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477, 492.) In this section, we again find that "the court" is to fix the amount of the fine.

The Landed Estates Court may direct an issue to be tried before "any jury, for the purpose of determining any question of fact (sec. 83); and the decision of such jury (which might consist of five members in a county court) is to be conclusive on "all persons whatsoever," unless the Landed Estates Court otherwise directs (sec. 84). This is somewhat startling. Should an issue be tried by a jury before Lord Campbell, and the verdict be contrary to the evidence, or should the ruling of my lord be considered by one party as improper, it appears that no court other than the Landed Estates Court could direct a new trial; but that court, consisting of two judges (conveyancers of not less than ten years' standing, and who must therefore be excellent judges of such matters), may or may not set aside the verdict, and thus the functions of the court of Queen's Bench in banco would in these cases be completely delegated to two conveyancers of ten years' standing!

As to bill No. 2, previously to completing the transfer of land or of a charge, the registrar is required to give notice to the transferrer of his intention to complete the same (secs. 27-33); but when a charge is created, no notice is to be given to the registered proprietor. It seems to us that, if notice be necessary in either of the first-mentioned cases, it is equally necessary in the last.

The remedy of the proprietor of a charge under an instrument conferring a power of sale, is, that he may at any time, after a day to be mentioned in such instrument, transfer the land as if he were registered proprietor (sec. 20). Now let us consider the effect of this clause. In the first place, would the registrar be required to give the mortgagor notice of the proposed transfer? We think not; for, as the proprietor of the charge may transfer as if he were registered proprietor of the lands, the notice must be given to him. A registered proprietor, therefore, who may borrow money and give the lender a power of sale, might find himself deprived of his property without any notice whatever of the intention of the mortgagee to proceed to sale, and without being required to pay the mortgage money; for there is no provision in the bill requiring the proprietor of a charge to give the registered proprietor notice, although such a provision might easily have been inserted without affecting the title of a purchaser, in the same manner as a clause to the same effect is now inserted in all mortgage deeds containing a power of sale. Moreover, as we have already noticed, there is no implied covenant for payment of principal or interest; and the consequence of these defects is, that no person could safely borrow,

and no person could safely lend, money on the security of registered land, without requiring an ordinary deed of mortgage to be executed in addition to the registered charge. Then the question arises, whether such ordinary deed of mortgage would require an ad valorem stamp? The 17th section provides that the instrument of mortgage shall be stamped in the same manner as if it were an unregistered mortgage. Now, if this instrument falls within the description of any of the instruments charged with ad valorem duty on mortgages under the stampacts, the special enactment would be unnecessary, and therefore it must be concluded that it does not, in which case the additional ordinary mortgage deed would not come within the provision for the exemption from such duty contained in the 55th Geo. III., c. 184, tit. mortgage," which is to the following effect :-Provided always that, where several distinct deeds or instruments, falling within the description of any of the instruments charged with the said ad valorem duty on mortgages, shall be made at the same time for securing the payment of the same sum of money, the said ad valorem duty, if exceeding £2, shall be charged only on one of such deeds or instruments, &c. Thus we apprehend the mortgage deed, as well as the registered charge, would be liable (at least the commissioners of inland revenue would hold such to be the case) to ad valorem duty.

A transfer of registered land, or of a registered charge, may be made by endorsement on the land certificate, or on the certificate of charge, or by such instrument as the Landed Estates Court may from time to time direct (secs. 25 and 31). The instrument of transfer is to be delivered to the registrar, and detained by him, (secs. 26 and 32). The land certificate, or certificate of charge, must, if the instrument of transfer is endorsed thereon, necessarily be handed over to the registrar; but, supposing that the Landed Estates Court should direct that a transfer may be made by an independent instrument, there is no provision in the bill which requires the land certificate, or certificate of charge, to be delivered to the registrar. This omission would preclude the Landed Estates Court from permitting a transfer otherwise than by indorsement.

Sects. 35-43, relate more or less to the transmission of land and charges. They are in many respects extremely defective. The draftsman does not appear to have contemplated the possibility of two or more persons, not trustees, being registered as joint proprietors. Suppose a registered proprietor should devise his land to A for life, with remainder to B in fee, the persons who ought to be registered are A and B as joint proprietors; for there can be no reason, in so simple a case as this, for the intervention of trustees. Should A die first, his name ought to

be erased altogether; but none of the clauses seem to be exactly applicable to such a state of affairs; they all seem to have been prepared with a view of appointing new trustees. Moreover, there is nothing in the bill which expressly declares whether two or more joint proprietors, in the absence of a memorandum on the register, are to be treated as tenants in common, or as joint tenants. Here, again, the case of trustees alone has been contemplated.

We must next consider how leasehold interests would be affected. A leaseholder may, with the consent of the registered proprietor, or by an order of the Landed Estates Court, put a notice of his lease on the register (sec. 48): as no man would be so foolish as to take a lease from a registered proprietor without binding him to consent to an entry of such notice, this clause would probably so far work well. But let us suppose that the leaseholder desires to sell his lease. He could find no purchaser without proving that notice of his lease is on the register, and the bill provides no means of proving this. The leaseholder is not entitled to require any certificate from the registrar of the entry of the notice, nor can he inspect, or authorize any other person to inspect, the register; he may, if he can, procure the permission of the landed proprietor for that purpose (which we hardly need say would in most cases be refused), or he may apply to the Landed Estates Court for an order to permit inspection, but the court is not bound to give it to him. Surely the leaseholders of England ought not to be placed in such a position as this, by which their property may become unmarketable? Again, suppose P the registered proprietor leases to A, who underlets to B: B cannot put a notice of his underlease upon the register, because between him and P there is no privity. P buys A's lease, and has it surrendered to him, and applies for the withdrawal of the notice. What will become of poor B, of whose underlease there can be no notice on the register? The Landed Estates Court is to make rules for the withdrawal of notices of leases; but is it fitting that parliament should entrust to any court the power of making rules which may not sufficiently provide for the safety of a single underlease in the kingdom? Is the vast amount of underleasehold property in England to be trifled with in this manner? Why not as well leave the whole of the detail of registration to the court? The difficulty in this case arises from dealing with the subject of registration in a piecemeal fashion. Had leasehold property been included in the scheme, there would have been no difficulty, where now there appears to be an almost insuperable one. We cannot see how any leaseholder could be permitted to withdraw notice of his lease without coming before the Landed Estates Court, and

proving either that no underlease had been granted by the original lessee, or any person claiming through him, or that every underlease which may have been granted had expired; and we certainly do not see why leaseholders should be inconvenienced and put to expense in dealing with their property, in order that a supposed benefit may be conferred on freeholders.

Next with regard to cautions. The effect of a caution (sec. 51) would be, that the registrar could not register any dealing with the land until he had served notice on the cautioner. After the expiration of twenty-one days after the date of the notice (not after the day upon which the caution may be served), the caution is to cease, unless an order to the contrary be obtained from the Landed Estates Court; but by sec. 52, if before that time the cautioner, or some one on his behalf, should appear before the Landed Estates Court, that court may, upon a bond being entered into for indemnifying every party against any damage that may be sustained by reason of the delay, make an order on the registrar, requiring him to delay registering any dealing with the property for such further time as may be mentioned in the order. If a cautioner should happen to leave England, or should happen to have a brain fever, or should otherwise be prevented from attending to business, what would be his position? "Every man should, as soon as he enters a caution on the register, direct letters from the land registry to be sent to his solicitor," is the answer. Good; there would be no great hardship in this. But who is to appear before the Landed Estates Court and petition for delay, and, beyond this, who is to enter into the bond? The cautioner's solicitor? We do not think that many solicitors would be kind enough to undertake such a slight liability. No; it is perfectly clear to all except the framer and supporters of this miserable bill, that the system of cautions as carried out would be a dead failure, would work great injustice, and would afford facilities for fraud and cheating, which persons like those whose histories are told in the volume entitled "Facts, Frauds, and Failures," would avail themselves of largely. These remarks apply in some measure to the system of cautions in bill No. 1, but not to so great an extent; for there the Landed Estates Court could protect the absent in the same manner as the interests of a purchaser are now protected by his counsel and solicitor; but the Landed Estates Court would have no power over cautions on the register, except such as would be given by the act. It is not to be supposed that persons will enter up cautions without just cause. In the first place, the caution must be supported by an affidavit; and in the next, if a caution be lodged without reasonable cause, the cautioner would be liable to pay damages. For

our part we cannot see why it should not be the business of the registered proprietor to procure the cautions to be removed, and why it should not be left to him to petition the court, which could then protect the cautioners as it might think proper.

Section 68 is as follows:--" No purchaser for valuable consideration shall be affected by the omission to send, or by the non-receipt of, any notice by this act directed to be given." If this clause is meant to apply only to a purchaser of registered land or of a registered charge, from a registered proprietor or mortgagee, it is unexceptionable, and ought to have been, though it was not, inserted in the original bill. To show how necessary the section is, we would observe that the title of every purchaser from a registered vendor might have depended upon the fact of a properly addressed letter having been sent to the cautioner; the mistake or negligence of a clerk in a name or an address, or in duly posting a letter, might have deprived a purchaser of his estate, without even leaving him any remedy under covenants for title. And these were the measures which were to give a purchaser an indefeasible title! When we read in the reports of the Postmaster-general, that numbers of letters are, in the course of the year, posted even without any address at all, and that such letters frequently contain bills and other valuable property, and are despatched, not by illiterate or ignorant persons, but by merchants-who usually manage their business far better than government officials manage theirs-were we to expect that the clerks of the Landed Estates Court, or of the Land Registry, would be infallible?

But we think that the term "purchaser for valuable consideration," may be held to include others besides the purchaser of the registered land or charge. Suppose a registered proprietor holds the land in trust for X, and A purchases for valuable consideration from X; or if A should have a judgment against the registered proprietor, obtained for value, or should sell his judgment to B; or if A should be one of Sir Hugh M'Calmont Cairns's secret mortgagees for value, or should sell his interest to B-would not A or B, in any of these cases, be a "purchaser for valuable consideration?" and if the registered proprietor should then sell, but A or B (as the case may be) should not receive notice of the intended sale, would they be bound? Certainly not, according to the legal meaning of the word "purchaser," which is not, so far as we can see, in any way restricted in the bill. Need we add that, under such circumstances, these bills for giving and perpetuating indefeasible titles would (should they ever become acts) be but snares and delusions to entrap the unwary, and those who confide in the ambitious but reckless experiments of men who, alike ignorant of the law as it is,

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