2021 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 2 - Recordation and Registration of Deeds and Other Instruments
Article 2 - Land Registration
- For note advocating land registration similar to the Torrens system and criticizing the 1952 amendments to The Land Registration Act as well as view that the Act is solely a means to clear title, see 6 Mercer L. Rev. 320 (1955).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Constitutionality.
- Requirements for land registration is not violative of the constitutional provision which declares that no law or ordinance shall pass which refers to more than one subject matter. Nor would the fact that the penal provision is unconstitutional render the entire Act void. Crowell v. Akin, 152 Ga. 126, 108 S.E. 791, 19 A.L.R. 51 (1921).
Rules of law applicable.
- In proving such title as will entitle an applicant to registration and a decree in the applicant's favor, the same rules of law apply as in suits for the recovery of possession of land by ejectment or statutory complaint for land. Lankford v. Holton, 187 Ga. 94, 200 S.E. 243 (1938), later appeal, 195 Ga. 317, 24 S.E.2d 292 (1943).
PART 1 IN GENERAL
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Purpose of chapter.
- Ultimate goal of any complaint brought under the Georgia Land Registration Law is to determine conclusively the question of title. Gordon v. Georgia Kraft Co., 217 Ga. 500, 123 S.E.2d 540 (1962).
Persons not affected.
- Upon a proper construction of the Georgia Land Registration Law, its provisions do not apply to a person who is not made a party to proceedings instituted thereunder, and as to whom there is no compliance with the statute as to service or notice. Couey v. Talalah Estates Corp., 183 Ga. 442, 188 S.E. 822 (1936).
Evidence required to register title.
- Applicant seeking to register applicant's title may rely upon what is shown in the preliminary report without introducing in evidence the conveyances specified therein. Asbury v. McCall, 192 Ga. 102, 14 S.E.2d 715 (1941), later appeal, 202 Ga. 154, 42 S.E.2d 370 (1947).
Where plat admissible in evidence.
- In proceeding under the Georgia Registration Law, plat is admissible in evidence where one who made the plat testifies to the plat's correctness, even if one testifies that in making the plat one examined the deeds of record and numerous other plats some of which were not in evidence, and the plat did not show on the plat's face the angles at which the lines were run. Henrietta Egleston Mem. Hosp. v. Groover, 202 Ga. 327, 43 S.E.2d 246 (1947).
Cited in Cole v. Ogg, 180 Ga. 343, 179 S.E. 116 (1935); Burgess v. Simmons, 191 Ga. 322, 12 S.E.2d 323 (1940); Beasley v. Burt, 201 Ga. 144, 39 S.E.2d 51 (1946); Manning v. Simmons, 207 Ga. 304, 61 S.E.2d 150 (1950); James v. Florida Realty & Fin. Corp., 208 Ga. 652, 68 S.E.2d 601 (1952); Hicks v. Simpson, 229 Ga. 214, 190 S.E.2d 73 (1972).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Effect of unrecorded written leases and contracts for oil leases.
- When oil companies or operators secure from the true owner of land a written contract of lease, such a contract is binding between the parties and cannot be set aside by the owner at will, even if the lease was not registered. Should a company obtain a written lease from the true owner of land and fail to record the lease, as deeds and mortgages are recorded, and should the true owner sell the land to a third party who does not know of the lease, the third party purchasing the land would obtain a good title to all the interest in the land including mineral rights. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 397.
