Private Law Theory

Abstract
While Britain and the United States are bound by their shared system of common law, they differ in the way they document and protect interests in lands. The United States retains the older system of recordation – a model where the government simply maintains public records of documents affecting title, but does not guarantee ownership. The UK employs a ‘title registration’ scheme, in which the government not only maintains relevant documents, but also determines the owner and the owner’s interest. The British model is clearly advantageous. But the recording system has worked well for America, where the private sector has developed effective means of assuring land titles, and wide-reaching reforms would be unnecessary and counterproductive.

Mjeku, Getoar, Documenting Interests in Land: The American and British Systems (June 21, 2018). E drejta: University of Prishtina Law Review 2018 (forthcoming).

First posted 2018-07-17 19:18:13