of
conveying that property from man to man. (Hear, hear.) I have for years
felt that the law of England in that respect, which we brought with us,
required amendment. In looking also to the laws of other countries with
respect to the transfer, mortgage, or encumbrance of real property, I
have come to the conclusion that the law of England is inferior to most
of them with regard to cost and security of title. The old Conservative
feeling of England adheres with a sort of veneration to laws and usages
respecting title which originated under the feudal system, and is loath
to abandon them for a system adapted to the requirements of modern
civilization. I would illustrate my views by observing that, in ancient
times, before the Wars of the Roses, a baron, or even a yeoman, would
surround his residence with a moat to be crossed only by a drawbridge,
and instead of the convenient door of modern times, he would have a
portcullis, which he would raise or let fall to admit a friend, or
exclude a foe. A visitor, too, would have instead of gaining immediate
access, to sound a horn at an outer gate, and hold parley with a warder
upon a lofty tower, before he could gain admission. There could be no
doubt that all these ceremonies and parleyings were necessary in those
days, but it does not follow that we should carry them out in our times.
Were any person now, to surround his residence with a deep and broad
ditch, and observe those ceremonies when a visitor called upon him, we
would call him insane; yet, that is precisely what we do with regard to
the transfer of real estate, observing still the tortuous roundabout
methods of conveying, resorted to in those days for the purpose of
evading the oppressions of feudalism. Nay, the analogy is so strong,
that in our Law Courts, and Deeds we still use the same barbarous Norman
French jargon in which the parley was in those ancient days held at the
gate of the baronial residence. (Hear, and applause.) It is perhaps
presumptuous of a person who has not received a legal education, to
address his mind to this question; seeing, however, that the persons
who, by ability, and education, are best fit to cope with the subject,
are not willing, or, at least have not done so, I have taken the task
upon myself. (Hear, hear). With your permission, I will give you an
outline of the plan. The purchaser of land from the Crown shall receive
a title deed, a land grant, as at present to be executed in duplicat