STONOR, was appointed to succeed him, that business could be actively resumed. Serious obstacles then arose through the defective framework of the Act, and it was found absolutely necessary to apply to the Legislature: the result of this application was an Amendment Act, which received the Royal Assent in August, 1858. The Island of Tobago also addressed the Crown early in 1858; and it is understood that several other islands contemplate the same step at the present time. Under these circumstances no apology will be necessary for this publication, in which the Principles of the Acts, their respective Provisions, and the Procedure of the Court are explained; whilst in the Appendix will be found, in a convenient form, the Acts, General Rules, Forms and Directions, together with the Local Acts and Tables of Fees in use in the Colonies of St. Vincent and Tobago, as also reports of some of the judgments and observations of the present Chief Commissioner, which will be found of great practical assistance and advantage to those who may have occasion to practise professionally in the Court, and to all who are interested in the working of these Acts. R. J. C. 2, STONE BUILDINGS, LINCOLN'S INN, A TREATISE ON THE WEST INDIAN INCUMBERED ESTATES ACTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. THE difficulties attending the transfer of landed property, to which the attention of our legislators and law reformers is at this moment so strongly directed, are of ancient date. They existed in the days of feudalism, when land was the only species of property which conferred distinction, and being held for the most part by military services, could not be alienated by the tenant without the consent of the lord. They exist, with less reason, in modern times, and have increased with the increasing wealth and commerce of the country, partly from the great demand for land, and the number of transactions thereby occasioned, and partly from the pride or caprice of individuals, who seek by complicated wills and settlements to keep the absolute ownership of the soil in suspense for the longest possible period. Various, however, as have been the causes which have tended to fetter and embarrass the transfer of land, they may be all referred to the grand distinction which has ever been maintained in English law between real and personal estate; Titles to estates in landed England; difficulty of transfer. B Delay and expense. Investiga veyancer. the former of which is held by title, and the latter by possession. The result of this distinction has been that while money, shares, securities, ships, merchandise, bullion, and moveable property, of whatever value, can be transferred from hand to hand by the simplest process, a rood of land cannot change proprietors without a delay and expense in many cases wholly disproportionate to its intrinsic value. All persons who have had dealings in land have complained of these grievous taxes on landed estates; but professional men alone can fully comprehend the causes which render them at present inevitable. The owner of an estate may contract for the sale of it, and may even agree with the purchaser as to the price, but the principals can go no further; the matter passes at once into the province of the lawyers, and months, perhaps years, may elapse before the tedious negotiation is completed, and the land and money can change hands. The ceremonies prescribed by the tion by con- law and custom of conveyancers must be gone through, or, if neglected, it will be at the peril of the purchaser, who would probably, in such case, find himself at a future time unable to dispose of the property he had purchased, as well as debarred from all legal or equitable relief in the event of its loss. The whole history of the estate, and of every fraction of it, for sixty years, and oftentimes more, must be carefully compiled, and submitted to the scrutiny of a practised conveyancer, whose duty it is to exercise his ingenuity in proving, if possible, that the vendor's title to the land is imperfect. Every death or marriage, every settlement, mortgage, or will, is submitted to his examination; and when, as frequently happens, the estate comprises recent purchases, the history will branch out in different directions, and extend to an indefinite length. The examination results in an opinion more or less unfavourable to the title, and ancer. sundry requisitions, which the vendor is called upon to satisfy, or the purchaser may rescind his contract. The vendor is required to produce Requisitions evidence of the births, marriages, and deaths of of conveyseveral people, of whom he may never have heard, and to explain sundry transactions to which he was no party. In default of satisfactory explanations on such matters, it is not impossible that his father, or some predecessor, may be charged with having committed actual or constructive fraud, or that family arrangements, of which the exact circumstances have been lost, may be stigmatised as improper or illegal. Doubts will frequently arise as to some ancient inclosures; and where the boundaries and descriptions of fields have become altered, he will have to account for every discrepancy. If any previous owner has been involved in a Chancery suit, the vendor may be called upon to give an account of all the proceedings, however voluminous; and if such suit has been compromised, to show that such compromise was fair and proper. It matters not whether the land has been long in his family, or recently purchased he must still account for its history, as it was his duty to have obtained all necessary information at the time of his purchase. As the law now stands, a sixty years' pedigree is an Sixty years' inseparable incident to a marketable estate. We will suppose that, after considerable delay and expense, the requisitions of the conveyancer are satisfactorily answered, the births, deaths, and marriages are duly certified, the vendor's predecessors are acquitted of fraud, all questions as to inclosures or boundaries are settled or compromised, and the Chancery proceedings are found regular; in such case the transaction may be completed, and the vendor gets his money and parts with his land. But what is the condition of the purchaser? However carefully he may have satisfied himself of the goodness of his title, and of the absence of title. Condition of the pur chaser. Perfect titles not really necessary. Necessity of explaining tions. any possible claimant or incumbrancer, still the It is well known by conveyancers that perfect titles are of rare occurrence; although, in most cases, where both parties are willing to complete their bargain, sufficient security can be given to enable the purchaser safely to part with his money; and conveyancers would often be content with substantial titles, and would overlook or neglect imaginary difficulties, but for the danger of the title being rejected on a subsequent occasion. Hence, where land is purchased as a permanent investment, with no intention of selling or mortgaging it, as in the case of purchases by a railway company, a substantial holding title is often accepted, various investigations are dispensed with, and the expense is considerably diminished. It would appear, therefore, that a great part of past transac- the delay and expense attending the transfer of landed property arises from the impossibility of getting rid of the past, and the necessity of explaining every minute circumstance attending an estate for a long space of years to a series of practitioners, every one of whom is bound, if |