Robert Torrens Robert Torrens Sir Robert Richard Torrens, (1 July 1814 – 31 August 1884) was an Irish-born parliamentarian, writer, and reformist. He was prominent in the early years of the Colony of South Australia, initially as a civil servant and then as a political officeholder. He was Colonial Treasurer from 1852 to 1857 and then Premier of South Australia for a single month in September 1857. Torrens is chiefly remembered as the originator of the Torrens title, a system of land registration. He secured its implementation in South Australia in 1858, and subsequently advocated for its adoption in other jurisdictions. He
Torrens title Torrens title Torrens title is a land registration and land transfer system, in which a state creates and maintains a register of land holdings, which serves as the conclusive evidence (termed "indefeasibility") of title of the person recorded on the register as the proprietor (owner), and of all other interests recorded on the register. The interests that are not guaranteed are called “paramount interests”. Ownership of land is transferred by registration of a transfer of title, instead of by the use of deeds. The Registrar would provide a Certificate of Title to the new proprietor, which is merely a copy