ABSTRACT
The Land Registration Act 2002 has been received with much critical acclaim, and rightly so. It is
a work of monumental importance and monumental effort. Law Commission Report No 2712 was
itself the last in a long series of Reports discussing, proposing, rejecting and recommending changes
As is well known, the Act of 2002, which is now set for entry into force on 13 October 2003,4 is
designed to revolutionise conveyancing in England and Wales and to bring the land registration
system established by the 1925 Land Registration Act into the modern age.5 Indeed, in terms of its
underlying rationale, the Act of 2002 shares much with its 1925 counterpart. Both were born of
the recognition that the systems they were designed to replace were (and are) no longer suitable
for the social and economic conditions of the time. The 1925 Act is still seen by some as an
interloper, polluting the purity of the historic principles of ancient property law, and the 2002 Act
arouses suspicion and trepidation in similar measure for those who are now comfortable with the
amended provisions of the 1925 legislation. Both reflect the new ‘technology’ of their age (the
introduction of the widespread use of registers and e-commerce respectively) and it was just as
uncertain whether the system of the 1925 Act would work as it is now uncertain whether
Fundamentally, both Acts are directed principally to simplifying the processes by which land
transactions are carried out, and any substantive changes found in the two pieces of legislation can
be regarded as ancillary to, and supportive of, this primary purpose. Lest we think this is too high
a claim for the 2002 Act, Law Commission Report No 271 makes it clear in its opening paragraph
that ‘[t]he purpose of the Bill [sic] is a bold and striking one. It is to create the necessary legal
framework in which registered conveyancing can be conducted electronically’.7 Of course, the Land
Registration Act 1925 had partner legislation in the Law of Property Act 1925, the Settled Land Act
1925, the Trustee Act 1925 and the Administration of Estates Act 1925, and so itself is not so
directly concerned with substantive matters. Thus, while the Act of 2002 is very clearly ‘transaction
driven’, with all reform being bent deliberately and methodically towards the goal of e-
conveyancing, it also indulges in wide-ranging substantive law reform in support of this goal. There
is, to use the words of the Law Commission, a very considerable ‘legal framework’ put in place. As
one would expect, this reform of the substantive law is well referenced to the primary goal of e-
conveyancing and, for the most part, the reasons for the changes to the substantive law are
persuasive assuming e-conveyancing is in place.8 But that system is not yet with us.
