Land Registry Act 1862

The Land Registry Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 53) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was the country's first attempt at a system of universal land registration, specifically a title register, applying to England and Wales. It replaced several local deed registries throughout England, which had been established in the early 1700s in order to protect against fraud conducted by undisclosed prior incumbrances on titles. The legislation simplified the transfer of land. At the time, land ownership was difficult and expensive, and usually only done by the very privileged. Registration under the 1862 act was also expensive, partially because it was necessary to map and survey the entirety of the property (this was fixed by later legislation). 2,000 properties were registered under the act.

Opponents of deed registration at the time claimed that a general registry was unnecessary. Conditions of sale at the time circumvented a number of the problems that motivated the legislation, in practice. A system of deeds registration was also considered at the time: title registration was a new and untried system. The prior deed registries had a number of problems, including those relating to notice, and the lack of standardized and reliable indexes to the considerably large documents. General registry bills had previously been narrowly lost in Parliament in 1740 and 1758.

This system quickly proved seriously flawed due to high costs and long delays. Following further attempts in 1875 (a failure) and 1897 (a near-failure), the present system was brought into force by the Land Registration Act 1925, as amended by the Land Registration Act 2002.

Registry
The register was divided into three main parts: one with details on the properties and their locations, one with details on the owners and sales, and one with details on mortgages and leases. These were called "The Register of Estates of Indefeasible Title to Land", "The Record of Title to Lands on the Register", and "The Register of Mortgages and Incumbrances" respectively.

About 2,000 properties were registered under the act, and the final register comprised 272 volumes. "Instrument Books" were also kept, containing documents like deeds, plans, and marriage certificates to verify contents of the registry. The first registered title (Title Number 1) corresponded to the properties Crane Hall and The Chantry of Fitzroy Kelly, registered in 1863.