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Bouckaert, Boudewijn --- "Title Systems and Recordation of Interests" [2010] ELECD 386; in Bouckaert, Boudewijn (ed), "Property Law and Economics" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Property Law and Economics

Editor(s): Bouckaert, Boudewijn

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847205650

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: Title Systems and Recordation of Interests

Author(s): Bouckaert, Boudewijn

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

9 Title systems and recordation of interests
Boudewijn Bouckaert


1. Title systems. Definition, history and types
A title system is a legal institution by which written evidence on the legal
status of assets is systematically recorded. The written evidence mostly
concerns acts of conveyances, providing data on the transfer of the asset,
or on the vesting of partial rights, various interests or security rights on
the asset. Their most prominent aim is to facilitate market circulation of
assets by providing to potential buyers certainty about the legal status of
the traded good. Often title systems serve also fiscal aims as they provide
tax collectors with information on the wealth of taxpayers. The legal con-
sequences of recordation can vary. Sometimes recordation is limited to the
passive collection of conveyances and merely consists of a systematisation
of already existing written evidence. Sometimes recordation has a deeper
legal impact as the recordation implies also a procedure of checking the
validity of written evidence and the rights and interests mentioned in it. In
this case invalid rights and interests are purged from the asset (see further
4. Registration or recording system). In modern nation states title systems
are most often organized by the government. They are a vital part of civil
administration. As shown further, this was not always the case. Also now-
adays recordation of rights and interests is often provided through private
initiative. Major examples here are the registers of the title insurance com-
panies in the USA and the Art ...