AGY-24 | Registrar General

Full description

The office of the Registrar General was first constituted on 1 January 1844 by the Deeds Registration Act 1843 (7 Vic. Act No. 16). This Act appointed a Registrar General to replace the Registrar of the Supreme Court as the officer responsible for the "registration of wills and devises deeds conveyances and other instruments affecting real property" ..." Acts of the Colonial Legislature charters of incorporation memorials of public companies"..." of certain marriages births baptisms and burials". (1)

In December 1849 An Act to abolish the office of Registrar General and to make further provision for the Registration of Deeds and other Instruments (Act 13 Vic. No. 45) transferred all registry functions to the Prothonotary of the Supreme Court. (2) The Act came into force on 1 January 1850. After a break of six years, the office of Registrar General was revived in 1855 by An Act for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Act 19 Vic. No.34). (3) This Act made provision for the compulsory registration of births, deaths and marriages (4) and for the division of the colony into registration districts. (5) An Act for the transferring to the Registrar General the duties of the Chief Clerk of the Supreme Court as Registrar of Deeds and other Instruments (Act 20 Vic. No.27), was assented to on 11 March 1857. All Instruments, index books, documents, writings and duties of registration were transferred from the Prothonotary to the Registrar General.

From 1858 the Registrar General's activities were carried out by two branches - Births, Deaths and Marriages and Registration of Deeds. (6) A separate Land Titles Branch was established on 1 January 1863. (7) The Deeds Branch eventually came to include the Deeds, Companies, Business Names, and Bills of Sales Sections). (8) In accordance with the provisions the Companies Act 1936 (Act No. 33, 1936) the registration of companies was conducted by the Registrar General (9) who also discharged such duties, powers and functions as were committed to him by this Act until 1961. By 1955 it was necessary to establish a Companies Branch to handle this business. (10)

The Real Property Act 1862 (26 Vic. Act No. 9) introduced the Torrens System of land title, the main feature of which is a single document - the Certificate of Title. The new system, required registration of sales with the Land Titles Office and the creation of registers for recording the title to the land. The conversion of Old System titles to Torrens (New System) title was possible following the lodgement of a primary application with all supporting documentation providing evidence of title. The Torrens System replaced the more cumbersome and less certain 'Old System' titles in which a sheath of documents recording all land transfers was required. In conjunction with this Act a separate Land Titles Branch was established on 2 January 1863 with the appointment of the Registrar General and Land Titles Commissioner, two Land Titles Commissioners, two Examiners of Titles, a Deputy Registrar General, two Draftsmen, and a clerk.

The Companies Act of 1874 invested all powers of company registration in the hands of the Registrar General until a Registrar of Joint Stock Companies was appointed. (11) The Registrar-General continued to hold this position until 1937. (12) The Registrar maintained a register of Public Companies (later known as Liability Companies) from 1874 and under the No Liability Mining Companies Act, 1881 was required to maintain a register of No Liability Mining Companies.

The Companies Act 1961 (Act No. 71 1961) established a Registrar of Companies which was administratively removed from the Registrar General's Department (13) when the Act was proclaimed on 1 July 1962. (12) In preparation for this change the Companies Branch was physically removed from the Department on 19 February 1962. (14) In 1975, under the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Amendment) Act, 1975 (Act No.57, 1975) the Births, Deaths and Marriages Branch also became a separate agency known as the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. (15)
This marked the effective end of the Registrar General as an 'umbrella' agency for major State registration functions, although the Land Titles Office continued to be known as the Registrar General's Office until 9 June 1985 when the name of the Registrar General's Office was officially changed to the Land Titles Office. (16)


FOOTNOTES
(1) Deeds Registration Act 1843 s. 3
(2) Deeds Registration Act 1849 s.1,2
(3) An Act for Registering Births, Deaths and Marriages 1855 s.2.
(4) Ibid
(5) Ibid. sis. 3-4
(6) Public Service Lists , 1858 p. 23-4
(7) Public Service Lists, 1863 p.12
(8) Companies Act 1936 s. 7
(9) Public Service Lists, 1955, p.82
(10) Companies Act 1961 s.7
(11). Companies Act 37 Vic. No.19 (1874) Part 5, 222 (5)
(12). T. Le M. Wells, “The Practice of the Registrar-General’s Department (New South Wales)”, The Law Book Co. of Australasia, Sydney, 1953, p.135
(13) NSW Government Gazette
(14) NSW Government Gazette, 9 February, 1962 p. 375
(15) The Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Amendment) Act, 1975 , s.4, 4A
(16) Public Service Notices No. 287 03/07/1985, p.3.

REFERENCES
(1) Archives Authority of NSW, "The Concise Guide" 2nd Edition. "Registrar General". Sydney, The Authority, 1992.
(2) "Outline", 1966 - 1976.
(3) Public Service Lists, 1857 - 1960.