Kenneth G C Reid and George Lidderdale Gretton, Land Registration

Date01 September 2017
Pages456-458
Published date01 September 2017
DOI10.3366/elr.2017.0445

8 December 2014 saw the coming into force of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012, reforming the rules of land registration in Scotland as well as formalising many of the Keeper's practices which had developed during the period in which the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 was in effect. Now the two law commissioners who led the reform project have produced the first full-length guide to the 2012 Act.

The first matter on which the authors should be congratulated is the relative brevity of their treatment. Weighing in at 346 pages of text, the book provides a succinct guide to a statute of 124 sections in a directed manner. This saves the researcher from approaching the Scottish Law Commission's and Scottish Government's literature which spans well over a thousand pages without a clear plan.

The authors provide a tour round the key features of the 2012 Act, including the formalised structure of the Land Register, the Cadastral Map, Advance Notices, rectification and the Keeper's warranty. However, in typical Gretton and Reid manner, this is more than a simple commentary on the terms of the 2012 Act or an annotated statute book (although copies of the 2012 Act and the Land Register Rules etc. (Scotland) Regulations 2014 are included as appendices). The book is true to Professor Gretton's view that “there is nothing as practical as a good theory” and this shows throughout the text, particularly in the earliest chapters. Chapters one to three provide a history of the system of land registration in Scotland – starting with pre-Register of Sasines statutes dating as far back as 1504, covering the Reid Committee and the passage of the 1979 Act and concluding with the Scottish Law Commission's report on the 1979 Act's perceived deficiencies and its replacement with the 2012 Act. Throughout, the authors lay out the purposes of a system of public registration of land and the deficiencies of the 1979 Act. Singled out for criticism are the “Midas Touch” and the system of “bijuralism”, where the legislation in effect imposed a result which was entirely different to that of the principled result developed by the Common Law of property.

A characteristic example of their incisive analysis comes in their discussion as to what it is that the Land Register actually registers. It has been common to distinguish the Land Register from the General Register of Sasines by stating that the latter is a register of deeds, while the former registers title. Gretton and...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT