Land Registry Act 1862

Land Registry Act 1862[a]
Act of Parliament
coat of arms
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to facilitate Proof of Title to, and the Conveyance of, Real Estates.
Citation25 & 26 Vict. c. 53
Territorial extent England and Wales[b]
Dates
Royal assent29 July 1862
Commencement29 July 1862[c]
Repealed13 October 2003[d]
Other legislation
Amended by
Repealed byLand Registration Act 2002
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Land Registry Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 53) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was the country's first attempt at a system of universal land registration, specifically a title register, applying to England and Wales.[1] It replaced several local deed registries throughout England, which had been established in the early 1700s in order to protect against fraud conducted by undisclosed prior incumbrances on titles.[2][3] The legislation simplified the transfer of land.[2] At the time, land ownership was difficult and expensive, and usually only done by the very privileged.[2] Registration under the 1862 act was also expensive, partially because it was necessary to map and survey the entirety of the property (this was fixed by later legislation).[3] 2,000 properties were registered under the act.[1]

Opponents of deed registration at the time claimed that a general registry was unnecessary.[3] In practice, the conditions of sale at the time circumvented a number of the problems that motivated the legislation.[3] A system of deeds registration was also considered at the time: title registration was a new and untried system.[3] The prior deed registries had a number of problems, including those relating to notice, and the lack of standardised and reliable indexes to the considerably large documents.[3] General registry bills had previously been narrowly lost in Parliament in 1740 and 1758.[4]

This system quickly proved seriously flawed due to high costs and long delays.[4] Following further attempts in 1875 (a failure) and 1897 (a near-failure), the present system was brought into force by the Land Registration Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 21),[3] as amended by the Land Registration Act 2002.

Registry

A guide to interpreting the land registry mandated by the 1862 Land Registry Act in the UK

The register was divided into three main parts: one with details on the properties and their locations, one with details on the owners and sales, and one with details on mortgages and leases.[1] These were called "The Register of Estates of Indefeasible Title to Land", "The Record of Title to Lands on the Register", and "The Register of Mortgages and Incumbrances" respectively.[1]

About 2,000 properties were registered under the act, and the final register comprised 272 volumes.[1] "Instrument Books" were also kept, containing documents like deeds, plans, and marriage certificates to verify contents of the registry.[1] The first registered title (Title Number 1) corresponded to the properties Crane Hall and The Chantry of Fitzroy Kelly, registered in 1863.[2]

Subsequent developments

Sections 108–113 of the act were repealed by section 1 of, and the part IX of the schedule to, the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971, which came into force on 27 July 1971.[5]

Section 135 of the act was repealed by section 1 of, and part IV of the schedule to, the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1974, which came into force on 27 June 1974.[6]

The whole act was repealed by section 135 of, and schedule 13 to, the Land Registration Act 2002, which came into force on 13 October 2003.[7]

Notes

This article incorporates content from the following article: Land registration.

  1. ↑ The citation of this act by this short title was authorised by section 1 of, and the first schedule to, the Short Titles Act 1896. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
  2. ↑ Section 1.
  3. ↑ The Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793.
  4. ↑ The Land Registration Act 2002 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2003 (SI 2003/1725).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "HM Land Registry: 1862 Act Register". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "1862 property ownership records released". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Howell, Jean (July 1999). "Deeds Registration in England: A Complete Failure?". The Cambridge Law Journal. 58 (2): 366–398. doi:10.1017/S0008197399002056. ISSN 0008-1973.
  4. 1 2 Mayer, Peter and Pemberton, Alan. "A short history of land registration in England and Wales", Great Britain Land Registry, 2000. Indexed in the Stockport library system, available from a freedom of information request in 2022.
  5. ↑ "Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1971 c. 52
  6. ↑ "Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1974", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1974 c. 22
  7. ↑ "Land Registration Act 2002", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 2002 c. 9

Further reading

  • Charles Fortescue-Bricksdale. The Practice of the Land Registry Under the Transfer of Land Act, 1862. Waterlow and Sons Limited. London. 1891. Google Books.
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