VPRS 18874 Register of Crown Grants

Full description

This series consists of registers of all Victorian land issued as Crown Grants under the General Law land system between 1838 and 1862, prior to the commencement of the Torrens System and the Real Property Act. A Crown Grant was issued by the government when a parcel of land was alienated from the Crown and became the first record in the Chain of Title.

Each Crown Grant has the same basic sections of information relating to the alienation of Crown Land:

• Date of grant
• Type of Crown Grant (Town Lot, Special Land Purchase, Land Purchase and Country Land Purchase)
• To whom it was granted
• Land Description, including a metes and bounds description or diagram
• Consideration paid
• Any special Restrictions or Covenants
• Registration date

The first land tenure system to be introduced into Victoria in March 1838 was called the 'General Law' or 'Old Law System', or more commonly called today, NUA (Not Under Act). Land under the Torrens system (Real Property Act 1862) was therefore 'under Act'. This system was directly based on the principles of the English Common Law.

Under the General Law system, land ownership was based on a set of deeds, being the original deed held by the owner and a Memorial which was generally registered at the Registrar Generals Office (RGO). These documents helped prove ownership back to the original Crown Grant, although there was no compulsion under this system to register the Memorials.

Title was proven by producing the collection of deeds, which was commonly called the ‘Chain of Title’ held by successive owners, as well as a search of the Memorials lodged at the RGO. Every time land changed hands, the chain of deeds needed to be produced and a new conveyance deed/Memorial needed to be drawn up by lawyers. It was a cumbersome and expensive system, in which the risk of deeds being lost or destroyed was high. Land ownership in the General Law system was and is still not guaranteed by the Victorian government.

Access to this series is through VPRS 18875 Crown Grant Index. The index lists Grant holders alphabetically, both for individuals and companies.