(u) By stat. 60 & 61 Vict. c. 65, s. 8 (I), the land certificate or certificate of charge shall be produced to the registrar on every entry in the register of a disposition by the registered proprietor of the land or charge to which it relates, and a note of such entry is required to be officially endorsed thereon. And by the Land Transfer Rules (1903), 265, the registrar may require such certificate to be produced on any application for registration made by or with the consent of the registered proprietor of the land or of a charge or incumbrance. (x) See sect. 8 (3 .

The above provisions are most important terms of an open contract for the sale of registered land, and must of course be considered in connexion with and as modifying the general law defining the relations of vendor and purchaser on a sale of land (y). The language of sect. 16 (1) (i) of the Land Transfer Act, 1897, is not clear: but as it is enacted that the purchaser shall not require any evidence of title except the alternatives specified, it appears that the vendor is not bound to furnish any abstract of any registered document (such as an instrument of transfer or charge) dealing with the land sold (z); and it seems to be in the option of the purchaser to require, as proof of the title to registered land, either the evidence to be obtained from an inspection of the register, or the evidence of a certified copy of or extract from the register. In order to avail himself of the former alternative he must obtain the authority of the vendor (a); and this, it is submitted, the vendor is bound to give. Having obtained such authority, the purchaser may either search the register himself or apply for an official search to be made, and the issue of a certificate of the result (b). If the purchaser choose to require a certified copy of, or extract from, the register, and the vendor have none such in his possession, it appears that the purchaser must bear the expense of procuring the same (c). And if the purchaser obtain the vendor's authority to inspect the register, office copies of any entry in the register or of any document in the registry shall be issued, upon his application in writing, to him or his solicitor (d). The purchaser, it is thought, must also bear the expense of any statutory declaration which he may require under sect. 16 (1) (ii) of the Land Transfer Act, 1897, with regard to matters declared by sect. 18 of the Act of 1875 and the Act of 1897 not to be incumbrances (c). Sect. 16 (1) (ii) of the Act of 1897 (e) also lacks clearness of expression: but it is submitted that the existence or non-existence of the matters declared by the Acts not to be incumbrances is the only fact in connexion therewith as to which the purchaser is restricted to the evidence of the vendor's statutory declaration (f). If any such matters exist, they are not affected by the statutory provisions as to the effect of first registration and registered transfers (g). With respect to such matters, therefore, and also as to all other estates or interests excluded from the effect of registration - as, for instance, those expressly saved from the operation of registration with a qualified, a good leasehold, or a possessory title (h) - the sale of registered land appears to be governed by the general law. And if a man sell under an open contract any registered land which is subject to the existence of any estates or interests included in those declared not to be incumbrances, and necessary to be conveyed in order to make a good title - as, for instance, rights to mines or minerals created previously to the registration of the land or the year 1898 (i) - he must, it is submitted, deliver an abstract of the title for the period required by law in the case of unregistered land, and duly verify such abstract by producing the same evidence as could be required on the sale of unregistered land. If this be not done, the purchaser may, it is thought, object to the title and repudiate the contract, as he might in the case of unregistered land (k); or he may call upon the vendor to remove the objection and require the concurrence of the persons entitled to the outstanding estates or interests: but if he take this course, he should make the requisition without prejudice to, and reserving his right to repudiate the contract (l).

What evidence of title can be required.

No abstract of registered instruments.

(y) Above, pp. 27 - 29, 34-42.

(z) It has been suggested that, on a sale of registered land, the abstract will consist of a copy of the entries in the register; 1 Key & Elph. Prec. Conv. 242, 8th ed. But it is questionable whether the vendor is bound to deliver anything in the nature of an abstract of his title to any registered land sold, except as regards estates, interests or rights excluded from the effect of registration. Where a vendor's title does not consist of a series of instruments of disposition, the whole ground for requiring an abstract appears to be taken away; see above, p. 86. And the language of the above mentioned enactment seems to preclude the purchaser from requiring any evidence of title other than that specified therein.

{a) Stat. GO & 61 Vict. c. 65, s. 22(7).

(b) Land Transfer Rules (1903), 284 - 293.

(c) Stat. 44 & 45 Vict. c. 41, s. 3 (6); above, pp. 28, 37, 95, 1057.

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

(e) Above, p. 1059.

(f) It should be observed that some of these matters may be found noted in the register; above, p. 1060, n. (o).

(g) Above, p. 1058, n. (c).

(h) Above, p. 1061, n. (q, r).

The principal thing, then, which a purchaser of registered land has to ascertain is that the vendor is registered as proprietor of the land sold with such a title, either absolute, good leasehold (m), qualified or possessory, as he claims to have (n). Of this fact, the register alone is good evidence. It is most important to observe this. Possession of a land certificate showing the vendor to be registered as such proprietor is not sufficient; for the vendor may have created a statutory charge on the land without handing over the land certificate to the chargee, and the chargee may have subsequently sold the land under his power of sale, and the purchaser from him may have been registered as proprietor (o), or the chargee may have foreclosed and procured himself to be registered as proprietor (p). It is essential, therefore, for a purchaser of registered land to ascertain the present state of the register, either by actual inspection or fresh certified copies (q). This will show him whether there are any estates, interests or rights (other than those declared not to be incumbrances) which will not be either conveyed to him or else extinguished by the effect of the registered transfer of the land from the vendor to himself (r). Such estates, interests or rights may exist, as we have seen (s), in the form of (1) registered incumbrances created either before or after registration, and (2) things exempted from the effect of registration with a good leasehold (t), qualified or possessory title; besideswhich there are(3) the things declared by the Acts not to be incumbrances. All such estates, interests or rights, as would interfere with the acquisition by the purchaser of the estate contracted for must be got in or cleared away. If existing in the form of registered incumbrances, they must be discharged (u); and if existing in the shape of things declared not to be incumbrances or exempted from the effect of registration with a good leasehold, qualified or possessory title, the title thereto must be proved, and they must be conveyed or released in the same manner as if the land were not registered.