Chapter 1. Introduction: Mr. Rowle Tries to Secure His Land -- Chapter 2. Massachusetts: Going to the Court House -- Chapter 3. Working It Out In Writing: The Evolving Language of Land Deeds -- Chapter 4. South Australia: Registration and The Urge For Good Order -- Chapter 5. Registration and The Conflict of Land Tenure Concepts -- Chapter 6. Conclusion.
Summary:
This book explores the history of public land tenure records, which first began in colonial Massachusetts as English settlers and Native Americans tried to resolve differing ideas about rights to land in the seventeenth century. In South Australia, a similar method of state certification of land ownership arose in the nineteenth century, through Torrens system title registration - a process that would be widely adopted in British and American colonies as a particularly effective way of guaranteeing absolute ('fee simple') ownership over indigenous peoples' land. This book explores the similarities between these two record systems, highlighting how similar settlement patterns and religious beliefs in both places focused attention on recording land tenure, and illustrating how these record systems encouraged new ways of thinking about rights to and on land.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.