An introduction to the history of the registration of deeds in the Island of Man

By a clause in the Act of Settlement 1704 all deeds of Mortgage were required to be entered into the records within six months after their execution.

Other than this clause there were prior to 14 December 1847 (the date of the promulgation of the Registration of Deeds Act 1847) no statutory regulations requiring the recording or registration of deeds affecting real estate in the Island. However, the custom of recording deeds in the Court Roll following transfer or assignment of land held under customary tenure pre-dates this. This registration was effected at the Common Law and Chancery Courts and at the Courts Baron. The names of the grantor and grantee were openly published by the Court and the deed recorded. Non-registration of a deed, it appears, created a presumption against it and it was even held that unregistered deeds, especially voluntary instruments operating in future, were void against bona fide purchasers.*

In 1847 the clause in the Act of Settlement requiring registration of Mortgages was repealed by the Registration of Deeds Acts 1847 and 1848. By the first of these Acts a general registry office was created for the whole Island, in which deeds, memorials of wills and judgement affecting real estates were and continue to be registered. Consolidating and updating legislation has been passed at various times and the Register of Deeds is now operated in accordance with the Registration of Deeds Act 1961.

Records relating to deeds registered prior to 1847 may be obtained by reference to the Manorial Rolls which are available for inspection at the Public Record Office. Deeds recorded from 1847 to 1911 were transferred by the Clerk of the Rolls in 1982 to the Manx Museum where they remain available for inspection. They are now Public Records. Deeds from 1911-to date are held in the Deeds Registry and many are now available for remote viewing across the Isle of Man Government’s online service. As system of registering title as opposed to deeds was introduced in the Land Registration Act 1982 to facilitate the process of deducing title and provide a state backed guarantee of the certainty of legal tenure.

The indices published here are the Requisition Books maintained in the Deeds Registry from 1847-1911 and are now published to facilitate searching of these deeds. This series is both a source of fascination for family historians and a working record of interests affecting land created prior to 1911.