Thistle, Scotch or Canada, act to prevent propagation of in the counties of Humboldt, Siskiyou, Klamath, Del Norte, and Alameda. [Stats. 1871-2, p. 214.]

ACT 4109.

TITLE 499.

TIA JUANA FLOOD.

Appropriation for the benefit of the sufferers of the Tia Juana flood. [Stats. 1891, p. 450.]

Unconstitutional. (Patty v. Colgan, 97 Cal. 251.)

ACT 4114.

TITLE 500.

TORRENS LAND SYSTEM.

An act to create a special commission for the purpose of examining and reporting to the thirty-first session of the legislature on the Torrens land transfer act of Australia, and making an appropriation therefor.

[Approved March 9, 1893.

Stats. 1893, p. 121.]

Section 1. A special commission of five persons, four of whom shall be members of the legal profession, is hereby created for the purpose of examining the methods of land transfer and registration as existing under the Torrens land transfer act of Australia, and of preparing a system for the state of California in accordance with said act; and of reporting the same, with an opinion thereon, to the thirty-first session of the legislature of the state of California.

Sec. 2. The members of such commission shall be ap pointed by the governor within twenty days after the passage of this act; and within ten days from such appointment said commissioners shall meet and organize themselves into a board, at the place in which the majority of said commissioners shall have their residences The members of said commission shall receive no salary. Sec. 3. The state printer shall print such reports as said commission may make.

Sec. 4. There is hereby appropriated the sum of five hundred dollars ($500) out of any money in the state

treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the contingent expenses of said commission, and the state controller shall draw a warrant on the state treasurer for such sum.

Sec. 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

ACT 4115.

An act for the certification of land titles and the simplification of the transfer of real estate.

[Approved March 17, 1897. Stats. 1897, p. 138.]

The people of the state of California, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

County recorders ex-officio registrars.

Recorders to be registrars.

Section 1. Recorders and ex-officio recorders in the several counties of this state shall be registrars of titles in their respective counties, and their deputies shall be deputy registrars. All laws relative to recorders and their deputies, including their compensation, clerk hire, and expenses, shall extend to registrars and their deputies, so far as the same may be applicable, except as in this act otherwise provided. Registrars of titles shall be county officers within the meaning of the laws of this state. Bonds of recorders to cover their duties as registrars.

Sec. 2. The official bonds now required by law to be given by recorders and ex-officio recorders before entering upon the discharge of their duties, shall also apply to and cover the faithful discharge of their duties as registrars, whether such additional condition be specifically provided for in such bonds or not.

Deputies may act.

Sec. 3. Deputies may perform any and all duties of the registrar, in the name of the registrar, and the acts of such deputies shall be held to be the acts of the registrar.

Registrar and deputy not to practice law.

Sec. 4. Registrars and deputy registrars are prohibited from practicing law, or acting as attorneys or counselors at law, or having as a partner a lawyer or any one who acts as such, or from acting as searchers of title under this act.

Bringing land under the act.

Application by verified petition; character of applicant; county of application.

Sec. 5. Land may be brought under the operation of this act by the filing with the county clerk of a verified petition to the superior court of the county within which such land is situated, by the owner of any estate or interest in such land, whether legal or equitable (other than an undivided share, or an easement). The clerk shall immediately indorse on such application the exact time of its presentation, and enter the same in a book kept for that purpose and known as the land register docket. Persons who collectively claim to hold the entire legal estate in fee simple may jointly file such petition. A corporation may apply by its authorized agent, an infant by his guardian; any other person under disability by his guardian or trustee. Land constituting a single parcel and lying partly in two or more counties may be included in one application, which may be made in either county in which the land lies, but the certificate issued therefor must be filed with the registrars of all the counties within which such land is situate. Two or more parcels of land may be included in one application if owned by the same person and in the same right.

Contents of application.

Sec. 6. The petition shall set forth substantially:

(a) The name, occupation, place of residence, and postoffice address of the applicant, and if the application is by one acting in behalf of another, the name, place of residence, post-office address, and capacity of the person so acting, and the nature of the disability of the person for whom he is acting.

(b) Whether the applicant (except in case of a corporation) is married or not, and, if married, the name and residence of the husband or wife.

(c) The description of the land.

(d) The applicant's estate or interest in the same, and whether the same is subject to an estate of homestead.

(e) Whether the land is occupied or unoccupied, and, if occupied, the name and post-office address of each occupant, and what estate or interest he has or claims in the land.

(f) Whether the land is subject to any easement, lien, or incumbrance, and, if any, the name and post-office address if known of each holder thereof, and the nature and amount of the same, and, if recorded, the book and page of the record.

(g) Whether any other person has any estate or claims any interest in the land, in law or equity, in possession, remainder, reversion, or expectancy, and, if any, the name and post-office address if known of every such person, and the nature of his estate or claim.

(h) The names and post-office addresses of all the owners of the adjoining lands, so far as he is able, upon diligent inquiry, to ascertain the same.

(i) If the applicant is a male, that he is of the full age of twenty-one years; if a female, that she is of the full age of eighteen years. If the application is made by a corporation, its name, when and where incorporated, its principal place of business, and the names and post-office addresses of its president and secretary. If the applica

tion is by a husband or wife, and the property is community property, the petition must so state, and both spouses must join therein. A plat or plan of survey of the land made by the county or a licensed surveyor must accompany the application, and if said land is a part of a city, town, or subdivision, the application must refer to the book and page of the records of the county where the map of said city, town, or subdivision is recorded, if at all.

Each application must be accompanied by an abstract of the title, verified by the searcher making the same, as required in proceedings in partition, or, if made by a corporation engaged in the business of making and certifying abstracts of title, then in lieu of the affidavit a certificate by such corporation, under its seal, shall be sufficient. When the title to the land in question has been previously determined by a final decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such abstracts need not antedate such decree unless required by the court in which such application is filed. No person or corporation shall be authorized to make or furnish such abstracts of title until after entering into an undertaking with two or more sufficient sureties to the people of the state of California in a sum not less than ten thousand dollars, which may

be increased from time to time by order of the court. Such bonds shall be recorded in the record of official bonds in the recorder's office of the county and then filed in the county clerk's office. Said bond shall be conditioned to pay all damages and costs which the state may sustain by reason of any error or insufficiency in said abstract. The sureties on such bond shall qualify as provided in section ten hundred and fifty-seven of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the sufficiency of the bond and of the sureties thereon shall be approved by a judge of the superior court of the county where such bond is to be filed. The sureties upon such bond may become severally liable in portions of not less than five hundred dollars each, making in the aggregate at least two sureties for the whole sum. Said bond shall be renewed as often, at least, as once in every period of three years.

Registration of fee simple must precede all else.

Sec. 7. No mortgage, lien, charge, or lesser estate than a fee simple shall be registered unless the fee simple to the same land is first registered.

Registration not to be refused because of incumbrance.

Sec. 8. It shall not be an objection to bringing land under this act, that the estate or interest of the applicant is subject to any outstanding lesser estate, mortgage, lien, or charge; but every such Tesser estate, mortgage, lien, or charge shall be noted upon the certificate of title and the duplicate thereof, and the title or interest certified shall be subject only to such estates, mortgages, liens, and charges as are so noted, except as herein provided.

No registration based on tax title until after five years adverse possession.

Sec. 9. No title derived through sale for any tax or assessment shall be entitled to be first registered, unless it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court, upon the hearing of the application, that the applicant, or those through whom he claims title, have been in the open actual, continuous, uninterrupted, undisputed, exclusive, and adverse possession of the land under such title at least five years, and have paid all taxes and assessments legally levied thereon for five successive years.