§ 2.40 p.m.
§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ LORD MORRISONMy Lords, I rise to move that this Bill be read a second time. As your Lordships will already have noted, this is a very short Bill—unusually short for a Scottish Bill. It arises from the Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act of 1948, which I remember as one of the first Bills I was privileged to bring before your Lordships' House. Fortunately, so far as I know—although I have learnt to be very careful in matters of Scottish legislation—this Bill raises no political controversy of any kind, and I need not detain your Lordships more than a moment or two in explaining its provisions.
Section 4 of the Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act, 1948, provides that the Court of Session may, by Act of Sederunt, make provision prescribing the forms of certificates of recordings to be endorsed on writs. Accordingly, the Court of Session passed an Act of Sederunt (Register of Sasines Procedure, 1949) providing inter alia that the form of certificate of recording to be endorsed on writs should be in the form of Schedule B appended thereto. This form does not provide for any signature on the certificate, and since it came into operation no signature has been appended to such certificates. The validity of this Act of Sederunt, and of certificates issued in conformity with its provisions, has now been challenged, on the ground that by virtue of the provisions of Section 14 of the Land Registers (Scotland) Act, 1868, it is necessary to have on such certificates a signature by the Keeper of the Register, or a depute duly commissioned by him. The argument advanced is that the Act of 1948 did not repeal, and was not in- 1104 consistent with, the provisions of Section 14 of the 1868 Act and that, accordingly, the form prescribed should have made provision for the signature of the Keeper of the Register, or his duly commissioned depute. Section 142 of the Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1868, also provides for certificates of registration of conveyances, et cetera, to be subscribed by the Keeper of the Register.
Already, over 60,000 writs have been passed with a certificate in the form prescribed by the Act of Sederunt, and it is manifestly desirable to have the legal position placed beyond the realms of doubt or challenge. Accordingly, subsection (1) of the Bill provides that it shall not be necessary for a certificate on a writ recorded in the Register of Sasines to be signed by the Keeper of the Registers or by any other person. Subsection (2) repeals the provisions of the Land Registers (Scotland) Act, 1868, and the Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1868, which require certificates of registration to be signed. Subsection (3) provides that the Bill shall have retrospective effect as from July 30, 1948, the date on which the Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act, 1948, received the Royal Assent. I hope that with this explanation the Bill will commend itself to your Lordships. I beg to move that it be read a second time.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(Lord Morrison.)
§ THE EARL OF SELKIRKMy Lords, I would add only one word to what the noble Lord has said. This Bill provides for a small amendment of the 1948 Act, and has a retroactive clause, which in this case is excusable, since it fulfils what the original Bill was intended to do. It is in no way an alteration of that Bill as it originally stood. In these circumstances, I have nothing further to say except that, although this is a small Bill, it affects the Register House in Scotland and, therefore, must necessarily be very carefully scrutinised in this House and elsewhere.
§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the whole House.