ABSTRACT
This chapter critically analyses the effects which registration systems have on the temporality of land title. The chapter argues that whereas title deed systems were oriented toward the past, title registration systems are oriented toward the future. Whereas deed systems operate on the basis that the title to be transferred already exists, registration systems operate on the basis that title is produced anew upon every conveyance. Title registration systems facilitate the coordination of an increasingly complex and rapid trade in title which has minimal connection to the daily routines and interests of those who live and/or physically work on the land. Examining title registration systems in four different contexts, I argue that there is a disjuncture between the temporality of registered titles and the temporality of the land to which those titles pertain: registered title and land are out of sync.
