Torrens title system, Robert Torrens, a member of the colony's House of Assembly, proposed a new title system in 1858, and it was quickly adopted. The Torrens title system was based on a central registry of all the land in the jurisdiction of South Australia, embodied in the Real Property Act 1886 (SA). All transfers of land are recorded in the register. Most importantly, ownership of the land is established by virtue of the owner's name being recorded in the government's register. The Torrens title also records easements and the creation and discharge of mortgages. The historical origins of the Torrens title
William McCullagh Torrens William McCullagh Torrens William Torrens McCullagh Torrens (13 October 1813 – 26 April 1894) was an Irish Liberal politician, who sat in the House of Commons for English constituencies variously between 1848 and 1885. Torrens was the son of James McCullagh of Greenfield, Dublin, and his wife Jane Torrens, daughter of Andrew Torrens of Dublin. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1835 he was Assistant Commissioner of the Irish Poor Inquiry and was called to the bar in Ireland in 1836. He was an original member of the Anti-Corn Law League founded in 1838. In 1846 he was