ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is not to discuss property law and its relationship to equity, where equity is a set of principles deployed to mitigate the harshness of the common law. That is a well-mined seam, and it remains very much a live issue in the courts of England and Wales. Instead, the purpose is to think about real property, or rather interests in land, in terms of their manifestation as ‘legal’ or ‘equitable’ interests. Of course, there is a connection between, on the one hand, the exercise of an equitable jurisdiction as a companion to the exercise of a jurisdiction ‘at law’ and, on the other, the identification of property interests which thereafter exist ‘in equity’ or ‘at law’. Undoubtedly, we could not talk of ‘legal’ or ‘equitable’ real property interests at all if there had not been two companion jurisdictions which independently recognised different manifestations of the same proprietary interest. But that was then. The Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925) came into force nearly 100 years ago and the ‘recording’ registration system of the Land Registration Act 1925 (LRA 1925) was replaced 20 years ago with the much more creationist system of the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002). Registration of title became title by registration with relative ease. While the dream (or nightmare depending on one’s point of view) of full electronic conveyancing remains unimplemented in England and Wales, and is likely to remain so, many transactions …
Dixon, Martin John, Real Property Rights in England and Wales: Removing the Law/Equity Distinction (December 5, 2024).
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