(l) Stat. 4 Geo. II. o. 28, s. 5; Wms. Real Prop. 428, 429, 21st ed.

Covenant to pay a rent-charge.

Proviso for re-entry on non-payment of rent-charge.

(m) Thomas v. Sylvester, L. R. 8 Q. B. 368: Re Blackburn, etc. Building Society, Ex parte Graham, 42 Ch. D. 343: Searle v.

43 Ch. D. 519; Pertwee v.

Townsend, 1896, 2 Q. B. 129; Re Herbage Rents, 1896, 2 Ch. 811:

Foley's Charity Trustee v. Dudley Corpn 1910, 1 K. B. 317. The decision in Thomas v. Sylvester is criticised by the author in L. Q R. xiii. 288.

(n) Hambro v. Hambro, 1894. 2 Ch. 564.

(o) Haywood v. Brunswick, etc. Building ! . 8 Q. B. D. 403;

Austerberry v. Oldham, 29 Ch. D. 750.

(p) Stat. 27 Ben VIII. c. 10.

(q) Dunn v. Flood, 26 Oh. D. 629, 28 Ch. D 586, 692; Be Hollis's Hospital and Haque's Con tract, 1899. 2 Ch. 540. 554; Gray Rule against Perpetuities, Sec. 303. See below, Chap. XII. Sect 3.

28 (2)

Release of part of land subject to a rent-charge.

Release of part of land subject to a rent-seek.

No registration is required to perfect in any way the grant of a rent in fee or in tail. But an annuity or rent-charge granted, otherwise than by marriage settlement or will, for a life or lives or for any estate determinable on a life or lives, must be registered in the Office of Land Registry against the name of the person, whose estate is intended to be affected, otherwise the same will not affect any lands, tenements or hereditaments, as to purchasers, mortgagees or creditors (y). Purchasers, however, who take with notice of such annuities or rent-charges, are bound by them in equity, although they be not registered (a). Rent-charges coming within the definition of a land charge contained in the Land Charges Act, 1888, and created after that year, must be duly registered at the Office of Land Registry, or they will be void as against a purchaser for value of the land charged, or any interest therein (a). And similar rent-charges previously created but assigned by act inter vivos after that year must be duly registered at the Office of Land Registry. For the same Act further provides that, after the expiration of one year from the first assignment made by act inter vivos after the year 1888 of a similar rent-charge previously created, the person entitled thereto shall not be able to recover the same as against a purchaser for value of the land charged, or any interest therein, unless the charge be so registered before the completion of the purchase (b). The rent-charges, to which these provisions apply, are mainly those created under the Improvement of Land Act, 1864 (c), or other Land Improvement Acts (d). By the Improvement of Land Act, 1899 (e), rent-charges created either before or after that Act under the Improvement of Land Act, 1864, or any special Improvement Act, shall be recoverable, as regards any instalment accruing due after the year 1899, by the like remedies as are provided by the Conveyancing Act of 1881 in respect of rent-charges thereafter created, and not otherwise. This appears to preclude the owners of such rent-charges from recovering such arrears by personal action against the terre-tenant under the doctrine laid down in Thomas v. Sylvester (f). When a rent-charge sold is of such a kind that it requires registration, the conveyancer advising the purchaser should of course inquire whether the necessary registration was duly made. If not, he should object to the title, unless the defect should be removable by subsequent registration, as it might be if since the grant of the rent-charge there had been no dealing for value with the land charged.

Registration of a rent-charge, where necessary.

(r) Stat. 44 & 45 Vict. c. 41.

(s) Havergill v. Hare, Cro. Jac. 510; Sugd.'Gilb. Uses, 178, 179; Lewis on Perpetuities, 618; Davidson, Prec. Conv. vol. ii. part i. 508, 511, and notes, 4th ed.; Gray, Rule against Perpetuities, Sec. 303. See below, Chap. XII. Sect. 3.

(t) Litt. ss. 222, 224; Bennett v. Pass, 1 Bing. N. C. 388; Wms. Real Prop. 437, 438, 21st ed.

(u) Stat. 22 & 23 Vict. c. 35, s. 10; Booth v. Smith, 14 Q. B. D. 318.

(x) See Litt. ss. 217 - 227; Co. Litt. 147 b, 150 b; Gilb. Tenures, 402 and n. lvii., 4th ed. All rent service payable in money, whether incident to a seigniory or reserved on a lease for years, is apportionable at common law; Litt. ss. 222, 223; Co. Litt. 148 a, 149 b.

(y) Stat. 18 & 19 Vict. c. 15, 88. 12, 14, passed 26th April, 1855, and applying to annuities or rent-charges granted after the passing of the Act. The registration was formerly required to be made in the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards in the Central Office of the Supreme Court: stat. 42 & 43 Vict. c. 78: R. S. C. 1883. Ord. LXI.; Mat. 63 & (it Vict. c. 26, 8. 1. and Order thereunder, W. N. 18th Aug. 1900.

(z) Greaves r. Tofleld, 14 Ch. D. 563.

(a) Stat. 51 & 62 Vict, c. 61, 8.12. By sect. 4, "land charge" means a rent, or annuity or principal moneys payable by instalments, or otherwise, with or without interest, charged otherwise than by deed upon land under the provisions of any Act of Parliament for securing to any person either the moneys spent by him, or the costs, charges and expenses incurred by him under such Act, or the moneys advanced by him for repaying the moneys spent, or the costs, charges and expenses incurred by another person under the authority of an Art of Parliament, and a charge under the 35th section of the Land Drainage Act, 1861, or under the 29th tion of the Agricultural Holdings (England) Act, 1883, but does not include a rate or scot.

An impropriate tithe rent-charge, being of course a rent-charge in commutation of tithes (g), is subject to the rules already mentioned as to proof of title on the sales of tithes (h). And when lands are sold as tithe-free owing to the merger of the tithe rent-charge therein (i), the title to the tithes prior to the merger must be shown in the absence of stipulation to the contrary. If the tithes should have been merged more than forty years before the sale, the grant of the tithes from the Crown and, apparently, the instrument of merger must still be produced (k). If lands be sold as tithe-free, and the exemption be alleged to arise from other cause than merger (/), the facts giving rise to the exemption must be strictly proved (m). And if land sold as tithe-free should not be free from tithe, the purchaser will not be compelled to take the title (n).