchis act had not been passed. 65. Any person, npon payment of a fee of five shillings, may deposit any deed or instrument which has been already registered in the said i Register Office, for which deed or instrument the said Registrar, or in his absence the Deputy Registrar, shall give a receipt specifying the Registrar's number on every such deed or instrument aiid the date of the receipt thereof. 66. The Registrar, or in his absence the Deputy Registrar, shall be entitled to receive the fees specified in Schedule C to this act annexed, and the same shall be paid in advance unto such Registrar or Deputy Registrar. 67. Prior to the appointment of a Deputy Registrar, and in the absence of the Registrar, the several duties which are by this act imposed upon the Registrar of Deeds may be performed by the senior clerk in the Registry of Deeds Office, and the performance of such duties by such clerk shall be as valid as if they had been performed by the Registrar himself. 68. A table of such fees shall be hung up in some conspicuous place in each Register Office. 69. All fees received in any Register Office under the authority of this act shall be paid monthly into the Treasury of the province in which such district respectively is situate for the public uses of such province. 70. It shall be lawful for every Registrar from time to time to make rules for regulating the practice of his office, provided that the rules so to oe made shall be approved by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and shall not be repugnant to any of the provisions hereinbefore contained. 71. In the construction of this act, the term " Estate" shall be taken to mean any estate, interest, right, title, claim, or demand, in, to, or upon any land situate within the Colony of New Zealand. 72. Tin's act shall come into operation on the first day of ensuing the passing thereof, and shall be known and may be called by the short title of "The Numerical Registry of Deeds and Titles Act."