3. Registered and Unregistered Land

This chapter discusses one of the most important components of the land law system: the registration of title to land. This is the system whereby rights in land are recorded on a publically available register. The chapter first examines some of the history of English land law in the 20th and 21st centuries, considering the 1925 reforms and the Land Registration Act 2002. It also describes what the land register is, and how it fits into the system of rights in land. Land registration essentially contains three guiding rules. Certain rights must be registered to be created. Once registered, the effect of such rights is determined by their registered status. The relationship between the right-holder and third parties who later acquire rights in, or transact in relation to, the relevant land is, again, determined by registration. The register therefore has three functions: it controls creation of rights, the effects of such rights, and the interaction between rights. In this sense, registration fundamentally determines how land law works. The chapter then looks at the principles of conveyancing in unregistered land.