As to inserting in an instrument of transfer matters extraneous to the transferee's registration.

(0) Above, pp. 1074, 1077. (p) Land TransferRules (1903), 119.

{q) See above, pp. 1058, n. (c), 1073.

(r) Land Transfer Rules(1903), 294.

(s) By stat. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 87, s. 80, any land certificate or certificate of charge shall be primâ facie evidence of the several matters therein contained; and by the Land Transfer Rules (1903), 260, where an office copy of an entry in the register, or of the filed plan of the land, or of any document filed in the registry is annexed to any certificate it shall, for the purposes of sect. 80 of the Act of 1875, be deemed to be contained in the certificate itself. Copies of the instrument of transfer are not annexed to the land certificate issued on the completion of the transfer, but certificates of charge now contain an office copy of the instrument of charge. See Land Transfer Rules (1903), 258, 259.

(t) A conveyance of the transferor's estate, where made ex abundanti cautelâ, and not strictly necessary, may be considered as ancillary to this end; above, pp. 1077,1091.

The form of instrument of transfer given in the Land Transfer Rules, 1903 (y), does not show to whom or by whom the consideration money is paid, nor does it contain any receipt for the payment made. Care should be taken in adapting this form to practical use to amend it in these particulars, especially as regards the receipt for payment of the purchase money, in default of which the purchaser would not be justified in paying the money to the vendor's solicitor producing the instrument duly executed, except by virtue of an express authority in that behalf properly conferred (z).

Receipt clause should be inserted in the instrument of transfer.

The Land Transfer Act, 1875 (a), provides that, previously to registering any disposition of land, it shall be the duty of the registrar to ascertain that all such stamp duties have been satisfied as would be payable if the disposition to be registered had been an unregistered disposition. And by the Land Transfer Rules (1903), No. 123, when an application or instrument capable of registration is made or executed for the sole purpose of carrying out on the register a transaction already effected by a deed or other instrument not on the register, the Inland Revenue stamp on the transaction shall be affixed to or impressed on the last mentioned deed or instrument, and the registered instrument shall bear no stamp duty; provided that the stamped instrument shall before the completion of the registration be produced to an officer of the registry, to show that all duty payable in respect of the transaction has been paid. If therefore a sale of registered land is to be completed by an instrument of transfer alone (b) duly registered, such instrument must be stamped according to the law regulating the stamping of conveyances on sale of unregistered land (e). But in those cases where the instrument of transfer is accompanied by an unregistered assurance to the purchaser of the land sold (d), that assurance must be duly stamped as a conveyance on sale, and the instrument of transfer will then require no stamp. Besides the proper Inland Revenue stamps, instruments or applications delivered for registration at the Land Registry must bear the proper Land Registry fee stamps (e).

Stamps on sale of registered land.

(u) Above, pp. 1062,1093-1095.

(x) Above, p. 1095.

(y) First Schedule, Form 20.

(z) See above, pp. 651 - 656. (a) Stat. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 87, s. 83 (7).

Land Registry-fee stamps.

It is thought that, on the sale of registered land, the purchaser is equally entitled, as in the case of unregistered land (f), to have all documents of title, which relate solely to the purchased land, delivered over to him on completion. And this appears to be the case, notwithstanding that the vendor be registered with an absolute title, so that the purchaser could not call for any abstract or for production of these documents (g). So also documents of this kind dealing with registered incumbrances prior to first registration, which are discharged on completion of the sale, should be handed over to the purchaser, whether the proprietorship of such incumbrances were registered or not (h). But the purchaser's right to require any statutory acknowledgment or undertaking with respect to any document of title, which may lawfully be withheld from him, appears to be limited to such documents as are necessary to make a good title according to the contract, this being the rule applicable on the sale of unregistered land (i).

Purchaser of registered land entitled to delivery of the title deeds.

(b) Above, p. 1091.

(c) Above, pp. 617 - 625.

(d) Above, pp. 1092 - 1095.

(e) See Land Transfer Rules (1903), 111; Land Transfer Fee Order, 1903, r. 3.

(f) Above, p. 602.

(g) Above, p. 1059. It may be mentioned here that, on the completion of any application for registration of title, all documents of title that have been used in support of the application are returned to the applicant; Land Transfer Rules (1903), 44. (h) Above, pp. 1067 - 1069.

Here it may be observed that, owing to the limited effect given to the first registration of land with a qualified or possessory title (k), such registration can never form a good root of title (l); so that, as a rule, a purchaser under an open contract of land so registered will always be entitled to call for the title prior to registration. But where registered leasehold land (m) is sold as such under an open contract, it appears that the purchaser has no more right to call for the lessor's title than if the land were not registered (n); so that, if the land be registered with a good leasehold title (o), the purchaser will be precluded from inquiring into any other title than that registered (p). It appears however that any registered leasehold land, which is held by underlease, must be so described in the contract, or the purchaser will be entitled to object to the title (q). And it should be particularly noted that a registered transfer of leasehold land vests in the transferee the possession of the land comprised in the registered lease for all the leasehold estate therein described, but subject (amongst other things (r) ) to all implied and express covenants, obligations and liabilities incident to such leasehold estate (s). And such covenants, obligations and liabilities do not appear on the register, except only that the existence of a prohibition against alienation without licence should be found noted thereon. A purchaser of registered leasehold land must therefore call for an abstract and production of the lease under which the land sold is held, in order to ascertain to what covenants, obligations and liabilities he will become subject. And it is submitted that he is necessarily entitled to demand such abstract and production under an open contract, notwithstanding the terms of sect. 16 of the Land Transfer Act, 1897, above quoted (t); for he does not require the same as evidence of the vendor's title, but as evidence of matters adverse thereto and excluded from the effect of registration; and he would certainly be entitled to such evidence of these matters if the land were not registered. At the same time, a purchaser of registered leasehold land by private contract is advised to place his rights in this respect beyond doubt by special stipulation. If the covenants or conditions in the lease should be unusually onerous or stringent, it is thought that the purchaser would be entitled, under an open contract, to object to the title, as upon a sale of unregistered land (u). And generally, in all other respects, save as to proof of title and assurance by registered transfer, contracts for sale of registered leasehold land are governed by the same rules as are applicable in the case of unregistered leaseholds (x). By the Land Transfer Rules, 1903, No. 62, on the registration of any leasehold land held under a lease containing a prohibition against alienation without licence, all estates, rights, interests, powers and remedies under such lease, arising upon or by reason of any alienation without licence, shall be expressly exempted from the effect of registration. On the sale of any such leasehold land therefore, the lessor's licence to the transfer to the purchaser must be obtained as in the case of unregistered land (y).