ABSTRACT
The system of registered land was perhaps the greatest of the reforms that came out of the wholesale restructuring of English property law in 1925.1
While the original system of land registration inaugurated by the 1925 Land Registration Act (LRA) had many flaws, it served well for nearly 80 years and was able to cope with the fundamental economic and social changes that took place over that time. It was not perfect,2 but judicial management through sensible interpretation in case law ensured that it worked on an everyday basis. Today, a great deal of land is ‘registered land’3 and the system underwent significant reform with the enactment of the LRA 2002 that entered into force on 13 October 2003. This legislation, which is still largely untested in the courts, governs registered land today. The 1925 Act has been repealed in its entirety, and while some aspects of the old law remain operative through transitional provisions,4 it is to the 2002 Act and the Land Registration Rules (LRR) that we must turn for the detail of the system. Consequently, this chapter will concentrate on the law of land registration as it exists today – that is, under the LRA 2002. Reference will of course be made to the ‘old’ law of land registration under the 1925 Act, especially where its provisions have been given longer life through the transitional provisions of the LRA 2002. However, the LRA 2002 is the guiding statute.
