ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the most significant recent developments in relation to the Torrens system in Australia. They fall under four basic headings. First, there is in evidence a partial retreat from the doctrine of immediate indefeasibility. Although this has occurred in only four of Australia’s eight Torrens jurisdictions, the shift is significant. For instance, in each of those jurisdictions the leading case on immediate indefeasibility, Frazer v Walker, would now be reversed. The legislatures have overturned the judicial interpretation of the indefeasibility provisions, effectively reinstating deferred indefeasibility. Secondly, a transformation of judicial approach to overriding statutes is evident. There appears to be greater reluctance on the part of appellate courts to find that a later statute has impliedly repealed the Real Property Acts than was the case two decades ago. Third, e-conveyancing has been introduced with some consequential legal changes to the law in action, but perhaps also legal principles. Finally, three registers have now been partially ‘privatised’, a development which entails some fundamental reconsideration of the nature of a Torrens ‘system’ as an exclusively state-run scheme.
