- Torrens system
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Tor·rens system /'tōr-ənz-/ n [after Sir Robert Torrens (1814–1884), British pioneer in Australia]: a title registration system used esp. in Massachusetts, Hawaii, Illinois, and Minnesota◇ When a certificate of title is first applied for in the Torrens system, the title is searched or examined, a court hearing is held (as in a land court), and a decree confirming title and ordering registration (as with the registrar of deeds) is issued. A certificate of title is then given to the owner, after which the property may be conveyed by executing deeds, delivering the certificate of title to be cancelled, and issuing a new certificate to the new owner. The title registered in a Torrens system is usu. guaranteed and marketable, making title insurance unnecessary and greatly reducing the time spent researching the state of the title during subsequent conveyances.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.
- Torrens system
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a system of land registration (registration of title to land) adopted in Australia by Sir Robert Torrens, the prime minister in 1858, and modelled on the Shipping Acts. Canada began operating a similar system in 1860 and England in 1875 with the Land Transfer Act. Scotland began a gradual change over to a land registration system by the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979.
Collins dictionary of law. W. J. Stewart. 2001.