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Reform of our Land Laws

PAPER READ BY EUGENE C. MASSIE,
OF RICHMOND, VA.

Standing here six years ago I sounded the first note for a comprehensive reform of our land laws. The movement then begun has steadily grown in momentum and intensity until now it is generally recognized that there are few, if any, subjects of greater consequence before the people of Virginia. It is no longer an academic question to which your attention is invited. It is a practical question, in which thoughtful people all over the State are deeply interested, that demands consideration at your hands. It is no moot question for idle debate. It is a live question about which voters in every county are concerned, that requires action by those whom they have nominated and are about to nominate as their representatives in the next General Assembly.

HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA.

Since the first effort was made in behalf of the Torrens System of Land Registration and Transfer for Virginia the following events have transpired:

A joint Resolution was passed by the Legislature on February 15, 1901, appointing a Committee, of which the speaker was Chairman, to draft a bill for future consideration. (Extra Session Acts 1901 p. 220 c. 210). Subsequent to this, the Constitutional Convention of 1901-2, appreciating the importance of the subject, devoted to it a complete section of the great instrument framed by those able and earnest men whose names will be enshrined and shine in history by the side of the best

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and noblest products of any period of the Old Dominion. This section confers special power upon the General Assembly "to establish such Court or Courts of land registration as it may deem proper for the administration of any law it may adopt for the purpose of the settlement, registration, transfer, or assurance of titles to land in the State, or any part thereof." (Constitution of Virginia §100). This provision of our Constitution was the fruit of efforts begun in this Association, having been outlined in an upper room of the Colonnade Cottage at the Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs (that ought to be in Virginia) in August 1901, by the Special Committee on the Torrens System appointed by this Association for the purpose, and being thereafter embodied by the efforts of other members of the Association among the fundamental laws of the Commonwealth. And hereafter when the caviller shall inquire in his cavillous manner, "What has the State Bar Association ever done, anyhow?" he may be cavalierly answered by pointing to this section of the Constitution of Virginia as one of the monuments of our achievements. In August 1902, at a meeting held at the Hot Springs, it was "Resolved, That it is the sense of the Virginia State Bar Association that the General Assembly of Virginia should enact proper legislation for the establishment of the Torrens Land System in Virginia, or in such portions thereof as it may deem wise and appropriate at this time". In January 1903, a Torrens Bill was completed by the Chairman of the Committee appointed by the General Assembly of 1901 as aforesaid, which was subsequently introduced both in the Senate and House of Delegates; but on account of the vast amount of legislation necessary to put the new Constitution into effective operation, much of which was blocked by an absorbing impeachment trial in the House, nothing could be accomplished at that session.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1904.

The same bill came up before the last General Assembly in 1904, and in an amended form only failed by three votes to pass the House of Delegates. It was then introduced in the

Senate, and would probably have passed that body if it could have been brought to a vote. But as the session was about to come to an end, the bill was crowded out without a hearing. Throughout this struggle great interest was manifested in the fate of the measure, and members of the Legislature received numerous letters from their constituents inquiring about the bill and asking for copies of it. So great was this demand that the General Assembly ordered a special edition of 500 copies to be printed at public expense for general distribution; but even this supply proved inadequate and was soon exhausted. The interest thus aroused has been continued, and the question; of land law reform has, in a number of instances, been made an issue in the pending campaign for nominations to the next Legislature. The time has, therefore, passed when any member of the bar can afford to be ignorant of or indifferent to the subject. Some legislation is demanded for the relief of the people, and it is the duty of this Association as well as of each individual member of the bench and bar to see that Virginia gets none but the best. This has been the ambition of the speaker.

THE PENDING BILL.

The bill presented to the last Legislature was drawn after years of study; after a comparison of the Australian, English, Canadian, and American Acts; after personal investigation of the practical operation of the Land Registration Act of Massachusetts; after correspondence with prominent authorities on the subject at home and abroad; after interviews with such experts as could be reached in this country; and after consultation with such members of this Association as could be induced to give any time to the subject. It has been graciously commended by those who have considered it, and it is now your privilege to correct such defects as may have escaped the author and its previous critics. You are earnestly solicited to give the Commonwealth the benefit of your studious criticism.

It is impossible to go into every detail, but I beg leave to call your attention to a few salient features of the Bill.

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