The Torrens System Under the Land Titles Act: A "Bebe" Retrospective
Chan Sek Keong SC
(2024) 36 SAcLJ 42
Abstract:
This article advances a principled approach to give certainty and finality to the registered title under the Land Titles Act 1983 (“LTA”). It requires the court to interpret the statutory exceptions to indefeasibility under the LTA as exclusive categories or instances of the prescribed causes of action that
may defeat or encumber the registered title wholly or partially. It is argued that this approach gives effect to the purpose of the LTA. No adverse claim against the registered title, if not based on such cause of action, is permissible. These causes of action are, respectively: (a) fraud; (b) breach of contract; (c) breach of trust; (d) legal disability; and (e) illegality.