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% HE Weekly iSemi Fitzgerald Leader
Official Organ Ben Hill County,
THE TORRENS SYSTEM OF LAND TITLE REGISTRATION.
A MODEL LAW
A GUARANTEE TO LAND TENURE.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED “AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE
SETTLEMENT, REGISTRATION, TRANSFER AND ASSUR¬
ANCE OF TITLE TO REAL ESTATE IN NORTH CAROLINA.”
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. That for the purpose of enabling all per¬
sons owning real estate within this State to have the title
thereto settled and Registered, as prescribed by the pro¬
visions of this act, the Superior Court of the county in
which the land lies in the State shall have exclusive, ori¬
ginal jurisdiction of all petitions and the proceedings had
thereupon, under the rules of practice and procedure pre¬
scribed for special proceedings. Revisal 1905, chapter 12,
title XXXII, except as herein othorwise provided.
Sec. 2. The proceedings under any petition for the
registration of land, and all proceedings in the court in
relation to registered land, shall be proceedings IN REM
against the land, and the decrees of the Court shall oper¬
ate directly on the land, and vest and establish title there¬
to in accordance with the provisions of this act.
Sec. 3. Suit for registration of title shall be begun
by a petition to the Court by the person or persons claim¬
ing, singly or collectively, to own or to have the power of
appointing or disposing of an estate in fee simple in any
land, whether subject to liens or not. Infants and other
persons under disability may sue by guardian or trustee,
as the case may be, and corporations by an officer duly
authorized by a vote of the directors. But the person in
whose behalf the petition is made shall always be named
as petitioner.
Sec. 4. The petition shall be signed and sworn to by
each petitioner: shall contain a full description of the Land
to be registered as hereinafter provided, together with a
plot of same by metes and bounds, corners to be marked
by permanent markers of iron, stone or cement, shall show
when, how, and from whom it was acquired, and whether
or not it is now occupied, and if so, by whom, and shall
give an account of all known liens, interests and claims,
adverse or otherwise, vested or contingent, upon said land
Full names and addresses, if known, of all persons who
may be interested by marriage or otherwise, including ad¬
joining owners and occupants, shall be given.
Sec. 5. The Clerk of the Superior Court of each
county, within thirty days after this act shall go into ef¬
fect, shall appoint an examiner of titles, who shall be a
licensed attorney at law, residing in the county wherein
he is appointed. He shall qualify by taking an oath be¬
fore the clerk to faithfully discharge the duties of his
office, which oath shall be filed in'the office of such clerk.
The term of said office shall be four years. The said ex¬
aminer of titles shall have and exercise the jurisdiction
and perform the duties hereinafter prescribed, and re¬
ceive the fees hei-ein provided. He shall not appear in,
or have any connection with, any proceeding instituted
under the provisions of this act.
Sec. 6. Within three days after filing the petition the
Clerk of the Court shall issue a summons directed to the
sheriff of each and every county in which the persons
named in said petition as being interested may reside, re¬
turnable as in other cases of special proceedings, the said
parties being made defendants in said proceedings, unless
for cause shown the Clerk of the Court shall direct other¬
wise; and said summons to be returnable as in other cases
of special proceedings, except that the return day shall be
at least thirty days from the date of the summons. Sum¬
mons shall be served in the same manner and return there¬
of recorded as in other special proceedings, all persons un¬
der disabilities to be represented by guardian, either gen¬
eral or ad litm: provided, that as to adjoining landowners
made parties hereto the said adjoining landowner or
owners shall be permitted after summons to make affidavit
that he or they claim no interest in land set forth in peti¬
tion, and that the metes and bounds therein set out are
correct, so far as they know, said affidavit to be deemed
answer admitting the facts set out in the petition of said
adjoining landowner, who shall be thereby relieved from
attendance upon the proceedings, and said affidavit shall
be filed with the papers thereof: provided further, that
the adjoining landowners filing such petition, and all par¬
ties properly admiting the facts contained in such petition,
shall not be taxed with the costs or expenses of this pro-
ceeding.
Sec. 7. In addition to the summons issued, as pre¬
scribed in the foregoing section, the Clerk of the Court
shall, at the time of issuing such summons, cause a notice
of the filing thereof containing the name or names of the
petitioners, the name or names of all other persons named
in the petition, together with a short but accurate descrip¬
tion of the land and the relief demanded, to be published
in some secular newspaper published in the county where¬
in the land is situate, and having general circulation in
said county; and if there be no such paper, then in a news¬
paper in the county nearest thereto and having general
FITZGERALD, BEN HILL COUNTY, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 11, 1911.
circulation in the county wherein the land lies, once a week
for four issues of such paper: provided, such advertise¬
ment shall not cost more than three dollars and fifty cents.
Said notice shall set forth the title of the cause and
in capital letters the words “To whom it may concern,”
and shall give notice to all persons of the relief demanded
and of the return day of the summons, and that upon said
day the petition will be granted unless objection be made
thereto: provided, that no final order or judgment shall
be entered in the cause until an affidavit by the editor,
publisher or foreman of the office in which said notice has
been published is filed, with a copy thereto attached,
setting forth the several dates upon which the same was
inserted in said paper. The provisions of this section, in
respect to the issuing and service of summons and the
publication of the notice, shall be mandatory and essential
to the jurisdiction of the Court to proceed in the cause:
provided, that the recital of the service of such summons
and publication in the decree or in the final judgment in
the cause, and in the certificate issued to the petitioner as
hereinafter provided, shall be conclusive evidence thereof.
Sec. 8. Upon the return dav of the summons the pe¬
tition shall be set down for hearing upon the pleadings
and exhibits filed. If the parties to this proceeding claim¬
ing an interest in the land described in the petition, or
any'lien thereupon, shall file an answer to such petition,
the petition and answer, together with all exhibits filed,
shall be referred to the examiner of titles, who shall pro¬
ceed, after notice to the petitioner and the persons who
have filed answer or answers, to hear the cause, upon
such parol or documentary evidence as may be offered,
and in addition thereto make such independent examina¬
tion of the title as may be necessary. The examiner shall,
within thirty days after such hearing, unless for good
cause the time shall be extended, file with the clerk a
report of his conclusion of law and fact—setting forth the
state of such title, any liens or encumbrances theroon, by
whom held, amount due thereon and any other informa¬
tion in regard thereto affecting its validity. Either or
any of the parties to the proceeding may, within twenty
days after such report is filed, of which notice in writing
shall be given by the clerk or by publication for four
weeks, as herein provided for other publications, file ex¬
ceptions, either to the conclusions of law or fact. The
clerk, if answer be filed making objection, shall docket
the cause on the civil issue docket of thd Superior Court
and transmit the original record to the next term of said
court, when the same shall stand for hearing or trial in
the same manner and under the same rules of practice
and procedure as other special proceedings. Upon such
hearing or trial, if the title be found in the petitioner free
from limitations, liens or encumbrances, the Court shall
enter a decree to the effect, declaring the land entitled to
registration, and the same, together with the record,
shall be docketed by the Clerk of the Court as in other
cases, and certified to the Register of Deeds of said coun¬
ty for registration, as hereinafter provided. Any of the
parties may appeal from such judgment to the Supreme
Court, as in other special proceedings.
If, upon the return day of the summons and the day
upon which the petition is set down for hearing, no answer
be filed, the clerk shall refer the same to the examiner of
titles, who shall, after notice to the petitioner, proceed to
examine the title, together with all liens or encumbrances
set forth or referred to in the petition and exhibits, and
shall examine the registry of deeds, mortgages, wills,
judgments and mechanic liens of the county, and upon
such examination he shall, as hereinbefore provided, re¬
port to the clerk the condition of the title, with a notice
of liens or encumbrances thereon. If the title shall be
found to be in the petitioner, free from limitations, liens
or encumbrances, the clerk shall enter a decree to that
effect and declaring the land entitled to registration, and
shall certify the same for registration, as hereinbefore
provided. •
Sec. 9. Every decree rendered, as hereinbefore pro¬
vided, shall bind the land and bar all persons claiming
title thereto or interest therein; quist the title thereto, and
shall be forever binding and conclusive upon and against
all persons, including the State of North Carolina, whether
mentioned by name in the order of publication or included
under the general discription—“To whom it may concern.”
Such decree shall, in addition to being signed by the Clerk
of the Court, be approved by the Judge of the district in
which the land lies or the Judge holding courts in said
district, and said decree shall not be opened by reason of
the absence of any person affected therey: provided, that
any person under disability, who has not been represented
in said proceeding by guardian, general or ad litem, shall
have twelve months from the removal of suen disability
in which to bring action to impeach or set aside the said
proceeding, and that thereafter the said person shall be
VOL. XVI. NO 12
forever and absolutely barred from claiming any interest
in the said land.
Sec. 10. The county commissioners of each county
shall provide for the Register of Deeds in said county a
book, to be called Register of Titles, in which said register
shall enroll, register and index, as hereinafter provided,
the decree of title hereinbefore mentioned and a copy of
the plot contained in said petition, and all subsequent
transfers of title and all voluntary or involuntary transac¬
tions authorized by this act; said book to be of such flexi¬
ble size, by loose leaf or otherwise, as will enable, so far
as practicable, the continueus making of all entries in re¬
gard to one certificate of title.
Sec. 11. Every decree of title entered in the Regis¬
tration of Titles book as aforesaid, together with the plot
and entries thereon, if any, shall be keown as the Certifi¬
cate of Title, and an extra copy thereof shall be made,
which shall be stamped or marked “Owner’s Certificate
of Title,” which shall be delivered to the owner or his
agent duly authorized by proper power of attorney to re¬
ceive same.
Sec. 12. All certificates of title to land in said county
shall be numbered consecutively, and a separate page,
with appropriate spaces or names of inserting additional
pages for subsequent entries, shall be devoted to each
title in the Registration of Titles book for said county.
Every entry made upon any certificate of title in said book
or upon the owner’s certificate, under any of the provis¬
ions of this act, shall be signed by the Register of Deeds
and minutely dated in conformity with the dates shown b
the entry book.
Sec. 13. Whenever the whole of any registered
tate is transferred or conveyed the same shall be dor
a form known as the Short Form of Deed, which sh?
to the certificate of title, said form to be subsj
as follows: JB
land A described B and wife (giving the names of the partk flat I*
in said certificate and his or theii
wives) hereby, in consideration of dollars, sell and
convey land, to C D (giving name of purchaser) the lot or tract
of as the case may be, described in the certificate of
title hereto attached; that same shall be signed and prop¬
erly acknowledged by the said party or parties and his or
their wife or wives, and shall have the full force and ef¬
fect of a deed in fee simple: Provided, that if the said
sale shall be in trust, upon condition with power to sell or
other unusual form of conveyance, the same shall be set
out in said deed, and shall be entered upon the Registra¬
tion of Titles book, as hereinafter provided; that upon
presentation of the said Short Form of Deed, hereinafter
called deed, together with the certificate of title to the
Register of Deeds, the said transaction shall be duly not¬
ed and registered in accordance with the provisions of this
act, and that the said certificate of title so presented shall
be canceled and a new certificate with a new number is¬
sued to the purchaser thereof, which new certificate shall
fully refer by number and also by name of holder to
former certificate just canceled.
Sec. 14. That whenever a part of any registered es¬
tate is transferred or conveyed the same shall be by the
form of deed hereinbefore referred to, setting out the por¬
tion of estate transferred, if it be undivided, and if it be
divided portion the same, in addition, shall be accompaai-
ed by a plot showing the divisions and the part to be soldi
that upon presentation of said deed, together with certifi¬
cate of title and the plot, if same be required, it shall be
the duty of Register of Deeds to cancel the certificate so
presented and to issue to the holder of said certificate can¬
celed a new certificate bearing the number of this original
and setting out the part or interest in the land retained by
said owner or vendor; and said register shall also issue to
the purceaser of undivided or seperate portion of the said
estate so transferred a new c rtificate bearing a new num¬
ber, setting out the part or amount of land transferred by
him, as the case may be; that the said register shall note
upon the Registration of Titles book and the certificates
of title therein the references and cross-references to the •
certificates herein referred to.
b>EC. 15. That whenever the owner of any register¬
ed estate shall desire to mortgage same as security for
debt it shall be done in the following manner, by a Short
Form of Mortgage, hereinafter called mortgage, to wit:
A B and wife (giving names of all owners or holders
of certificate and their wife or wives) hereby mortgage to
C D the tract or lot of land described No in Regis'ra-
tion of Titles book, for .. Ounty, a certificate of
title for same being hereto attached, to secure a debt of
.... dollars due to > ot . . Corn t/ and
State, on the day of . 19 In case of de
fault in payment of said debt with accrued interest.....
days’ Sec notice of sale required.
16 In voluntary transactions the duplicate certifi¬
cate of title must be presented along with the writing or in¬
strument conveying or affectmg the said sale, and thereupon
and not otherwise the regiseter shall be authorized to regis¬
ter the conveyance or other transaction upon proof of pay¬
ment of all delinquent taxes or liens, if any
Sue 17 In involuntary transactions a certificate from
the proper State, countv or court officer, or certified copy of
the older, decree or judgment of any court of competent
jurisdiction, or satisfactory eviednee of compliance with the
statute in relation to suefi transaction, when filed in the of¬
fice of the proper clerk, shall be authority for h m to registet
the transaction under the direction of the Court.
f>ECJ. 18 V\ henever duplicate certificate is not presented
to the. register along with ariv writing, instrument or record
(Continuedon last page.)