PART II - TORRENS SYSTEM OF

LAND REGISTRATION
I. Torrens System
It is a system for registration of land under
which, upon the landowners application,
the
court
may,
after
appropriate
proceedings, direct the register of deeds
for the issuance of a certificate of title.
II. ORIGIN OF THE TORRENS SYSTEM.
The world owes the Torrens system of land
registration to a British customs officer, Sir
Robert
Richard
Torrens.
While
a
commissioner of customs in South
Australia, Torrens was inspired by the
comparative facility with which ships or
undivided shares therein were negotiated
and transferred in accordance with the
English Merchants Shipping Act. So much
so, that when he became a registrar of
deeds and was confronted with the
problems of title to land usually
characterized by endless confusion and
uncertainties, he devised a scheme of
registration of title, reforming the old
existing system of registration of deeds,
and to this end he used the Merchants
Shipping Act as his pattern, with
appropriate modifications. Then, when he
became a member of the First Colonial
Ministry of the province of South Australia,
he took the initiative of introducing in the
new parliament a bill embodying his
scheme for land registration. After
overcoming some opposition, it was
passed and came to be known as the Real
Property Act (No. 15) of 1857-58. In no
time the system has grown to be
universally known as the
Torrens
system.
III. BASIC IDEA OF THE SYSTEM
As originally conceived by Sir Robert, the
author of the system, the registration of
land may be accomplished by pursuing
certain definite courses. The person, for
instance, who claims to be the fee-simple
owner, either at law or in equity, files an
application to have the land placed in his
name on the register of titles. His
application is then submitted for scrutiny
to a barrister and a conveyancer, who are
usually known as examiners of titles. Then
it is determined whether the application

passes certain tests, namely: (1) whether

the description of the land sought to be
registered is definite and clear; (2)
whether the applicant is in undisputed
possession thereof; (3) whether he
appears to be rightfully entitled thereto;
and (4) whether by the evidence of title
submitted it can safely be concluded that
no other person may be prejudiced by the
adjudication of the property to the
applicant. Upon the applicant passing all
such tests, a certificate of title is issued
describing the nature of his estate and his
certificate vests in him an indefeasible
title. This certificate of title thereafter
becomes the basis of future transactions
affecting the property described therein,
such as sale, mortgage, lease and other
forms of deeds and conveyances. The
system as adopted in the Philippines is in
principle, practically identical to that basic
idea as conceived in the original plan.
IV. ADVANTAGES OF THE SYSTEM.
As viewed by an authority on the subject,
the Torrens system presents at least a
dozen advantages, namely:
1. It abolishes endless fees.
2. It
eliminates
repeated
examinations of titles.
3. It reduces records enormously.
4. It instantly reveals ownership.
5. It protects against encumbrances
not noted on the Torrens certificate.
6. It makes fraud almost impossible.
7. It assures.
8. It keeps up the system without
adding to the burden of
9. taxation. Because the beneficiaries
of the system pay the
10. fees.
11. It eliminates tax titles.
12. It gives practically eternal title as
the State insures perpetually.
V. PURPOSE OF TORRENS LAW.
The real purpose of the Torrens system of
registration is to quiet title to land; to put
a stop forever to any question of the
legality of the registration, in the
certificate, or which may arise subsequent
thereto. That being the purpose of the law,
it would seem that once the title was
registered, the owner might rest secure,
without the necessity of waiting in the

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portals of the court, or sitting in the

mirador de sucasa to avoid the possibility
of losing his land. The proceeding for the
registration of land under the Torrens
system is a judicial proceeding, but it
involves more in its consequences than
does an ordinary action.
This system of registration relieves the
land of unknown liens or claims, just or
unjust, against it. But it is not intended
that lands not truly owned may be
acquired thereby. It is intended only that
the title, which the petitioner has, shall be
registered and thereby cleared of all liens
and burdens of whatsoever character,
except those which shall be noted in the
order of registration and in the certificate
issued.
1. avoid possible conflicts of title
regarding real property; and
2. facilitate
transactions
relative
thereto by giving the public the
right to rely on the face of the
Torrens certificate of title and to
dispense with the need of inquiring
further.
VI. PRINCIPLES
A. The Mirror Principle
The basis of this principle is that the
register of title is a mirror which reflects
accurately and completely the current
facts that are material to title. With certain
inevitable exceptions (ie exceptions to
indefeasibility) the title is free from all
adverse burdens, rights and qualifications
unless they are mentioned in the
register.3 The mirror ideal, that the
register should reflect all facts and
matters relevant to the title to a parcel of
land has not been fulfilled in any Torrens
jurisdiction.
One is the mirror principle, which means
the
register
correctly
mirrors
the
information on the property's title; if the
property is sold, the mirror principle
ensures that the only information that is
changed in the register is the landowner's
name.
a. A purchaser is not required to explore
beyond what the record in the registry

indicates on its face, in quest for any

hidden defect or inchoate right which may
subsequently defeat his right thereto.
(Viray vs. CA, SCRA 468).
b. The prevailing doctrine is that a
mortgagee has a right to rely in good faith
on the certificate of title of the mortgagor
to the property given as security and in
the absence of any sign that might arose
suspicion, has no obligation to undertake
further investigation. (Cebu International
Finance Corporation vs. CA, 268 SCRA
178).
B. The Curtain Principle
The principle requires that the register is
the sole source of information for
intending purchasers. As the Privy Council
has put it, the main object of the Act:
is to save persons dealing with registered
proprietors from the trouble and expense
of going behind the register, in order to
investigate the history of their authors
title, and to satisfy themselves of its
validity.
The curtain principle is usually expressed
in individual Torrens statutes in terms that
no notice of trusts is to be entered in the
register book, thereby implying that they
are of no concern to a disponee and it is
everywhere expressly stipulated that a
purchaser is not to be affected by notice
of any trust. This does not mean that a
fiduciary is allowed to escape from his
obligations for, after registration, he holds
the land upon the trusts and for the
purposes for which the same is applicable
by law although these equities are behind
the impenetrable curtain of the register
book. Curtain principle, the certificate of
title serves as the main proof of
ownership, eradicating the need for
lengthy documentation
C. The Insurance Principle
This principle provides that, if through
human frailty (in the Registry), the mirror
fails to give an absolutely correct
reflection of the title and a flaw appears,
anyone who thereby suffers loss must be
put in the same position, so far as money

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can do it, as if the reflection were a true

one.
The insurance principle also involves a
curative process. Since it is the State
rather than the parties which effects the
transaction,
registration
sometimes
confers a better title than the transferor
possessed so that a purchaser can
acquire
an
indefeasible
right,
notwithstanding the infirmity of his
authors title. Thus the insurance
principle, properly understood and fully
carried out, involves far more than that
the owners title is guaranteed by the
State. It means: not only that registration
will be carried on literally as an insurance
undertaking but also that it is the privilege
of the Registrar, or the Commissioner, or
other responsible officer, on bringing land
under the Act, to cure the title of known
defects so far as he possibly can. It implies
that the whole business of registration
ought to be conducted with such an
economy of public manpower, public time
and public money that the saving which is
achieved far outweighs any payment of
compensation for errors or omissions
which may become necessary from time
to time.
Insurance principle, which financially
protects the landowner against loss should
the registrar make any mistakes in the
proper registration of the property.
VII. Modes of Acquiring Land Titles

PERA PAID
1. Public grant - conveyance of public
land by government to a private
individual
2. Emancipation patent or grant - for
purpose of ameliorating sad plight
of tenant-farmers; not transferable
except by hereditary succession
3. Reclamation - filling of submerged
land
by
deliberate
act
and
reclaiming
title
thereto;
government
4. Adverse
possession/acquisitive
prescription - open, continuous,
exclusive, notorious possession of a
property
5. Private grant or voluntary transfer voluntary execution of deed of
conveyance
6. Accretion - alluvium
7. Involuntary alienation - no consent
from owner of land; forcible
acquisition by state
8. Descent or devise - hereditary
succession to the estate of
deceased owner
VIII. Modes of Acquiring Title Over
Land
IASDO
1. By possession of land since time
Immemorial
2. By possession of Alienable and
disposable public land
3. By Sale, Donation, and Other
modes of acquiring ownership

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