A.D. 1890.

Application of Act to

(2.) Any rule purporting to be made in pursuance of this section shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as may be after it is made, if Parliament is then sitting, and if Parliament is not then sitting, within one month after the then next meeting of Parliament, and shall be judicially noticed.

35. This Act shall apply to all reformatory schools certified existing cer- under any enactment hereby repealed, and to all offenders sent to tified schools. a certified reformatory school under any enactment hereby repealed, [See 1866, as if those schools had been certified and those offenders had been 8. 38.] sent thereto under this Act.

Definitions.

36. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the meanings hereby respectively

5

10

[1866, s. 3.] following expressions have the assigned to them, that is to say: The expression 66 managers means any persons having the management or control of any school to which this Act 15 applies:

Application of Act to Scotland.

Extent of
Act.

The expression "parent," when used in relation to a youthful offender, includes guardian and every person who is by law liable to maintain the offender.

The expression "expenses" when used with reference to a youth- 20 ful offender detained in a reformatory school includes the expenses of the custody, industrial training, education, and maintenance of the offender.

37. In the application of this Act to Scotland, the following modifications shall be made, that is to say:

"The Secretary for Scotland" shall be substituted for "the Local Government Board";

The expressions "poorhouse," "parish or combination," and
parochial board," shall respectively be substituted for "work-
house," "union," and "board of guardians;

The "Edinburgh Gazette" shall be substituted for the "London
Gazette";

The town council of a burgh shall, for the purposes of this Act,
occupy the place of the council of a county borough ;

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30

The expression" court of summary jurisdiction" shall mean the 35
sheriff or sheriff substitute, or any two justices of the peace
sitting in open court, or any magistrate or magistrates to
whom jurisdiction is given by the Summary Jurisdiction
(Scotland) Acts.

38. This Act shall not extend to Ireland.

40

A.D. 1890.

39. The Acts mentioned in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent in the third column of that schedule Repeal. mentioned:

Provided that this repeal shall not affect any certificate given 5 under any enactment hereby repealed.

40. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of Commence January one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one.

ment of Act.

41. This Act may be cited as the Reformatory Schools Act, 1890. Short title.

[Bill 347.]

This Bill, and the Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Bill, are intended to place the entire system of land registry in Ireland on a satisfactory basis, with special reference to recent legislation, and to the recent multiplication of the number of small proprietors.

There has been established in Ireland since 1708 a general Registry of Deeds, in its main features similar to the systems which exist in Scotland, Yorkshire, and Middlesex. It is not proposed to disturb this system, which is generally accepted as satisfactory, but to develop, simplify, and improve it, in accordance with recommendations made by Royal Commissions, and Parliamentary and Treasury Committees on different occasions during the past half century.

Leaving to the Local Registration of Title Bill the work of providing for the smaller proprietors in Ireland a system of local registration of title, the present Bill deals with the existing general Registry of Deeds, in regard to which its main objects are:

1. To consolidate the numerous statutes relating to the registration of deeds, judgments, and judgment-mortgages in Ireland, which have been passed from the reign of Queen Anne to the present time.

2. To simplify and cheapen the practice as regards registration by dispensing with certain useless and expensive processes which have been retained from the earlier statutes, and by adopting the ordnance survey as the basis of registration.

3. To afford complete safety to purchasers, by bringing within the range of the registry certain classes of dealings with land, against which no protection is now afforded; by excluding the equitable doctrines of notice as regards registered instruments; and by affording protection to contracts by means of caveats.

4. To consolidate with the registry of deeds the existing registry of judgments; providing for the re-registration in the registry of deeds of the class of judgments which now operate by way of general charge on the land of the judgment debtor, such reregistration to be effected as against specified lands.

5. To afford protection to the public and to solicitors against the consequences of possible technical errors, by providing that the certificate of the registrar shall be conclusive evidence of registration. The cases in which registration has been held invalid are generally cases of extreme hardship, and the error has seldom been of a kind likely to mislead.

A.D. 1890.

A.D. 1890.

6. To provide for the regulation of office details by general rules. For this purpose it is proposed to place the office under the management of the Master of the Rolls, who fills the position of Keeper of the Public Records of Ireland.

Many clauses of this Bill are borrowed from an Act, the commencement of which was deferred until the issuing of a Treasury Minute (13 & 14 Vict. c. 72). This statute contained many valuable provisions, mainly founded on the second report of the Real Property Commission, 1832; but the system of indexes which it introduced was found to be unworkable, and it was never brought into operation. From it are taken (with certain modifications) the clauses as to the registration of orders affecting land (cl. 11), of private Acts of Parliament (cl. 13), of equitable mortgages and vendors' lien (cl. 15-18), of wills and intestacies (cl. 39-50), the adoption of the ordnance maps as the basis of registration (cl. 55), the provisions as to notice (cl. 8), and caveats (cl. 51–54).

These enactments and most of the other provisions of this Bill (with the exceptions herein-after mentioned) are in general accordance with the recommendations of a Royal Commission appointed in 1878, to inquire into the registration of deeds and judgments, which had among its legal members the Lord Chief Justice (Mr. May), the Lord Chief Baron, the Vice-Chancellor, the Right Honourable Mountiford Longfield, and other lawyers of eminence. The first report of this Commission was presented in 1879, and the second in the following year. The main points on which this Bill departs from the report of the Commission are: (1.) In retaining the system of registration by memorial, which, has been in use since the establishment of the office (while simplifying the memorial, and dispensing with certain useless formalities), instead of the system recommended by the Commission, of depositing a copy of the instrument registered, with an abstract for the purpose of registration. The memorial will be so framed as to form the foundation of the indexes and books kept in the office, but the responsibility for its accuracy in such matters as the distinction between grantors and grantees for purposes of registration, will rest with the office, on which is cast the duty of comparison, and (if necessary) of amendment. (2.) In providing for the deposit of certified copies of assurances, at the option of the persons tendering them for registration. Memorials are often so framed as to afford some kind of secondary evidence of the contents of deeds. However unsatisfactory they may be in this point of view it does not appear desirable to interfere with the usefulness of the memorial in this particular without providing a more efficient substitute for those