(a) By stat. 48 & 49 Viet. c. 2.;. 8. 3, a caveat in favour of any person may be registered with respect to any lands in Yorkshire by any person claiming to be entitled to any interest therein: and if, while the caveat remains in force, an assurance of the lands from the giver of the caveat to the other, his representatives or assigns, be duly registered, such assurance shall have priority as though it had been registered on the date of registration of the caveat.

The Middlesex Registry Act and the old Yorkshire Registry Acts do not extend to copyhold estates, leases at a rack rent, or leases not exceeding twenty-one years when the actual possession and occupation go along with the lease (i). And the Middlesex Registry Act does not extend to Chambers in Serjeant's Inn, the Inns of Court or Inns of Chancery (k), and has no application to the City of London (l). The Yorkshire Registry Act, 1884 (m), does not extend to copyholds, or to any lease not exceeding twenty-one years, or any assignment thereof, where accompanied by actual possession from the making of such least or assignment; and the Act does not apply to land in the city of York (n). It has been held that, under the old Yorkshire Registry Acts, it was not necessary to register an assignment by deed of a pecuniary legacy charged on land in Yorkshire (o); and that, under the Middlesex Registry Act, registration need not be made of a conveyance of an interest in the proceeds of sale of land devised in trust for sale (p). Here we may note that the non-registration of wills of leaseholds does not appear to be an objection to the title thereto (q), as, when a will of leaseholds has been proved, there is no one, like the heir of freeholds, who could possibly convey them to a purchaser so as to defeat the executors' or legatees' title (r). And pending-probate, the leaseholds could only be lawfully disposed of by an administrator duly appointed on the supposition of intestacy; in which case the validity of the administrator's dealings therewith would appear to depend on the general law (s) and not on the policy of the Registry Acts. It may be observed that since the descent of the legal estate in freeholds has been assimilated to that of chattels real (t), it is in most cases, if not in all (u), impossible for an heir of freehold lands in Middlesex or Yorkshire to convey the same to a purchaser so as to defeat the title of an executor or devisee under an unregistered will. Lands situate within the jurisdiction of the Middlesex Registry, or any of the Yorkshire Registries, become exempt from such jurisdiction on being registered under the Land Transfer Acts, 1875 and 1897, and no document relating to such lands and executed after such registration, and no testamentary instrument relating to such lands and coming into operation after such registration, need be registered in the county register (x). But this provision does not apply to estates and interests excepted from the effect of registration under a possessory or qualified title (y), or to an unregistered reversion on a registered leasehold title, or to dealings with incumbrances created prior to the registration of the land(z). If any such lands so registered in the Land Registry should afterwards be removed therefrom, they will again become subject to the jurisdiction of the county register as from the date of removal (a).

Exceptions.

(b) See Battison v. Hobson, L896, 2 Ch. 403.

(c) Above, p. 373, n. (g).

(d) Above, p. 374.

(e) Above, p. 375. This doctrine remains in force with regard to lands in Middlesex.

(f) Stat. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 54, ss. 4, 14, amended by 48 & 49 Vict. c. 26, s. 4.

(g) If the will cannot be registered within six months after the testator's death, notice of the will may be registered within the same period, and in such case the will, if registered within two years after the testator's death, will have priority as though it were registered on the date of registration of the notice: stat. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 54, s. 11.

(h) Sect. 12.

(i) Stats. 7 Anne, c. 20, s. 17; 2 & 3 Anne, c. 4, s. 10; 6 Anne, c. 35, s. 29; 8 Geo. II. c. 6, s. 34.

Wills of leaseholds.

(k) Stat. 7 Anne, c. 20. s. 17. 8ug. V. & P. 732. Lands taken in 1888 from Middlesex to make up the county of London remained subject to the jurisdiction of the Middlesex Registry: stat.5l & 52 Vict. c. 41, ss. 40, 96.

(m) Stat. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 64, s. 28.

(n) This was equally the case with the old Yorkshire Registry Acts.

(o) Malcolm v. Charlesworth, 1 Keen, 63, doubted in Davidson, Prec. Conv. vol. 2, part 2. p. 219, 1th ed., but approved by Kay, .1., in Arden v. Arden, 29 Ch. D. 702. Arden v. Arden, ubi sup.

(q) See 2 Dart, V. & P. 683, 5th ed.; 772. 6tb ed.: 702, 7th ed.

(r) Besides this reason, the pro-visions of the Middlesex and old Yorkshire Registry Acts for registrations of wills of lands appear inapplicable to leaseholds, the memorial being required to be the act of the devisee: see stat. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 64, First Sched. r. 3. The Yorkshire Registries Act, 1SS4, s. 6, permits registra-ii"ii of a will by the executor.

(s) See 1 Wms. Exors. Pt. I. Bk. VI. Ch. III.

Lands regis• tered in the Land Registry.

Where the land purchased is situate in a district in which registration of title is compulsory on sale, it Lands in a district where registration must be remembered that under the Land Transfer Act, 1807 (b), any conveyance on sale (c) executed on or after the day on which registration of title on sale was made compulsory in that district (d), does not pass of title is compulsory on sale.

(t) Above, pp. 228, 231.

(u) Title must now be made through the administrator in case of intestacy: above, p. 231. But if the existence of a will were not discovered for some years after the testator's death, and the administrator had conveyed to the heir (see above, p. 233) and the heir to a purchaser, both by duly registered deed, it appears that in Middlesex the purchaser's title would prevail over that of the devisee, as in Chadwick v. Turner, L. R. 1 Ch. 310. So, also, in Yorkshire, if an affidavit of intestacy had been registered (sec above, p. 378); if not, quaere.