Torrens System

• Originated from Sir Robert Torrens, who was the third Premier of South Australia.

• It is a system of land registration, in which a register of land holdings maintained by the state guarantees an
indefeasible title to those included in the register.

• It has become pervasive around the countries, especially those in the Commonwealth of Nations.

• It is a system of land title where a register of land holding maintained by the state, guarantees the
indefeasible title to land registration and transactions.

• Under current Torrens acts, land ownership can be quickly ascertained without any need for repeated examinations
of large public records, and the resulting titles are commonly safe and marketable.

• Register is everything and any dealing must be recorded to gain recognition.

 Principles of Torrens system

Mirror principle Curtain principle

Principles of Torrens system
Mirror principle

• The mirror principle is that the ownership register is a mirror that accurately and completely reflects the current fact of
substantive ownership.

• Except with certain unavoidable exceptions, title is not subject to any limits, rights and qualifications unless referred to
in the registry.

• Mirror principle means that the register correctly reflects the information on the property header; if the property is
sold, the mirror principle guarantees that the only information changed in the register is the name of the owner of the
land
Principles of Torrens system
Curtain principle

• The principle required that registration be the sole source of information for the intended purchaser.

• As the Privy Council stated, the main purpose of this act is to save people who deal with the proprietor of registration
from the hassles and costs behind the register in order to investigate the historical and validity of the author's
ownership

• The curtain principle is usually stated in the individual Torrens statute because no trust letters will be put on the register,
implying that they are not subject to any unfair restraints and that it is clear that buyers should not be subject to any
Impact of trust notification.

• The curtain principle is a certificate of title as the main proof of ownership and the need to eradicate lengthy
documents.
Principles of Torrens system

• This two principles form the concept of ‘indefeasibility of title’ that been clearly recognized in the Section 340
of National Land Code 1965.

• Section 340 NLC – The title or interest of any person or body for the time being registered as proprietor of any land,
or in whose name any lease, charge or easement is for the time being registered shall subject to the following
provisions of this section, be indefeasible.
Torrens system VS English Deeds system
• Torrens system ensured the indefeasibility of title to the land registration and its transaction where it overcomes the
uncertainty in land proprietorship. The land title will be formally provided in duplicate, one will remained with the Land
Office or Land Registry Office, while the another one will be kept by the land owner

• English Deeds System different from Torrens System, it is refers the deed itself is registered.

• English Deeds System does not reflect the proprietorship and the chain of proprietorship has to be traced back by the
land owners, which means back to the earliest grant of land by the Crown to its first owner.

• Torrens system and English Deeds system have difference principle. The Torrens system is using the
mirror and curtain principle as mentioned just now.

• Torrens system and English Deeds system have difference principle. The English Deeds system is using the “nemo dat
quod non habet”. It means “no one gives what he does not have” where it needs search of the chain of deeds that may
involving hundreds of years and probably intervened by many changes in land proprietorship so it will results the slow
process of land transaction which will cost time and more money.
Indefeasibility of Title
• Registration confers an indefeasible title or interest which will be free from all outside claims to ownership that is not
recorded in the Land Title document

• All registered title and interests are guaranteed by the State to be good against the whole world in the absence of
fraud or other vitiating circumstances statutorily specified or judicially laid down.

• Indefeasibility of title or interest is guaranteed but not absolute.

• Under certain circumstances, a registered title or interest may be set aside or defeated.

• There has 2 types of indefeasibility which is immediate indefeasibility and deferred indefeasibility.

• Immediate indefeasibility, the registered title or interest of the proprietor or transferee immediately to the vitiating
factors will be conferred statutory protection. Immediate indefeasibility will attach so long as the immediate
proprietor or transferee acts in good faith and gives valuable consideration for the title or interest acquired.
Indefeasibility of Title
• Deferred indefeasibility, registration of a title through a defective instrument remains potentially open to attack until the
title is transferred to another. The next transferee, if bona-fide, will then get an indefeasible title.

• Section 340 NLC- the title or interest of any person or body for the time being registered as proprietor of any land, or
in whose name any lease, charge or easement is for the time being registered, shall, subject to the following provisions
of this section, be indefeasible

• Exception under Section 340(2)

 the title or interest of any such person or body shall not be indefeasible in any case of fraud or misrepresentation to
which the person or body, or any agent of the person or body, was a party or privy

 or where registration was obtained by forgery, or by means of an insufficient or void instrument

 or where the title or interest was unlawfully acquired by the person or body in the purported exercise of any
power or authority conferred by any written law.
Registration
• Under Torrens statutes, an individual who registers title to land is need to first file an application with the appropriate court.
All those who have or claim to have any interest in the property must be given notice of the proceedings so that they have
an opportunity to make their claims to the land

• After the land ownership is confirmed by the court, a decree will be issued to resolve and declare ownership. The decree
must be recorded on the tribunal's record and determine the parties' rights, such as the facts of ownership and the area and
boundary of the land.

• After the statutory registration, the designated officer registers the original title certificate in the appropriate register. A
copy of the certificate must be delivered to the registered owner. Once this process is completed, the land becomes
registered land. Any subsequent transfer and transaction must be in accordance with the law.

• The registration is not compulsory; however, it is a usual process with most dealings because of the guarantee of
security that registration confers. Unregistered interests will not obtain the guarantee of security associated with
registration and, where a dispute arises, will remain subject to the common law priority principles.