Global impact of local land laws

Law

The University of Adelaide Law School is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year with a commemoration of an even older event, the birth of the Torrens Title system of land ownership.

The Torrens Title system, where a register of land title is maintained by the State, was introduced 150 years ago in South Australia and is now commonly used in many Commonwealth and other countries throughout the world. By having one certificate of title detailing all previous transactions, land ownership is made more secure and transfer of ownership less complex.

On 20 June at the National Wine Centre, the Law School is hosting the symposium "150th Anniversary of Torrens Title: Creation, Establishment, Challenges".

The speakers are five of Australia's leading experts in the field:

• John Corcoran (President-elect, Law Council of Australia);
  
• Professor Rosalind Croucher (Australian Law Reform Commission);
  
• Emeritus Professor Horst Lucke (University of Adelaide);
  
• Professor Murray Raff (Dean, University of Canberra School of Law); and
  
• Associate Professor Greg Taylor (Monash University Law School).

"By and large, the Torrens Title system has proven itself to be a simple and useful system of land title by registration and this success has resulted in its adoption in many places around the world," said Dr Paul Babie, Associate Dean (Research) in the University of Adelaide's Law School and Chair of the Law 125 Committee.

"With its 150th anniversary coinciding with the Law School's 125th anniversary, we thought it a good opportunity to commemorate both at once and discuss what Torrens Title has meant for land law over the years and the current challenges it faces."

As well as the symposium, the Law School is also holding the Law 125 Distinguished Speaker Series, with lectures presented by outstanding legal scholars and representatives from Australia and overseas.

"The reputation of the speakers and the breadth of their research interests clearly demonstrates that the University of Adelaide Law School is an international leader in legal research," Dr Babie said.

The University of Adelaide Law School was founded in 1883 as one of the small group of institutions that pioneered the teaching of law in the English tradition as a university discipline in the 19th century. It is the second oldest law school in the country to teach the LLB degree, after the University of Melbourne.

Until 1950 it operated largely as a small co-operative enterprise between one full-time university teacher and practising members of the legal profession.

Today the University of Adelaide Law School is one of Australia's premier law schools and a centre of cutting-edge legal research. It has more than 1400 students and a long history of producing graduates who have gone onto become leaders in legal and political arenas. There are 40 members of full-time and adjunct staff and many more professional instructors.

For more information on the Torrens Title symposium or the Law 125 Distinguished Speaker Series, please email: paul.babie@adelaide.edu.au or visit: www.law.adelaide.edu.au/torrens-title-symposium
www.law.adelaide.edu.au

Story by Robyn Mills