ABSTRACT
The nature of the system of registration of titles in Jamaica was succinctly explained by Lord Millett, delivering the judgment of the Privy Council in Half Moon Bay Ltd v Crown Eagle Hotels Ltd: 1
The Registration of Titles Act, 1889 introduced a Torrens system of land registration to Jamaica. The general features of such a system are very familiar. Title to land and incumbrances affecting land are entered or notifi ed in the Register Book, and everyone who acquires title bona fi de and in good faith from a registered proprietor obtains an indefeasible title to the land, subject to the incumbrances entered or notifi ed in the Register Book but free from incumbrances not so entered or notifi ed, whether he has notice of them or not. The Register Book consists of the original certifi cates of title, each of which forms a separate folium of the book. The registered proprietor is given a duplicate of the certifi cate bearing the number of the volume and folium of the Register Book in which the original is entered (RTA, s 55). 2 An instrument purporting to affect land is taken to be registered when it is produced for registration, provided that it is subsequently entered both on the relevant folium and on the duplicate (RTA, s 58). There are further provisions to ensure that every entry on the original certifi cate is matched at all times by a like entry on the duplicate…
Although most other Caribbean jurisdictions also have Torrens-style registration systems, the vast majority of judicial decisions (including numerous Privy Council judgments) on Torrens registration are concerned with the interpretation and application of the Registration of Titles Act of Jamaica. The discussion in this chapter will accordingly focus on the Jamaican Registration of Titles Act, with reference to the equivalent provisions in the other jurisdictions wherever relevant.
