Chapter 4 - Maps and Plans in Registration
of Title 4.1 In
any system of registration of title, the
subjects pertaining to the interest registered
must be accurately
described. Accurate description ensures certainty
as to what is or is not covered
by the indemnity
provisions, and facilitates efficient searching of the Register. A map-based system
will fully enable
a public land register to fulfil its proper function of providing information
about the ownership and
identification of registered subjects. As the Register of Sasines is a register
of deeds, it does not always
provide information about the location and extent of land described in a recorded
deed. The system
of registration of title brought in by the 1979 Act is map-based.
Ideally, before a system of registration
of title is introduced, the whole country should be systematically
surveyed. This would, however, be a
counsel of perfection and be an expensive and time-consuming
exercise. Instead, Scotland has followed
the practice in England and Wales; and the recommendation
of the Reid and Henry Reports, which
provided for registration in successive operational areas, without
special survey, has been enacted. The
ordnance map is used as a basis for all descriptions of land in
the Land Register (see
section 6(1)(a)). Maps
and plans prepared by the Keeper 4.2 The
Keeper’s use of the ordnance map (section 6(1)(a))
allows him to produce, firstly, an index map
for all operational areas and, secondly, a title plan and certificate plan for
each registered interest. Between
April 1981 and October 1993, the Keeper used paper maps and plans for the first
seven operational
areas of the Land Register. Developments
in information technology then enabled the
Keeper to procure a digital mapping
system (DMS) to
allow the graphical element of
the registration process to be
completed electronically.
In 1995, Fife became the first area to become operational using the new technology.
Maps and plans for the older operational
areas have since been converted onto the DMS, allowing the
DMS to develop into a comprehensive
geographic information system (GIS) for land registration data.
Index map 4.3
One of the advantages of an electronic map-based system is that an index layer
is easily prepared. Such
an index is much superior to an index of place names as it permits speedier and
more accurate searching
of the Land Register. In terms of rule 23(a) the
Keeper is bound to maintain an index map, based
on the ordnance map, of registered interests in land. The first time an application
to register an interest
in a particular area of land is received the Keeper will prepare a title plan
against the backdrop of
the latest version of the ordnance map. A paper copy of this plan is provided
for use in the land certificate
and the original version is held electronically on the Keeper’s digital mapping
system. The Index
Map therefore consists of copies of all registered and pending titles which have
been received since
a particular County went operational. It is the index map layer of the Keeper’s
digital mapping system
which is the main key to the Land Register.