The Law of Property Acts or the 1925 land reforms commonly refers to a series of

Acts of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament ...

passed in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to reform the system of land holding, registration and transfer. The principal Acts are the

Law of Property Act 1925 The Law of Property Act 1925c 20 is a statute of the United Kingdom Parliament. It forms part of an interrelated programme of legislation introduced by Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The programme was intended to moderni ...

, the

Land Registration Act 1925 The Land Registration Act 1925 (LRA) was an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that codified, prioritised and extended the system of land registration in England and Wales. It has largely been repealed, and updated in the Land Registration Ac ...

(which was largely repealed and updated by the

Land Registration Act 2002 The Land Registration Act 2002c 9 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though sim ...

), the Land Charges Act 1925 (which was largely repealed and updated by the

Land Charges Act 1972 The Land Charges Act 1972 is a UK Act of Parliament that updates the system for registering charges on unregistered land in England and Wales. It repealed and updated parts of the Land Charges Act 1925 and other legislation affecting real property ...

), the

Settled Land Act 1925 A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

and the

Trustee Act 1925 The Trustee Act 1925c 19 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 9 April 1925, which codified and updated the regulation of trustees' powers and appointment. It accompanied the land reform legislation of the 1920s. It came into eff ...

(both of which were reformed by the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996).

Background

In 1913,

Lord Haldane Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, (; 30 July 1856 – 19 August 1928) was a British lawyer and philosopher and an influential Liberal and later Labour politician. He was Secretary of State for War between 1905 and 1912 during w ...

, the then-

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

, prepared two bills which were intended to improve

conveyancing In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

. These were heavily modifications of the scheme which had been proposed by Edward Parker Wolstenholme as early as 1896. These bills were later consolidated into one, which intended to create "a complete, indivisible and indestructible ownership of the

fee simple In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., perm ...

". This bill also aimed to give every proprietor the power to sell land with good title to a purchaser for value in a way which would override any subordinate interests which were not protected by a caution or inhibition. This bill was never enacted because of the beginning of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After the War, the focus returned to the reform of the system of land law. A committee was appointed in 1919, headed by Sir Leslie Scott, to report to the Lord Chancellor on land transfer. This Lands Requisition Committee proposed a bill, which was introduced to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1920 by Lord Birkenhead. This became law on 29 June 1922 and was 313 pages of amendments of numerous real property statutes. The Act then had to be consolidated, so that the provisions were allocated to their proper statute. The 1922 Act had been intended to take force on 1 January 1925 but as the consolidating bills were not ready until the summer of 1924, the commencement was postponed until 1 January 1926. *Hansard HC Deb (15 May 1922) vol 154 cols 89-175, Second Reading, Solicitor General, Sir Leslie Scott

Notes

References

*A Simpson, A History of the Land Law (2nd edn OUP 1986) *MR Cohen, ‘Property and Sovereignty’ (1927) 13 Cornell LQ 8 *S Anderson, ‘Land Law Texts and the Explanation of 1925’ (1984) 37 Current Legal Problems 63 *TBF Ruoff, An Englishman Looks at the Torrens System (1957) {{UK legislation English property law Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales

Background

See also

Notes

References