HC Deb 07 December 1831 vol 9 cc125-6

Mr. John Campbell moved for leave to bring in a Bill for the Registration of Deeds, &c. in England and Wales. This was one of a series of bills he had brought in last Session, and he did not apprehend any opposition to it at this early stage of its progress.

Lord Morpeth

said, that he had lately been amongst his constituents in Yorkshire, who had universally expressed a wish to him to be exempted from the operation of this Bill; and he therefore begged to express a hope, that the hon. and learned Member would have the goodness to propose the exemption of the county of York himself, when he brought forward the measure.

Mr. John Campbell

said, it was impossible for him to consent to the suggestion of the noble Lord, for he had himself received repeated and numerous requests from people residing in Yorkshire, wishing that county to be included in his Bill.

Sir Charles Wetherell

should feel it his duty, when the proper stage should arrive, to offer his sentiments on the subject of the Bill which his hon. and learned friend had moved for leave to bring in; but he would take the present opportunity to assure his hon. and learned friend, that he intended to give it the most earnest and strenuous opposition in his power. There were a variety of provisions in the Bill to which he felt insuperable objections.

Mr. Strickland

pledged himself to a similar course of opposition, he also felt it his duty to apprize the hon. and learned Gentleman, that he had attended several public meetings since the termination of the last Session, and he had found his constituents in general wholly averse from the Bill, and if Yorkshire was to be included in it, the Table of the House would be covered with petitions deprecating the measure.

Mr. Schonswar

added his testimony as to the general dissatisfaction that prevailed in and near Hull with the proposed change in the law of registration.

Lord Morpeth

hoped his hon. and learned friend would, by a prudent concession, exonerate him from the necessity of moving that the county of York should be exempted from the operation of the Bill.

Mr. Paget

assured the hon. and learned Member, that he had read the Bill, and believed no person but a professed lawyer could comprehend it. There were many circumstances which would make the operation of the Bill inconvenient. A main one was, that it would go to throw great obstacles in the way of honest and enterprising people, who were occasionally in the habit of raising money on the deeds of property they possessed in land by depositing such deeds as securities with their bankers.

Mr. John Campbell

in explanation, observed, that it was not intended to render it necessary, that the original, but only a duplicate, of the deeds should be registered under the Act; and he was of opinion, that the measure would facilitate the transactions to which the hon. Member had alluded, instead of rendering them more difficult.

Leave given, Bill brought in, and read a first time.