REGISTRATION OF TITLE (SURREY) ORDER, 1952 (Hansard, 19 February 1952)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR

My Lords, in moving that this Order be approved, perhaps I should say a very few words. Your Lordships will be aware that the draft Order has already been considered by the Special Orders Committee of this House, and their Report, which is on the Table, is wholly favourable to it. The object of the Order is to extend the system of compulsory registration of title to land on sale in the County of Surrey. It is one more step in the process, which has been going on very gradually since 1897, of making the registration of title compulsory throughout the country. In those areas where it is now in force, including the whole of London. Middlesex, Croydon, and certain other places, the purchaser of land must register his title in order to get a good title to the land. When notice of intention to make this Order was given, certain local law societies within the area exercised their undoubted right and asked for an inquiry, and accordingly my predecessor, the noble and learned Earl, Lord Jowitt, directed that an inquiry should be held. This was entrusted to a distinguished Queen's Counsel, Mr. Neville Gray. Mr. Gray duly held an inquiry, and he has made a full and, if I may say so, excellent Report, in which he emphatically advocates and approves of the proposed extension of the system to this area. I personally have always been in favour of the extension of compulsory registration of title, and in particular I find myself wholly in agreement with what the learned Queen's Counsel has said. I have no hesitation in commending this Order to your Lordships, and accordingly I beg to move.