LAND REGISTRATION ORDINANCE, 1844
Title
LAND REGISTRATION ORDINANCE, 1844
Description
No. 1 of 1844.
To provide for the registration of deeds,conveyances,wills,and
judgments affecting real or immorable property.
[28th Feb., 1844.]
WHEREAS it is expedient to prevent secret and fraudulent convey-
ances, and to provide means whereby the title to real and
immovable property may be easily traced and ascertained:-
1. The Land Registration Ordinance, 1844.
Registration of instruments affecting land.
2. The Land Office shaIl be a public office for the registration of
deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in writing, and wills and
judgments; and all deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in
writing, and wills, and all judgments, by which deeds, conveyances,
and other instruments in writing, and wills and judgments, any
parcels of ground, tenements, or premises in this Colony, may be
affected, may be entered and registered in the said office in the
manner hereinafter directed.
* As amended by No. 50 of 1911
3. --(1) All sueb deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in
and wills and judgments, made, executed, or obtained and
registered in pursuance hereof, shall have priority one over the
other according to the priority of their respectlve dates of
registration.
- (2)All such deeds,conveyaces,and other instruments in writing,
and wills and judgments, as last aforesaid which are not registered
shall (as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee
for valuable consideration of the same parcels of ground, tenements,
or premises) be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes:
Provided that nothing herein contained shall extend to bona fide
leases at rack rent for any term not exceeding 3 years.
4. No notice whatsoever, either actual or constructive, of any prior
unregistrated deed, conveyance, or other instrument in writing, or
will or judgment, shall affect the priority of any such instrument
as aforesaid as is duly registered.
5. All deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in writing, and
wills and judgments, which are duly registered within the respective
times next mentioned,that is to say, all deeds, conveyances, and
other instruments in writing (except wills) which, if executed in
this Colony, are registered within one month, or which, if executed
in any other place, are registered within 12 months, after the time
of execution thereof respectively, and all will which, if the devisor
dies in this Colony are registered within one inonth, or which, if
the devisor dies in any other place, are registered within 12 months,
after the decease of every devisor respectively, and all judgments
which are registered within one month after the entering up or
recording thereof, shall severally be in like manner entitled to
priority, and shall take effect respectively by relation to the date
thereof only in the same manner as if this Ordinance bad not been
passed.
Mode of registration.
6. The registration intended by this Ordinance shall be made in
manner following, that is to say, a memorial containing the
particulars hereinafter specified shall be delivered into the Land
Office, signed, in the case of a deed, conveyance, or other instrument
As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
in writing, except a will, by some or one of the parties to the original
instrument, or, if such parties are dead or absent from the Colony,
then by one or more of the witnesses to such instrument, and in the
case of a will by some or orie of the devisees or his guardian or
trustees, and in the ease of a judgment by the plaintiff.
7. Every such memorial shall be verified by the oath of some
competent person that the same contains a just and true account
of the several particulars therein set forth, which oath shall be taken
before any Justice of the Peace.
8.-(1.)The memorial of any deed, conveyance, or other instru-
ment in writing, and of any will, shall contain the date of such
deed, conveyance, or other instrument, or of such will, and the
particular nature and object thereof, the names and additions of all
the parties to such deed, conveyance, or other instrument, and of
the devisor, devisee or devisees of such will, and the names and
additions of all the witnesses thereto and shall especially
particularize and express the parcels of ground, tenements and
premises affected or intended to be affected by such deed, conveyance,
or other instrument, or by such will, and the proper and ordinary
or accustomed names of the places where the same are situated,
and (except in the case of a will) the pecuniary or other consideration
for the same, in the form or to the effect of the form in the Ist
schedule.
(2) The memorial of any judgment shall contain the names and
additions of the plaintiffs and defendants respectively, the sum
thereby recovered or secured, the time of entering up or recording
the same, and the sum of money bona fide due thereon.
(3) Provided alwaYs that when there are more writings than one
for perfecting the same conveyance, devise, or security affecting the
same parcels of ground, tenements, and premises, all such writings
shall be stated in one and the same memorial, in which it shall be
sufficient to particularize such parcels, tenements and premises only
once.
9.-(1) On the delivery of any such memorial as aforesaid, the
Land Officel shall number the memorial according to tbe order of
time in which it has been so delivered, and shall give a receipt for
it, in which receipt shall be specified the certain day and time
of day when tbe memorial was so delivered, and the proper number
thereof in the register of the Land Office.
(2) The Land Officer shall also in like manner immediately
indorse on the back of the memorial a certificate, containing the
day and the time of day when the memorial was so delivered, and
the name and place of abode of the person verifying it, and shall
sign the certificate when so indorsed.
(3) Such certificate shall be taken and allowed as evidence of the
registration, and of the time of registration, of the deed, conveyance,
or other instrument, or of the will or judgment, of wbich the
memorial has been so made.
10. Every such memorial shall, as soon after the receipt thereof
as practicable, be careftilly registered by the Land Officer, in
regular succession as receive, according to its proper number, in
a particular book to be kept by him for that purpose, and shall
afterwards be deposited by him in some secure place in his office,
and there kept for future reference when required.
11. The Land Officer shall also keep an index of the parcels of
ground, tenements, and premises mentioned in every such memorial
and also a like index or indices of the names of the several parties
to deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in writing, and of
the devisors and devisees in the case of wills, and of the plaintiffs
and defendants in the case of judgments, with accurate references
in all such indices respectively to the number and page of registry
of the memorial to which any entry in such indices relates.
12. In the case of any mortgage or judgment registered, it at any,
time afterwards such verified certificate as is hereinafter next men-
tioned is brought to the Land Officer, signed by the respective
mortgagors and mortgagees or plaintiffs and defendants or their
agents respectively, and attested by two credible witnesses,
whereby it appears that the whole of the moneys due on such
mortgage or judgment have been fully paid, or that such mortgage
or judgment is otherwise satisfied, then the Land Officer shall make
a short entry or memorandum thereof on the memorial and on the
margin of the registry of such mortgage or judgment,and shall
afterwards carefully register the certificate in one of the registry
books of his office, and the Land Officer shall make an entry thereof
in his indices referring accurately to the page of registry of the
certificate.
* As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
13.-(1) Every sueb certificate shall contain the following
particulars, that is to say, in the case of a mortgage the names
and additions of the original parties, the date of the instrument,
the sum thereby secured, and the time of payment or other
satisfaction thereof; and in the case of a judgment the names and
additions of the plaintiffs and defendants, the time of entering up
or recording the same, the sum thereby recovered, and the date
of payment or other satisfaction of the amount bona fide due
thereon.
(2) Every such certificate shall be verified by the oath of some
competent person that the same contains a just and true account
of the several particulars therein set forth, which oath shall be made
and taken before any Justice of the peace.
(3) On the back of such verified certificate the Land Officer shall
immediately indorse the date when the same was received by him,
and the name and place of abode of the person verifying the same,
and the certificate shall, after being so indorsed and entered as
aforesaid, be safely kept in his office for future reference when
required.
Registration of lis pendens.
14. The provisions of this Ordinance relating to judgments (subject
to the provisions hereinafter contained) shall extend to lites
pedentes within the intent and meaning of the Acts of Parliament
2 & 3 Victoria, chapter 11, and 13 & 14 Victoria, chapter 35.
15. The memorial of any such lis pendens shall be sifficient if it is
signed by the plaintiffs or persos claiming to be plaintiffs in the said
lis pendens, and contains the names and additions of the said persons
and of the defendants or persons whose estate is intended to be,
affected thereby, and the day when the bill, information, or specill
case was filed, and the sum of money thereby claimed or in
controversy, yet so as that the said memorial shall be verified in all
other respects as is provided in the case of judgments.
16. Notwithstanding the said Acts of Parliament, no lis pendens
shall be registered in the Registry of the Supreme Court,or
*As amended by No. 50 of 1911; 13 and 14 Vict. c. 35 rep. 46 and 47
Vict c. 49 s.3. See No.31 of 1911 s. 15.
AS amended by No. 50 of 1911.
elsewhere than in the Land Office ; and a Iis pendens not registereed
in the said office, shall not bind any purchaser or mortgagee of the
estate intended to be thereby affected.
17. So much of the said Acts of Parliament and of the Acts of
Parliament 3 & 4 Victoria, chapter 82, and 18 & 19 Victoria, chapter
15, as requires the re-registering of judgments and lites pendentes
after every successive period of 5 years, beginning from the entry
thereof respectively, shall extend to all judgments, lites pendentes
and orders, registered in the Land Office, and by which it is
intended to affect any estate.
18. Subject to the provisions of section 11 of the Act 18 & 19
Victoria, chapter 15, for the relief of purchasers and mortgagees
for valuable consideration against the judgments, Crown debts, and
liabilities of paid-off mortgagees (and which provisions are hereby
extended to this Colony), every lis pendens registered or re-
registered, and also every judgment or order re-registered in manner
aforesaid, shall have the same force and effect as a judgment registered and not further or otherwise.
Vacation of registration of lis pendens.
19. The Court or Judge before whom any property sought to be
bound is in litigation, may, on the determination of the lis pendens,
or during the pendency thereof, where the said Court or Judge is
satisfied that the litigation is not prosecuted bona fide, or for other
good cause shown, make an order for Ihe vacating of the registra-
tion in the Land Office of such lis pendens without the consent
of the party who registered it, and may direct the party on whose
behalf the registration was made to pay all the costs and expenses
occasioned by the registration or the vacating thereof, including the
costs of the application to vacate, or may make such other order
as to such costs or any of them is to the said Court or Judge may
seem just.
20. The application to vacate a lis pendens under the last section
may be in a summary way by petition or motion in Court or by
summons in Chambers,and may be made by any person interested
in the property against which the lis pendens has been registered,
whether such person is a party to the lis pendens or not.
* As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
21. If an order is made for vacating any such registration, the
Land Officer shall, on the filing with him of a memorial and an
office copy of such order, enter a discharge of such lis pendens on
the register, and may issue certificates of such entry.
Miscellaneous provisions.
22. It shall be lawful for any person to deposit in the Land Office
for safe custody any deed, conveyance, power of attorney, or other
instrument in writing whatsoever, or his last will and testament,
of which deeds, conveyances, powers of attorney, or other instru-
ments, wills, and testaments the Land Officer shall (first giving a
receipt for the same) immediately make an entry in a book to be kept
for that purpose, to which book he shall keep an accurate alphabet-
ical index having reference as well to the name of the testator or
parties to each such deed or instrument as to the person depositing
the same ; and the Land Officer shall carefully and securely keep all
such deeds, conveyances, powers of attorney, or other instruments,
wills, and testaments in his office until required by the party deposit-
ing the same to deliver them back again : Provided that every such
will or testament shall be enclosed within a cover or envelope, sealed
with the seal of the testator, whose name shall be indorsed by the
Land Officer thereon, and every such will or testament shall remain
in the said office until the decease of the testator, unless he
previously requires the same to be delivered back, and on the death
of the testator the Land Officer shall (after examining such will or
testament) deliver the same to the executor first named therein, or
to such other person as may be duly authorised to receive the same.
23. If the Land Officer or any other person employed in the
Land Office wilfully neglects or omits to number, register, or enter
in manner hereinbefore directed any memorial or certificate de-
livered into the said office, he shall be liable in damages to the party
injured to the extent of the loss or injury sustained.
24. If the Land Officer or any clerk or person whoseoever wilfully
destroys, embezzles, or secretes, forges, counterfeits, razes, defaces
or alters any memorial or any part thereof, or any indorsement
thereon, or any entry or registry thereof in any book in the said
office, with intent to defraud or injure any person, such Land Officer,
As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
As amended by No. 50 of 1911 and No. 51 of 1911.
clerk, or person so offending shall be guilty of felony, and shall be
liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 14 years.
25. Any correction by erasure, interlineation, or otherwise in
any memorial of the registry of any document shall be noted and
set forth at length in red ink in the margin of the memorial wberein
it is made, together with the reasons for making the same, and shall
be attested and verified by the signature of the Land Officer.
26. The fees mentioned in the 2nd schedule shall be paid for
and in respect of tbe several matters and things therein stated.
Such fees shall be paid by means of stamps which shall be duly
cancelled by the Land Officer.
FIRST SCHEDULE.
PARTICULARS OF MEMORIAL OF REGISTRATION [s.8.]
1. Date of instrument or will.
2. Nature and object thereof.
3. Names and additions of the parties or of the devisors or devisees.
4. Names and additions of the witnesses thereto.
5. Description of the land or premises conveyed in or affected by
the instrument or will.
6. Name and description of the place where situate.
7. Consideration and to whom and how paid.
8. Any other particulars which the case may require.
SECOND SCHEDULE.
TABLE OF FEES PAYABLE TO THE LAND OFFICER. [s.26.]
1. For registering every deed, assignment, mortgage, or
other instrument in writing (except as hereinafter provided)
where such deed, assignment, mortgage, or other instrument,
As amended by No. 30 of 1911, and the Final Revision Ordinance 1912.
As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
As amended by No. 36 of 1902 and No. 8 of 1912.
For fees and regulations where the consideration does not exceed $5,000
see Bowley's Regulations of Hongkong 1910 p. 1.
relates only to one lot or one section or portion of a lot as regis-
tered or intended to be registered in the Land Office $15
2. For registering every other deed, assignment mortgage,
or instrument in writing,except as hereinafter provided $30
3. For registering every will,probate,letters of administra-
tion,judgment,decree, prohibitory order, or other order of
Court, or receiving any verified certificate $3
4. For registering a lis pendens $3
5. For entering a discharge of a lis pendens $6
6. For a certificate of such entry of discharge $3
7. For receiving for safe custody any deed, will, or other
instrument $15
8.For every search $1
9. For certificate of receipt of any document, or certifying
a copy thereof, and for every other certificate $15
10. For every uncertified copy of any will, deed, memorial,
or other instrument,per folio of 72 words 75 cts.
11. For registering memorial of a writ of foreign af attachment $3
12. For filing a certificate that a writ of foreign attacbment
is dissolved, or that the judgment in the action is satisfied $3
13. For the signature of the Governor to any Crown lease or
other document issued from the Land Office, including affixing
the public seal to such lease or other document, where such
seal is necessary $10
14. For plans attached to a Grown lease and counterpart, or
other docurnent $20
For Regulations and Fees where the consideration does not exceed $5,000 see
Bowley's Regulations of Hongkong 1910 p.1.
Short title. Establishment of Land Office for registration of instruments affecting land. Priority of registered instruments; effect of non-registration. Notice of unregistered instrument not to affect registered instrument. Period within which instruments to be registered after execution. Delivery into Land Office of memorial of instrument to be registered. Verification of memorial. Particulars to be contained in memorial. First schedule. Numbering, receipt for, and indorsement of certificate on memorial. Registration and custody of memorial. Indices of lands registered and of parties to instruments. Entry of satisfaction of mortgage or judgment and registration of certificate of satisfaction. Contents, verification and custody of certificate of satisfaction of mortgage or judgment. Registration of lis pendens as judgment. Particulars to be contained in memorial. Case of lis pendens not registered. Extension of Acts of Parliament. Effect of registry and re-registry and extension of 18 & 19 Vict. C. 15 s. 11. Power to the Court to order vacation of l's pendens. [30 & 31 Vict. C. 47 s. 2.] Mode of making application to the Court. [ib.] Entry of discharge by Land Officer. [30 & 31 Vict. C. 47 s. 2.] Deposit of deeds, etc., in Land Office for safe custody. Penalty on officers for wilful neglect. Punishment of officers, etc., for destroying memorial, etc., with intent to wilfully defraud. Verification of correction in memorial of registry. Fees. Second schedule.
To provide for the registration of deeds,conveyances,wills,and
judgments affecting real or immorable property.
[28th Feb., 1844.]
WHEREAS it is expedient to prevent secret and fraudulent convey-
ances, and to provide means whereby the title to real and
immovable property may be easily traced and ascertained:-
1. The Land Registration Ordinance, 1844.
Registration of instruments affecting land.
2. The Land Office shaIl be a public office for the registration of
deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in writing, and wills and
judgments; and all deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in
writing, and wills, and all judgments, by which deeds, conveyances,
and other instruments in writing, and wills and judgments, any
parcels of ground, tenements, or premises in this Colony, may be
affected, may be entered and registered in the said office in the
manner hereinafter directed.
* As amended by No. 50 of 1911
3. --(1) All sueb deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in
and wills and judgments, made, executed, or obtained and
registered in pursuance hereof, shall have priority one over the
other according to the priority of their respectlve dates of
registration.
- (2)All such deeds,conveyaces,and other instruments in writing,
and wills and judgments, as last aforesaid which are not registered
shall (as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee
for valuable consideration of the same parcels of ground, tenements,
or premises) be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes:
Provided that nothing herein contained shall extend to bona fide
leases at rack rent for any term not exceeding 3 years.
4. No notice whatsoever, either actual or constructive, of any prior
unregistrated deed, conveyance, or other instrument in writing, or
will or judgment, shall affect the priority of any such instrument
as aforesaid as is duly registered.
5. All deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in writing, and
wills and judgments, which are duly registered within the respective
times next mentioned,that is to say, all deeds, conveyances, and
other instruments in writing (except wills) which, if executed in
this Colony, are registered within one month, or which, if executed
in any other place, are registered within 12 months, after the time
of execution thereof respectively, and all will which, if the devisor
dies in this Colony are registered within one inonth, or which, if
the devisor dies in any other place, are registered within 12 months,
after the decease of every devisor respectively, and all judgments
which are registered within one month after the entering up or
recording thereof, shall severally be in like manner entitled to
priority, and shall take effect respectively by relation to the date
thereof only in the same manner as if this Ordinance bad not been
passed.
Mode of registration.
6. The registration intended by this Ordinance shall be made in
manner following, that is to say, a memorial containing the
particulars hereinafter specified shall be delivered into the Land
Office, signed, in the case of a deed, conveyance, or other instrument
As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
in writing, except a will, by some or one of the parties to the original
instrument, or, if such parties are dead or absent from the Colony,
then by one or more of the witnesses to such instrument, and in the
case of a will by some or orie of the devisees or his guardian or
trustees, and in the ease of a judgment by the plaintiff.
7. Every such memorial shall be verified by the oath of some
competent person that the same contains a just and true account
of the several particulars therein set forth, which oath shall be taken
before any Justice of the Peace.
8.-(1.)The memorial of any deed, conveyance, or other instru-
ment in writing, and of any will, shall contain the date of such
deed, conveyance, or other instrument, or of such will, and the
particular nature and object thereof, the names and additions of all
the parties to such deed, conveyance, or other instrument, and of
the devisor, devisee or devisees of such will, and the names and
additions of all the witnesses thereto and shall especially
particularize and express the parcels of ground, tenements and
premises affected or intended to be affected by such deed, conveyance,
or other instrument, or by such will, and the proper and ordinary
or accustomed names of the places where the same are situated,
and (except in the case of a will) the pecuniary or other consideration
for the same, in the form or to the effect of the form in the Ist
schedule.
(2) The memorial of any judgment shall contain the names and
additions of the plaintiffs and defendants respectively, the sum
thereby recovered or secured, the time of entering up or recording
the same, and the sum of money bona fide due thereon.
(3) Provided alwaYs that when there are more writings than one
for perfecting the same conveyance, devise, or security affecting the
same parcels of ground, tenements, and premises, all such writings
shall be stated in one and the same memorial, in which it shall be
sufficient to particularize such parcels, tenements and premises only
once.
9.-(1) On the delivery of any such memorial as aforesaid, the
Land Officel shall number the memorial according to tbe order of
time in which it has been so delivered, and shall give a receipt for
it, in which receipt shall be specified the certain day and time
of day when tbe memorial was so delivered, and the proper number
thereof in the register of the Land Office.
(2) The Land Officer shall also in like manner immediately
indorse on the back of the memorial a certificate, containing the
day and the time of day when the memorial was so delivered, and
the name and place of abode of the person verifying it, and shall
sign the certificate when so indorsed.
(3) Such certificate shall be taken and allowed as evidence of the
registration, and of the time of registration, of the deed, conveyance,
or other instrument, or of the will or judgment, of wbich the
memorial has been so made.
10. Every such memorial shall, as soon after the receipt thereof
as practicable, be careftilly registered by the Land Officer, in
regular succession as receive, according to its proper number, in
a particular book to be kept by him for that purpose, and shall
afterwards be deposited by him in some secure place in his office,
and there kept for future reference when required.
11. The Land Officer shall also keep an index of the parcels of
ground, tenements, and premises mentioned in every such memorial
and also a like index or indices of the names of the several parties
to deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in writing, and of
the devisors and devisees in the case of wills, and of the plaintiffs
and defendants in the case of judgments, with accurate references
in all such indices respectively to the number and page of registry
of the memorial to which any entry in such indices relates.
12. In the case of any mortgage or judgment registered, it at any,
time afterwards such verified certificate as is hereinafter next men-
tioned is brought to the Land Officer, signed by the respective
mortgagors and mortgagees or plaintiffs and defendants or their
agents respectively, and attested by two credible witnesses,
whereby it appears that the whole of the moneys due on such
mortgage or judgment have been fully paid, or that such mortgage
or judgment is otherwise satisfied, then the Land Officer shall make
a short entry or memorandum thereof on the memorial and on the
margin of the registry of such mortgage or judgment,and shall
afterwards carefully register the certificate in one of the registry
books of his office, and the Land Officer shall make an entry thereof
in his indices referring accurately to the page of registry of the
certificate.
* As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
13.-(1) Every sueb certificate shall contain the following
particulars, that is to say, in the case of a mortgage the names
and additions of the original parties, the date of the instrument,
the sum thereby secured, and the time of payment or other
satisfaction thereof; and in the case of a judgment the names and
additions of the plaintiffs and defendants, the time of entering up
or recording the same, the sum thereby recovered, and the date
of payment or other satisfaction of the amount bona fide due
thereon.
(2) Every such certificate shall be verified by the oath of some
competent person that the same contains a just and true account
of the several particulars therein set forth, which oath shall be made
and taken before any Justice of the peace.
(3) On the back of such verified certificate the Land Officer shall
immediately indorse the date when the same was received by him,
and the name and place of abode of the person verifying the same,
and the certificate shall, after being so indorsed and entered as
aforesaid, be safely kept in his office for future reference when
required.
Registration of lis pendens.
14. The provisions of this Ordinance relating to judgments (subject
to the provisions hereinafter contained) shall extend to lites
pedentes within the intent and meaning of the Acts of Parliament
2 & 3 Victoria, chapter 11, and 13 & 14 Victoria, chapter 35.
15. The memorial of any such lis pendens shall be sifficient if it is
signed by the plaintiffs or persos claiming to be plaintiffs in the said
lis pendens, and contains the names and additions of the said persons
and of the defendants or persons whose estate is intended to be,
affected thereby, and the day when the bill, information, or specill
case was filed, and the sum of money thereby claimed or in
controversy, yet so as that the said memorial shall be verified in all
other respects as is provided in the case of judgments.
16. Notwithstanding the said Acts of Parliament, no lis pendens
shall be registered in the Registry of the Supreme Court,or
*As amended by No. 50 of 1911; 13 and 14 Vict. c. 35 rep. 46 and 47
Vict c. 49 s.3. See No.31 of 1911 s. 15.
AS amended by No. 50 of 1911.
elsewhere than in the Land Office ; and a Iis pendens not registereed
in the said office, shall not bind any purchaser or mortgagee of the
estate intended to be thereby affected.
17. So much of the said Acts of Parliament and of the Acts of
Parliament 3 & 4 Victoria, chapter 82, and 18 & 19 Victoria, chapter
15, as requires the re-registering of judgments and lites pendentes
after every successive period of 5 years, beginning from the entry
thereof respectively, shall extend to all judgments, lites pendentes
and orders, registered in the Land Office, and by which it is
intended to affect any estate.
18. Subject to the provisions of section 11 of the Act 18 & 19
Victoria, chapter 15, for the relief of purchasers and mortgagees
for valuable consideration against the judgments, Crown debts, and
liabilities of paid-off mortgagees (and which provisions are hereby
extended to this Colony), every lis pendens registered or re-
registered, and also every judgment or order re-registered in manner
aforesaid, shall have the same force and effect as a judgment registered and not further or otherwise.
Vacation of registration of lis pendens.
19. The Court or Judge before whom any property sought to be
bound is in litigation, may, on the determination of the lis pendens,
or during the pendency thereof, where the said Court or Judge is
satisfied that the litigation is not prosecuted bona fide, or for other
good cause shown, make an order for Ihe vacating of the registra-
tion in the Land Office of such lis pendens without the consent
of the party who registered it, and may direct the party on whose
behalf the registration was made to pay all the costs and expenses
occasioned by the registration or the vacating thereof, including the
costs of the application to vacate, or may make such other order
as to such costs or any of them is to the said Court or Judge may
seem just.
20. The application to vacate a lis pendens under the last section
may be in a summary way by petition or motion in Court or by
summons in Chambers,and may be made by any person interested
in the property against which the lis pendens has been registered,
whether such person is a party to the lis pendens or not.
* As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
21. If an order is made for vacating any such registration, the
Land Officer shall, on the filing with him of a memorial and an
office copy of such order, enter a discharge of such lis pendens on
the register, and may issue certificates of such entry.
Miscellaneous provisions.
22. It shall be lawful for any person to deposit in the Land Office
for safe custody any deed, conveyance, power of attorney, or other
instrument in writing whatsoever, or his last will and testament,
of which deeds, conveyances, powers of attorney, or other instru-
ments, wills, and testaments the Land Officer shall (first giving a
receipt for the same) immediately make an entry in a book to be kept
for that purpose, to which book he shall keep an accurate alphabet-
ical index having reference as well to the name of the testator or
parties to each such deed or instrument as to the person depositing
the same ; and the Land Officer shall carefully and securely keep all
such deeds, conveyances, powers of attorney, or other instruments,
wills, and testaments in his office until required by the party deposit-
ing the same to deliver them back again : Provided that every such
will or testament shall be enclosed within a cover or envelope, sealed
with the seal of the testator, whose name shall be indorsed by the
Land Officer thereon, and every such will or testament shall remain
in the said office until the decease of the testator, unless he
previously requires the same to be delivered back, and on the death
of the testator the Land Officer shall (after examining such will or
testament) deliver the same to the executor first named therein, or
to such other person as may be duly authorised to receive the same.
23. If the Land Officer or any other person employed in the
Land Office wilfully neglects or omits to number, register, or enter
in manner hereinbefore directed any memorial or certificate de-
livered into the said office, he shall be liable in damages to the party
injured to the extent of the loss or injury sustained.
24. If the Land Officer or any clerk or person whoseoever wilfully
destroys, embezzles, or secretes, forges, counterfeits, razes, defaces
or alters any memorial or any part thereof, or any indorsement
thereon, or any entry or registry thereof in any book in the said
office, with intent to defraud or injure any person, such Land Officer,
As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
As amended by No. 50 of 1911 and No. 51 of 1911.
clerk, or person so offending shall be guilty of felony, and shall be
liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 14 years.
25. Any correction by erasure, interlineation, or otherwise in
any memorial of the registry of any document shall be noted and
set forth at length in red ink in the margin of the memorial wberein
it is made, together with the reasons for making the same, and shall
be attested and verified by the signature of the Land Officer.
26. The fees mentioned in the 2nd schedule shall be paid for
and in respect of tbe several matters and things therein stated.
Such fees shall be paid by means of stamps which shall be duly
cancelled by the Land Officer.
FIRST SCHEDULE.
PARTICULARS OF MEMORIAL OF REGISTRATION [s.8.]
1. Date of instrument or will.
2. Nature and object thereof.
3. Names and additions of the parties or of the devisors or devisees.
4. Names and additions of the witnesses thereto.
5. Description of the land or premises conveyed in or affected by
the instrument or will.
6. Name and description of the place where situate.
7. Consideration and to whom and how paid.
8. Any other particulars which the case may require.
SECOND SCHEDULE.
TABLE OF FEES PAYABLE TO THE LAND OFFICER. [s.26.]
1. For registering every deed, assignment, mortgage, or
other instrument in writing (except as hereinafter provided)
where such deed, assignment, mortgage, or other instrument,
As amended by No. 30 of 1911, and the Final Revision Ordinance 1912.
As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
As amended by No. 36 of 1902 and No. 8 of 1912.
For fees and regulations where the consideration does not exceed $5,000
see Bowley's Regulations of Hongkong 1910 p. 1.
relates only to one lot or one section or portion of a lot as regis-
tered or intended to be registered in the Land Office $15
2. For registering every other deed, assignment mortgage,
or instrument in writing,except as hereinafter provided $30
3. For registering every will,probate,letters of administra-
tion,judgment,decree, prohibitory order, or other order of
Court, or receiving any verified certificate $3
4. For registering a lis pendens $3
5. For entering a discharge of a lis pendens $6
6. For a certificate of such entry of discharge $3
7. For receiving for safe custody any deed, will, or other
instrument $15
8.For every search $1
9. For certificate of receipt of any document, or certifying
a copy thereof, and for every other certificate $15
10. For every uncertified copy of any will, deed, memorial,
or other instrument,per folio of 72 words 75 cts.
11. For registering memorial of a writ of foreign af attachment $3
12. For filing a certificate that a writ of foreign attacbment
is dissolved, or that the judgment in the action is satisfied $3
13. For the signature of the Governor to any Crown lease or
other document issued from the Land Office, including affixing
the public seal to such lease or other document, where such
seal is necessary $10
14. For plans attached to a Grown lease and counterpart, or
other docurnent $20
For Regulations and Fees where the consideration does not exceed $5,000 see
Bowley's Regulations of Hongkong 1910 p.1.
Short title. Establishment of Land Office for registration of instruments affecting land. Priority of registered instruments; effect of non-registration. Notice of unregistered instrument not to affect registered instrument. Period within which instruments to be registered after execution. Delivery into Land Office of memorial of instrument to be registered. Verification of memorial. Particulars to be contained in memorial. First schedule. Numbering, receipt for, and indorsement of certificate on memorial. Registration and custody of memorial. Indices of lands registered and of parties to instruments. Entry of satisfaction of mortgage or judgment and registration of certificate of satisfaction. Contents, verification and custody of certificate of satisfaction of mortgage or judgment. Registration of lis pendens as judgment. Particulars to be contained in memorial. Case of lis pendens not registered. Extension of Acts of Parliament. Effect of registry and re-registry and extension of 18 & 19 Vict. C. 15 s. 11. Power to the Court to order vacation of l's pendens. [30 & 31 Vict. C. 47 s. 2.] Mode of making application to the Court. [ib.] Entry of discharge by Land Officer. [30 & 31 Vict. C. 47 s. 2.] Deposit of deeds, etc., in Land Office for safe custody. Penalty on officers for wilful neglect. Punishment of officers, etc., for destroying memorial, etc., with intent to wilfully defraud. Verification of correction in memorial of registry. Fees. Second schedule.
Abstract
Short title. Establishment of Land Office for registration of instruments affecting land. Priority of registered instruments; effect of non-registration. Notice of unregistered instrument not to affect registered instrument. Period within which instruments to be registered after execution. Delivery into Land Office of memorial of instrument to be registered. Verification of memorial. Particulars to be contained in memorial. First schedule. Numbering, receipt for, and indorsement of certificate on memorial. Registration and custody of memorial. Indices of lands registered and of parties to instruments. Entry of satisfaction of mortgage or judgment and registration of certificate of satisfaction. Contents, verification and custody of certificate of satisfaction of mortgage or judgment. Registration of lis pendens as judgment. Particulars to be contained in memorial. Case of lis pendens not registered. Extension of Acts of Parliament. Effect of registry and re-registry and extension of 18 & 19 Vict. C. 15 s. 11. Power to the Court to order vacation of l's pendens. [30 & 31 Vict. C. 47 s. 2.] Mode of making application to the Court. [ib.] Entry of discharge by Land Officer. [30 & 31 Vict. C. 47 s. 2.] Deposit of deeds, etc., in Land Office for safe custody. Penalty on officers for wilful neglect. Punishment of officers, etc., for destroying memorial, etc., with intent to wilfully defraud. Verification of correction in memorial of registry. Fees. Second schedule.
Identifier
https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/759
Edition
1912
Volume
v1
Subsequent Cap No.
128
Cap / Ordinance No.
No. 1 of 1844
Number of Pages
9
Files
Collection
Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online
Citation
“LAND REGISTRATION ORDINANCE, 1844,” Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online, accessed February 27, 2025, https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/759.
