Land-registry law

Reliance on the Register in Defective Registration and the Limits of Good Faith

Abstract

The article examines, in the light of Court of Cassation practice, the balance under Civil Code art. 1023 between the protection of the bona fide third party and the true right-holder’s action for cancellation of title.

Reliance on the land register complements the principle of publicity of real rights. Reliance does not, however, whitewash every form of defect. Good faith is tested by the nature of the transaction, proximity, price and the ordinary course of life.

Collusion with the deceased and abuse of a power of attorney are the actions in which that test is most often applied. That the third party looked at the register is not of itself enough; enquiry into matters that ought to have been investigated may be required.

In the result the register produces a presumption of truth; where the presumption is rebutted, the registration cannot stand.