(NO. 192.) SECOND READING. (Hansard, 21 July 1884)

§ LORD WENLOCK,

in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, asked 1717 for the indulgence of their Lordships' House while he explained, as briefly as possible, the objects of the Bill. The Yorkshire Registries Bill was promoted by the Courts of Quarter Sessions of the three Ridings of Yorkshire to consolidate and amend the Acts relating to the public registering of deeds, conveyances, and wills in Yorkshire. Their Lordships were doubtless aware that Yorkshire and Middlesex were the only two counties in England that enjoyed a system of registration of transactions relating to land. The statutes by which this system was established had existed 180 years, and no Act had since been passed to amend them. But they showed, that, in some respects, they were ill-suited to the requirements of the present day, and the West Riding had been several times in communication with the Government of the day as to the desirability, nay, even the necessity, of some modification in the Acts. It was also doubtless in the recollection of their Lordships that last Session a private Member in the House of Commons brought forward a Bill with this object, without any communication with the Justices. They had, therefore, promoted the Bill, which he now hoped would pass the second reading. He would point out that the two main objects of the Bill were—first, the amendment of the law as to the effect of registration, and as to what might be registered; second, simplification of the mode of election of Registrar, and the manner in which the business of Registrar was to be conducted. Registration was first given to Yorkshire, and had proved since to be a means to afford protection against fraud to all persons buying or mortgaging land. For that purpose it was necessary that all dealings in land should be registered. Under this Bill, it was hoped that registration would become practically compulsory. He wished to point out the alterations proposed by the Bill, which he hoped would bring about this result. By the Bill every deed would have priority according to the date of its registration—in the absence of fraud. Registration was to constitute actual notice of the instrument registered for all purposes. The Register might be corrected by the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, and official searches might be made by the Registrar, and the certificate of the result should be a sufficient 1718 protection to solicitors and others who were bound to search. Provision was also made requiring registration of a memorandum of any lien or charge for unpaid purchase-money, or of any equitable mortgage by deposit of title-deeds. Power was also given to Courts of Quarter Sessions, subject to the approval of the Lord Chancellor, to organize a thoroughly good system of indexes, without which it was impossible to carry on a good system of registration. It also provided that deeds might be registered in full. It was very often useful that anyone searching the Register should be able to see the deeds affecting the land in which he was interested in full; but as many persons did not like the idea of exposing to the public all the transactions regarding their dealings with land, this was made optional, and the rule, which was now only applicable in the North Riding, was now extended to all the Ridings. It was hoped by this plan to do away with the necessity for "abstracts of title," which were often very expensive. A more simple mode of registration was also provided in place of the present complicated method. The Bill also enabled documents to be sent by post, instead of, as at present in many cases, compelling the personal attendance of witnesses. The second part of the Bill applied to the election of future Registrars. It was not intended to interfere with the privileges of the present Registrars; but that in the event of a vacancy occurring the election would vest in the Courts of Quarter Sessions, instead of by the present £100 freeholders. There was no list kept of the freeholders, nor did any Corrupt Practices Act apply to elections of the Registrars; and so it happened that very great and heavy expenses fell on the candidates. It was estimated that if an election in the West Riding were contested to the end among the 7,000 freeholders of that Riding, the expenses to the candidates would be £15,000. Under these circumstances, and considering all the inconveniences of the present unsatisfactory arrangements, this Bill provided a new mode of election, as already described. It also provided that the Registrar should be paid by salary, and that the fees taken in the Registry Office should be paid to the county rate, out of which rate also the salary of the Registrar and the expenses of the Office would be 1719 paid. These were the chief objects as foreshadowed in the Bill, and he had every confidence that their Lordships would pass it. He did not wish to touch on such matters as compulsory registration of titles, a subject which was open to much argument; but as regarded registration of assurances, he could assure their Lordships that the scheme was much appreciated in Yorkshire. As a proof of the utility of the offices in Yorkshire, he held in his hand a statement that in 1882 some 21,000 assurances were registered in the three Ridings; while in 1876 that number was exceeded in the West Riding alone, so that evidently the system as regarded Yorkshire was popular. He thought it would not be inappropriate to read to the House an extract from the Report of Mr. Osborne Morgan's Committee in 1879— That registration of titles is in the abstract to be preferred to registration of assurances may at once be conceded, for the former aims at presenting the intending purchaser or mortgagee with the net result of former dealings with the property, while the latter places the dealings themselves before him, and leaves him to investigate them for himself. It must not be forgotten, however, that if every assurance relating to land were registered, a basis would be laid which would make the registration of possessory titles a comparatively simple matter. They had a registration of assurances in Yorkshire, and all they asked for was that the system of that registration should be improved. The Yorkshire Law Societies appointed a Committee which attended before the Select Committee in the House of Commons, and proposed Amendments, some of which were in the Bill. He also had reason to believe that the Bill, in its present shape, was approved by Yorkshire solicitors. Under these circumstances, he trusted their Lordships would assent to the second reading of the Bill.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR

said, he did not rise for the purpose of throwing any difficulty in the way of the Bill passing; but he was bound to say that it did not realize his idea of a substantial step in the direction of that result which most persons who wished for a reform in the transfer of real property desired to see. It was, however, an improvement upon the existing system of 1720 registry of deeds in Yorkshire. So long as they had a registry of deeds, whether in part or in their entirety, they must have various disadvantages which they would not have under a system of transfer by registration only. He had looked at the Bill sufficiently closely to see that the greater part of its provisions, if they did not accomplish all which might be desirable, were, at all events, in the direction of usefulness, and were likely to produce good results. There were, however, some points as to which he was not satisfied that the Bill was not susceptible of amendment. He alluded, in the first place, to the clause dealing with contested wills and intestacies, the meaning of which he thought might be made a little clearer. The Bill provided that where a will was contested, and could not be registered within a period of six months after the death of the testator, the person claiming an interest under it could within that time register a notice of the will; and if the will was established within two years its date of registration should be held to be that at which the notice was registered. The next clause seemed to allow, without any limit of time, any person who claimed as heir of any land, and believed that the owner died intestate, to register an affidavit of intestacy; and then it went on to say that— Where any such affidavit of intestacy has been duly registered, any assurance or will made or executed by any person who would be empowered to make or execute the same in case of such intestacy and duly registered should have priority over any will of the supposed intestate, the date of registration of which should be subsequent to the date of registration of such assurance or will, and not within or under this Act to be deemed to be within a period of six months after the death of the supposed intestate. He thought the second clause should be amended, so that the power to register an affidavit of intestacy should take effect at the end of the time allowed for registering the notice of will—namely, at the end of six months. He thought that would be soon enough for all parties, and it would make it clear that the two clauses should be taken together. He thought, also, that the priority, to be obtained by registration, ought in this, as in other cases, to be limited to titles by purchase for valuable consideration. Another objection referred to the appointment of Deputy Registrars. By Clause 37 1721 the Court of Quarter Sessions, with the approval of the Lord Chancellor, could appoint as Registrar any person who had been a barrister or solicitor of seven years' standing, or a person who for five years had been Deputy Registrar. No doubt that was a proper qualification; but by the 3rd sub-section of the same clause the Registrar might, with the consent of the county authority, nominate any "fit" person to be his deputy. It did not state anything as to the qualifications of the deputy; but if he was to be allowed after five years to become Registrar it was, he thought, essential that there should be some qualification before he could be appointed a deputy. He did not speak without experience of the evil effects which resulted from the appointment of persons to discharge important public functions without proper qualifications. He hoped some Amendments in the directions he had indicated, and such others as might be found necessary, would be made in the Bill, and he would, therefore, offer no opposition to its now being read a second time.