NAME: OJO ABDULRAHMON ADEDOTUN

MATRIC NUMBER: 190502009

LAND LAW ASSIGNMENT

What is Registration in Law

Registration is the act of making a formal entry into a register. It is a safe and easy means of recording
transactions on land and investigating titles.

In Nigeria, there are two commonly used registration methods, which are Registration of Instruments
and Registration of Titles.

REGISTRATION OF INSTRUMENTS

An instrument is a written legal document that records the formal execution of legally enforceable acts
or agreements and secures their associated legal rights, obligations, and duties. Contracts, wills,
promissory notes, deeds, and statutes passed by competent legislatures are examples of legal
instruments.

“Under Section 2 of the Law, the word “Instrument” is defined to mean where one party usually called
the grantor confers, transfers, limits, charges or extinguishes in favor of another party called the grantee
any right or title to or interest in the state. Instruments are land documents, and the Law regulating the
registration of instruments in Nigeria is the Land Instruments Registration Law of the various states
of Nigeria. The registration of instruments was initially governed by the Land Registration Act No. 36
of 1924 which was enacted for the whole country but was later adopted and re-enacted in the various
states under different terminologies.

What is registrable instrument?

The Land Registration Act defined registrable instrument as a document affecting land whereby one
party called the grantor confers, transfers, limits, charges, or extinguishes in favor of another party
called the grantee any right or title to the interest in land and includes a certificate of purchase, a power
of Attorney under which any instrument may be excluded but does not include a will.

It is the contents of the document, not the way it is written, that are important when interpreting any
instrument for registration under the applicable Land Instrument Registration Law. Therefore, in certain
circumstances, the following documents explained below are considered to be registrable instruments
under the Land Instrument Registration Law.
 A purchase receipt: For a purchase receipt to be considered a registrable instrument, it must grant
or transfer interest/ rights in land. If a purchase receipt only serves to acknowledge payment and
neither grants nor transfers any interest in land, it is not a registrable instrument.

 Document of partition: also known as a deed of partition is a document that transfers separate
interests to different individuals.

 A written agreement for a lease is a registrable instrument except in Lagos state where the relevant
Regulation exempts agreement to sell or lease from registration.

 Power of Attorney: is only registrable where it specifically relates to an interest in land. The Power
of Attorney is not registrable if it is provided to "A" solely to collect rent and not for any other use,
such as selling or leasing the property.

REGISTRATION OF TITLE

The fundamental goal of title registration is to grant each buyer a title that is supported by the
government. According to a scholarly author, "the system was created to make conveyancing easy,
inexpensive, quick, and dependable by obviating most of the obstacles and perils to which a purchaser
of land is exposed under the system of unregistered conveyancing.

Types of Registration

There are two classes of registration under the Registration of Titles Law. They are compulsory
registration and voluntary registration.

 Compulsory Registration: refers to the legal requirement that certain types of transactions or
situations involving land ownership or interests must be officially recorded with a government
authority.
 Voluntary Registration: refers to the option for landowners to register their property with a
government land registry even if it's not mandatory by law.
DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN REGISTRATION OF INSTRUMENTS AND REGISTRATION OF TITLE
Both registration of instruments and registration of titles deal with recording information about land
ownership and interests in land law, but they differ significantly in their approach and impact.
S/N REGISTRATION OF INSTRUMENTS
1 The Law regulating the registration of instruments
in Nigeria is the Land Instruments Registration Law
of the various states of Nigeria. The registration of
instruments was initially governed by the Land
Registration Act No. 36 of 1924 which was enacted
for the whole country but was later adopted and
re-enacted in the various states under different
terminologies. E.g., Cap 70 Laws of Oyo State of
Nigeria 2000, Cap L58 Laws of Lagos State of
Nigeria 2003 etc
2 This system focuses on recording the documents
themselves, such as deeds, leases, and mortgages.
It creates a record of transactions that affect land
ownership or rights.
3 If a registrable instrument affecting state land is not
registered within six months, it is void. If not
registered within six months of execution from the
date of the governor's approval, a registrable
instrument affecting land that is the subject of a
grant by a native to a non-native is void. If such an
instrument is executed outside of Nigeria, failure to
register it within a year after execution renders it
void
4 Verifying ownership and existing interests can be
more cumbersome because you need to trace the
chain of registered documents. This can potentially
slow down transactions.
5 Under the Registration of Titles Law, there are two
classes of registration: compulsory and voluntary.
REGISTRATION OF TITLE
registration of titles is regulated by the
Registration of Titles Law. Originally, the
system of registration was first
introduced in Nigeria as the Registration
of Titles Act 1935 then applicable to the
Southern Provinces and since the
regionalisation of the Laws, has become a
Regional Legislation. The Act as amended
was subsequently adopted by Lagos State
as the Registration of Titles Law, the FCT
as Registration of Titles Act Cap 546 Laws
of the Federation of Nigeria 1990
This system goes beyond documents and
directly registers the actual ownership
and interests associated with a specific
piece of land. It provides a definitive
picture of who owns the land and what
encumbrances (like mortgages or
easements) exist.
While in the case of Registration of Titles,
the grantee must submit an application
for the initial registration of the title
contained in the conveyance, grant, or
assignment within two months of its
execution, or during the extended period,
if given. Any extension thereof renders
the grant or transfer of the legal estate
void
Since the actual ownership and interests
are directly registered, it simplifies
verifying the land's status. This can
streamline the process of buying, selling,
or borrowing against land.
Whereas, under the Land Instrument
Registration Law, there is no such thing
as that
REFERENCES

 Isochukwu.2018/01/11.Registration is the act of land and investigating title.

 https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/instrument#:~:text=An%20instrument%20is%20a%20written,are
%20examples%20of%20legal%20instruments.
 Smith, I. O. (2013). Practical Approach to Law of Real Property in Nigeria (revised edition ed.). Lagos:
Ecowatch
 https://loyalnigerianlawyer.com/the-effect-of-a-registrable-land-instrument-that-is-not-registered/