villains and neifs upon his books; and, when
their Norman masters elevated the Saxon thrall
and neif from pure slavery, and wrote them
down as the tenants-at-will of the patches of
waste land on which stood their wretched huts
and gardens, the first register, and the original
of the Chancellor's new system, appeared. Those
lands held by copy from the court roll,
after long encroachments by the tenants, have
at last become absolutely their own, according
to the customs of the manors, and are
still held by virtue of the name of the owner
entered on the register or court rolls of the
manor. To apply this principle to all other
land has long been desired by many. It was
strongly recommended in the Second Report of
the Real Property Commissioners of eighteen
'forty. The bill introduced on their
recommendation was thrown out in the Lower House.
Precedent was not wanting, but it failed to
convince the House. Henry the Eighth's registry
of all the bargains and sales of land; Queen
Anne's registry of all dealings with land in
Yorkshire and Middlesex; the ancient system
of registration of wills; the Bedford Level lands
registry; and Queen Victoria's registry of
judgments, all were before the House; but the
resistance to the bill was too strong. The great
experiment was left untried till now. But
now, under our new system, that provides one
book of descriptions and places of land, a second,
more interesting, naming the owners and
persons interested in the land, and a third naming
the several money-lenders and others entitled to
"incumbrances," there will be such a summary
kept of the history of every title, that a vendor
will no more be vexed by questions, nor will a
purchaser pay fifteen per cent beyond his
purchase-money, for the cost of buying. Nor will
such a case again be heard of, as that in which
the expense of procuring attested copies of the
title-deeds was exactly equal to the selling price
of the lands in question.

But what is the new registration? How far
is it to replace the old machinery, which it is not
designed wholly to supersede? When in the
registry one map shows the length and breadth
of a piece of land, while another exhibits the
family-tree of persons owning shares in and
drawing incomes from it, and a third shows the
names and the claims of those who must be
bought off before incumbrances are cleared;
then, when the squire wishes to mortgage, or
the peer to buy:: lands, owners, creditors and all,
are set forth at once at the land office. There
is no more need of inquiries or of costly
searches. The death of the right Mr. Smith, in
Labrador, was proved to the registrar before
Mr. Smith's successor was set down as owner in
his book. The deeds that carelessness might
lose, or accident destroy, were perishable;
the land certificate has now taken their place,
and printed copies may prove their contents.
For the registry does not abolish deeds, it only
shortens them. " The general reader," being
omnivorous, may, perhaps, have attempted the
perusal of some dusty title-deed. The names
of parties, at the outset, have some interest
for him. He remembers their names, and
anticipates the story of their dealings with each
other. But this passed, he forthwith enters
upon a long, wide, and dreary desert of written
lines, interminable, dazzling, and among which
he cannot fail to lose his way at least at the end
of every yard-long sentence. The only oases in the
desert are the mystic words, " And Whereas,"
at which the traveller may rest on his way;
until his fate overtaking him at last, he is
swallowed up alive in a great dust-storm. This
will be at "the recitals," hateful to the profane,
joy and solace of the legal soul. In them is set
forth the history of what has been done with
the paternal acres for the last half-century. The
births, marriages, and deaths; the mortgages,
settlements, and wills; all the da capo of life
is there repeated and recorded. Henceforth,
says our registrar, I will save men out of this.
The recitals shall be my book, your deeds shall
contain but the names of parties, and the
mystic words of contract. Your deeds shall be
intelligible, I will give you printed copies of
them. Landowners henceforth, on rainy days,
reclining in their arm-chairs in their libraries,
shall reach down from their shelves their
bound and printed deeds, and, with an extract
from my book and printed plan of their estate,
master what hitherto they could not learn—the
history, liability, and destiny of the land they
occupy.

But what assured faith may you have in me,
the registrar? Why, this. When any come to
me and ask me to take their titles on my list, I
try them as a saint is tried before canonisation.
They must not only make out a good account of
their history, but prove it. They must
produce their deeds to me once for all. They
must once for all prove the births, and deaths,
and marriages, and I will certify the facts
hereafter to all purchasers and mortgagees.
Hereby you will save all the expense of the
performance known as "verifying the abstract,"
which is the usual accompaniment of every
sale, and is performed by a clerk of the seller's
attorney, droning or gabbling over the deeds
abstracted, to a clerk of the purchaser's attorney,
who, abstract in hand, follows and checks
the reader, or——goes to sleep.

If a man can prove his good title, I, the registrar,
will put it in my good books. He will then
be owner against all the world. If he cannot, I
will bid him farewell; or, at his pleasure, give
him a ticket for the hospital of lame and wounded
titles, where he may enter and remain till time
has cured the fault. Once on the list of the
registrar, no more questions or searches will be
needed, no examination of abstract, no lengthy
recitals. The history appears in the registry-
book; the facts there stated are indisputable.
Upon any sale the description of the land taken
from the Book I. is inserted in a conveyance deed
of five lines' length, and the transfer is effected.
No covenants are needed. The title stands as
approved by the registrar.

Thus, after ten centuries, are we coming