Jaap Zevenbergen
ABSTRACT
The (first) results of a PhD research project, called 'The interrelations between the technical, legal and organisational aspects of land registrations and their effects on the functioning of land registrations; comparative study in selected countries', are presented.
For this research case studies have been undertaken in four countries (the Netherlands, Indonesia, Austria and Ghana), in order to determine the way legal protection regarding real property is offered there. The different aspects and their interrelations have been used to undertake these studies in a structured way. To determine if the legal protection is offered in an adequate way, not only the assurances given are taken into account, but also the speed offered and the fees charged. Based on the different aspects a conceptual model of a land registration will be drawn up.
RISUMI
Pendant une investigation pour une dissertation, j'Jtude dJtaillJs les systPmes des enregistrements fonciers en les Pays Bas, l'IndonJsie, l'Autriche et la Ghana. En cette base il y a crJe une modPle d'enregistrements fonciers, avec la attention dans les aspects techniques, juridiques et organisationnels et les interrelations entre ils.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Als Teil einer Dissertationsforschung, sind detaillierte Untersuchungen gemacht nach den Grundbuchsysteme der Niederlande, Indonesien, _sterreich und Ghana. Mit da8 als Basis ist ein Modell von Grundbhcher gemacht, was sich auf die technischen, juristischen und organisationischen Aspekte und ihre Beeinflussung konzentriert.
INTRODUCTION
Since early 1995 I am working on my PhD research project 'The interrelations between the technical, legal and organisational aspects of land registrations and their effects on the functioning of land registrations; comparative study in selected countries'. More colloquial, I call the project 'What makes a land registration go round?' (Zevenbergen 1995). Whereas land registration -like anything dealing with land- is serving both the public and the private sector, I put the emphasis in my project on the way the land registration is giving (legal) protection to the owner and the prospective purchaser regarding real properties.
The importance of well functioning systems of land registration is well documented in the field (e.g. Williamson 1997), and has been stressed by Donors and NGO's as well (e.g. de Soto 1994). Nevertheless there are many countries where no adequate land registration can be found. In many of these countries (esp. amongst developing countries and countries in transition) projects are being undertaken to introduce or improve land registration. Although the consultants who are involved in numerous of these projects have gained considerable of working expertise, there has been relatively little attention for describing land registration in a theoretically sound conceptual model. Such a model is needed, both for academic and practical reasons. To fully understand -and thus implement- land registration, a wide range of fields of expertise is relevant. This includes land surveying, land information, information management, database technology, civil law, cadastral law, and organisation theory. A model that is formulated in an interdisciplinary way, should also enable experts from other academic fields (like information theory, comparative law, ontology or technology assessment) to study land registration from their perspective. For practical reasons, such a model could be the base for a more systematic approach of improvement projects, and a framework for evaluating project proposals regarding land registration. Such a model should avoid the traditional debates with regard to the few one-dimensional classifications that are traditionally used. Therefore the model should be multi-dimensional, and combine at least technical, legal and organisational aspects.
This paper will concentrate on the first results of the project. A short introduction is given on the systems approach and the case study methodology which I used in the project. The main body of the paper consists of an overview of the systems of land registration in the Netherlands, Indonesia, Austria and Ghana. The first ideas on how my model might look are presented as they stand ultimo 1997. I hope to be able to present a draft model in the Summer of 1998. The paper ends with some conclusions.
SYSTEMS APPROACH
There is a tendency within the field of land registration to approach the object of study with a lot of emphasis on relative details, which has led to one-dimensional classifications. To break away from this, there is a need for a framework to approach land registration as much as possible as a whole. Such a framework can be found in the 'systems approach'. A characteristic of the systems approach is that a system is studied with emphasis on the relations between its elements and the common goal this wholeness is aimed at. AThe holistic view is basic to the systems approach. In traditional organization theory, as well as in many of the sciences, the subsystems have been studied separately, with the view to later putting the parts together into the whole. The systems approach emphasizes that this is not possible and that the starting point has to be with the total system.@ (Kast/Rosenzweig 1970, p 115).
Land registration as such is a process that can be described as Athe process of recording legally recognized interests (ownership and/or use) in land@ (McLaughlin/Nichols 1989, p 81). This process forms a part of the system of land registration. To fully understand such a system it should be studied in its wholeness. Nevertheless it is possible to distinguish -and study- subsystems and aspect-systems, as long as one remembers that the results of studying a few of these do not automatically support conclusions which apply to the whole. Many writers on land registration seem to be unaware of this, and draw far-reaching conclusions while only taking a part of the whole system into account. In other words, they look at land registration from different perspectives. Nichols (1993, p 96-108) displays this as a four-sided pyramid, in which she distinguishes four partial perspectives (the cadastral, the land policy, the conveyancing and the technology perspective), that each only see two sides of the pyramid.
A system of land registration encompasses the process of land registration, as just introduced. Since a system of land registration aims at recording interests, the system will also consist of information collections (e.g. land register, cadastre, index). The base of these information collections are three interrelated entities, as depicted in the figure (a simplified version of the figure in e.g. Henssen 1995, p 6). The entity 'person' represents an individual or a group of people, and gives the answer to the question 'who'. The parcel represents a certain part of land and gives the answer to the questions 'where' and 'how much'. The right represents a certain legal relationship (ownership, leasehold or other form of land tenure) and gives the answer to the question 'how'. For the system to be effective, each of these three entities have to be identified correctly and unambiguously.
Within the system of land registration there are also one or more organisations (e.g. a land registry) involved in the process of land registration, for instance as keeper of the information collection.
CASE STUDIES
It is not easy to determine prima facie what exactly belongs to the system of land registration, and what does not. This is most clearly the case with regard to the organisations involved. Not only the organisations called 'land registry' or 'cadastre' are involved, but local authorities, licensed surveyors and notaries also often play a role in land registration.
This lack of clearness with regard to the boundary of the system of land registration, was an important reason to collect data through a multiple case study. The case study approach is specifically tuned towards making an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident (Yin 1994, p. 13). It was decided that the multiple case study would involve the system of land registration in my home country (the Netherlands) and three other countries. For a multiple case study one should not strive for a representative sample -as one would for a questionnaire-, but still careful consideration of the cases is needed. I chose the maximum variance criterium for selection of cases. Based on a list of five characteristics I desired to encounter in at least one country, I made the choices as depicted in the table.
| the Netherlands | Indonesia | Austria | Ghana | |
| customary law | X |
X |
||
| Grundbuch | X |
|||
| English land law | X |
|||
| guaranteed boundaries | X |
|||
| combined registry/cadastre | X |
X |
Table of desired characteristics and chosen countries JZ/97
I started out with my home country. I strengthened my knowledge of the Dutch land registration process by reading additional literature and by visiting organisations involved in the Fall of 1995 to see how things operate in every day practice. After this I went to Indonesia in the Spring of 1996, to Austria in the Fall of 1996 and to Ghana in the Winter of 1997. Before I left I tried to get an impression of the situation based on documents regarding the countries that were available in the Netherlands. In the countries I had meetings with many staff members of the organisations involved and with university staff of relevant departments. I also visited the field and offices where the actual operations were undertaken. I collected additional documents which I read as long as they were in English or German. Based on all these materials I have drafted a Case Report on each country. To verify my information I have sent copies of these Case Reports to my key contacts in the country at hand; unfortunately with limited response.
Here I will give a simplified overview of the system of land registration in each of the four countries. The focus will be on aspects that I found important, and that have especially contributed to the further development of my ideas.
The Netherlands
1. All land has been brought under the system of land registration. This system consists of three information collections. These are the archive of deeds ('public registers'), a parcel-based property register ('cadastral register') and an index map ('cadastral maps'). All three are kept and maintained by the semi-privatised Cadastre and Public Registers Agency ('Cadastre').
2. The transfer of property rights requires a notarial deed which has to be registered in the public registers. The notaries are organised as private practitioners with an extensive professional liability. The registrar has to register any notarial deed in the public registers, as long as it meets a few formal requirements, without checking whether the seller was the proprietor or whether there are any other problems. The same registrar, however, can refuse to update the cadastral register accordingly when he is not satisfied that the -registered- deed indeed has the intended legal effect. Due to the skills of and the cooperation between the notaries and the registrars the quality of the information in the cadastral register is very high, and it functions as a property register, although it is not backed by statutory guarantees and only by limited governmental indemnities.
3. Each property is mandatory identified by a unique parcel number, which refers to a parcel on the cadastral map. The surveyors who work at the Cadastre undertake all boundary surveys, which only have a limited legal meaning. Boundaries are rarely monumented, but usually their approximate position can be seen from physical features. In case of a subdivision, one usually transfers a 'partial parcel' first, and waits with the subdivision survey for up to a year, until there are more surveys to be done in the same area. The reconstruction of boundaries in the field is not done based on the cadastral map (with a relative mediocre accuracy), but based on the original survey documents, which are kept as a fourth information collection ('reconstruction archive').
4. The public registers are still kept in an analogue form (paper or microfilm). The notaries and the Cadastre are, however, working on a system whereby the notary would register his deeds electronically at the Cadastre. The cadastral register has been kept digitally since the early 1990s, and all notaries and most local authorities, real estate agents and banks have on-line access to it. Ultimo 1997 the digitizing of the cadastral maps has been finished.
5. The Dutch system of land registration is run by the Cadastre and Public Registers Agency and the notaries. The Cadastre was semi-privatised in 1994 and now functions as a self administrating state body on a successful cost recovery basis. There are 15 regional offices and about 2000 staff. There are 1250 notaries, working as private practitioners. They are appointed by the Crown when they have the right education and experience. The are united in a professional organisation, which maintains and controls the quality of there work.
6. In the traditional classifications the Dutch system is a well improved 'deeds registration', combined with a cadastre in the Napoleonic sense. Parcels are defined with 'general boundaries' and depicted on index maps (a graphic cadastre). There are no title plans, although the individual boundary survey sketches may play an important role. The (supposed) owner does not get a 'title certificate', but he does get a copy of the registered transfer deed stamped by the Cadastre.
The Dutch system works well in practice, even though it has some theoretical shortcomings. Sensible administration has lead to reliable information. It is doubtlessly supporting an active land market, with an acceptable level of legal security. There is a rather relaxed attitude towards the precise position of the boundaries. Boundary disputes occur rarely, but then there is little formal evidence to solve them.
Indonesia
1. About 30% of the non-forest land has been brought under the system of land registration (being 9% of the total area). This system consists of three or four information collections. These are always the property register for each registered right ('land book'), the survey plan register ('survey letter register') and the archive of deeds. In the areas under systematic registration it also includes an index map ('cadastral (base) map'). All three or four are kept and maintained by the National Land Agency of the Ministry of Lands. In addition to this system there are some areas where the local authorities maintain (tax) registers and sketches.
2. According to the law the transfer of property rights requires an official deed which has to be registered in the land book. The deeds can only be prepared by 'land deeds officials', in practice usually a district head or a notary. These officials operate as private practitioners, but so far with little professional liability. Before they can prepare a deed, they need to get the seller's title certificate (copy of the land book entry and of the survey letter) and usually some land control approvals. The deed than has to be presented to the Land Office, who will check it. If the Land Office is satisfied, the land book (and the other registers) will be updated and the new owner will receive the updated title certificate.
In case of land that has not been registered yet (either through systematic or sporadic registration), the law prescribes sporadic registration upon transfer. This provision, however, is often not abided by, and the courts have sanctioned this practice. Even in cases of registered land, the courts have not denounced non-registered transfers, which do regularly occur.
3. A registered property is always identified with the land book entry number and the number of the mandatory survey letter. In case an index map of the area exists, the depicted properties have parcel numbers as well, but the previous mentioned numbers are shown on the map as well. So far all boundary surveys were undertaken by the surveyors who work at the National Land Agency. The use of private (licensed) surveyors has been initiated for systematic registration projects. Although the boundaries are monumented, it is often hard to retrace sporadically registered parcels. The surveys are usually done through 'free mapping', without any connection to a triangulation. This has led to the issuance of 'double certificates', whereby two titles apply (partially) to the same piece of land. In case of a subdivision the new boundary (or even both new parcels if there is no index map) will be surveyed by the surveyors of the National Land Agency after the necessary approvals have been received, but before the transfer deed is formalized by the land deeds official.
4. All registers and maps are still kept in an analogue form, although computers have been introduced as part of several pilot projects.
5. The Indonesian system of land registration is run by the National Land Agency and the land deeds officials. The National Land Agency is tied strongly to the government, since its director also holds the title of Minister of Lands. The Agency has 27 provincial and 301 district offices (Land Offices) and employs 26,000 staff. Only a quarter is involved in land registration, whereas the rest deals with land grants and land (use) control. The land deeds officials work as private practitioners. They are appointed by the Minister of Lands, after taking a special examination. In practice the function is performed by the district heads and most notaries.
6. In the traditional classifications the Indonesian system is referred to as a modified Torrens system. Parcels are monumented and the survey results in a title plan ('survey letter'). This title plan and a copy of the entry in the land book constitute the title certificate, which is issued to the (supposed) owner. This certificate serves as a strong evidence of title, but it does not constitute an indefeasible title. In practice the hand-over of the certificate itself is used to transfer land, without making an official deed and having it registered.
Although the Indonesian system looks quite consistent at first sight, the practice is rather different. There are still numerous traditional, close-knit communities, where security of tenure exists through Adat and without the described system of land registration. Many other areas have, or are about to, develop in an another direction. Here the lack of written documentation regarding land rights is causing many problems, but so far the people in such areas have not found recourse for this in the described system. The Indonesian government, with assistance from the World Bank and Australia, has embarked on an ambitious project to solve this; the Land Administration Project.
Austria
1. Virtually all land has been brought under the present system of land registration. This system consists of two (partly overlapping) sets of information collections. The first one consists of the parcel-based property register ('land book'), supported by the archive of deeds and an index map ('registry map', which is a copy of the cadastral map). This is kept and maintained at the local courts. The second one consists of a parcel based land registry ('cadastral register'), an index map ('cadastral map') and the archives of survey documents. This is kept and maintained by the regional survey departments.
2. The transfer of property rights requires a notarised deed which has to be registered in the land book. The deed can be drawn up by the parties themselves, but usually the assistance of a notary or other lawyer is used. The obligatory notarisation is limited to verification of the signatures by a notary. In most cases the transfer deed has to be accompanied by several other documents (mostly governmental approvals) before a successful application can be lodged for registration. The registrar ('land book judge') will check the deed and the other documents before he will make his decision. In case of a positive decision he will make the appropriate entries in the land book. The survey department will be informed of the changes.
3. Each property is mandatory identified by a property number, and is made up by one or more parcels. These parcels are identified by a unique parcel number, which refers to the cadastral map. Most of the boundary surveys are undertaken by licensed surveyors, who have to offer their survey documents to the survey department for approval and -if necessary- issuance of parcel numbers. The information is used to update the cadastral map and registers. The land book court is informed of the changes. Boundaries have to be monumented with boundary stones or other markers.
The cadastral map finds its origins in land taxation, and has the appropriate specifications. To improve the map, the Austrians introduced in 1969 the 'boundary cadastre'. The state guarantees the boundaries of a parcel entered into the boundary cadastre, and these boundaries are no longer subject to prescription. To enter a parcel one needs a precise survey of the whole parcel, and written consent of all neighbouring owners. So far about 7% of the parcels have been converted into the boundary cadastre. Parcels of both types of cadastre are depicted on the same cadastral map.
4. Already in the early 1980s the digital 'land parcel database' was set up, which contains both the information from the land book and the cadastral register. The information which used to be duplicated in both, is now kept only once. The data base has completely replaced the analogue registers. Each land book court and survey department inputs the changes within its jurisdiction into the database, which is kept centrally at the Federal Computer Centre in Vienna. All land book courts, survey departments, notaries and licensed surveyors and many others have on-line access to the database. The digitising of the cadastral map is combined with an upgrade of its quality, and thus taking some time. In 1996 some 60% of the country had been finished. With financial assistance from local authorities and technical assistance for the licensed surveyors the aim is to complete the whole country by the year 2000.
5. The Austrian system of land registration is a joint effort of the land book courts, the Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying, the licensed surveyors and the notaries (and other lawyers). In 1996 there were 187 land book courts, which are part of the lowest level of the judiciary system. The Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying has about 45 regional offices (survey departments). There are approximately 260 licensed surveyors, organised in a professional body. Since 1994 their fees are no longer controlled by a legally binding ordinance. The number of notaries and their fees are set by government, and their quality is controlled by a professional body as well.
6. In the traditional classifications the Austrian system is a'title registration'. The registered owner has 'public faith' of being owner. The title registration is operated in close cooperation with a cadastre in the Napoleonic sense. Parcels are mainly defined with 'fixed boundaries', monumented or marked and recorded in national coordinates and depicted on the cadastral maps (numeric cadastre). Each boundary survey is documented in a title plan (a 'certified survey document'). The owner receives a copy of the transfer deed and the relevant decision of the land book judge, which resemble a title certificate.
The Austrian system looks very consistent and works well in practice. It is supporting an active land market, with a high level of legal security. Personally I think that the system is more bureaucratic than necessary. It could be operated more efficiently, when the Austrians would accept a more 'risk management' oriented approach, instead of the present aim for 100% solutions. It is also over-decentralised in my mind, with some land book courts only handling a few hundred transfers each year. However, the introduction of a combined database of the land book courts and the survey departments, has been a brilliant move.
Ghana
1. It is estimated that about 30% of the parcels has been brought under a system of land registration. Almost 10,000 parcels are under the Land Title Registration Law (1986), whereas the rest of the registered land falls under the Land Registry Act (1962).
1A. The latter system consists of the archive of deeds ('deeds register'), and is supplemented by the information collections of the 'records room' at the secretariat of the Lands Commission. This includes an index map ('town survey sheet') and parcel-based indexes. The deeds register is kept at the Deeds Registry, which functions as a part of the Lands Commission, which holds the other information collections.
1B. The former system consists of a parcel-based property register ('land title register'), and the archives of survey plans ('title plans') and transfer forms. In case of systematic registration there is also an index map ('registry map'). Although the Survey Department plays an important role with regard to the preparation of the registry map and the title plans, all of the information collections are (also) kept at the Land Title Registry.
2A. According to the law any written document relating to the transfer of any interest in land has no effect until it is registered. Before such a document is registered, several approvals have to be present (incl. tax clearance certificate and often permission from the Lands Commission). Usually the document is drafted by a lawyer, but this is not mandatory. The section of the law empowering the registrar to verify if the intended effect of the deed could take place, has never been enacted. The registrar, however, also functions as the legal expert within the Lands Commission, and thus can usually prevent the granting of permission in case something is obviously wrong. Many customary land transfers still take place orally, which has limited the effect of the law which only deals with the registration of written documents (an attempt to register oral agreements in the early 1970s has failed).
2B. The transfer of registered land can only be done through prescribed forms, which have to be registered within three months. The form will be checked and the payment of stamp duty is another prerequisite for acceptance. The law makes no reference to the land control functions of the Lands Commission, and apparently transfers which need, but do not have, permission are still registered. Upon acceptance of the form the entry in the register will be updated, and the land title certificate will be issued or updated as well.
In areas declared registration district there should be systematic registration, but so far progress has been slow. In practice most first registration has taken the form of more or less sporadic registration. The mandatory conversion of existing deeds records has been largely ignored. After a bad start, improvements are being introduced.
3A. A transfer document usually refers to a certified map, either one connected to a previous document on the same property, or one specially prepared for this transfer by a licensed surveyor. In practice many of these plans are prepared by others, and only signed by a licensed surveyor. This has led to many maps of bad quality, and therefor a mandatory approval by the Director of Surveys has been introduced in 1989, but this has had little effect. The director is also solely responsible for the licensing system. In practice there are no licences being revoked or surveyors held liable for mistakes. Although the law does not demand the keeping of an index map, in practice such a map is kept within the Lands Commission by plotting the parcels onto the town survey sheets. The Lands Commission also assigns a unique reference number. The sheets are usually outdated, their paper is of poor quality and the scale is often not sufficient. This leads to a 'cadastral map' of at most mediocre quality.
3B. Every registered property has to be identified by a title plan, even if it is represented at the registry map. All title plans have to be signed by the Director of Surveys himself. These registry maps are prepared as part of the systematic registration by (or under supervision) of the Survey Department. If no registry map is available, a separate survey by the Survey Department will be made. The latter poses a potential problem, due to the lack of adequate index maps. This problem did occur at the outset of the system, and might re-appear when sporadic registration would be allowed in the whole country (as suggested in a draft bill). The title plans form a bottle-neck in the system, due to their manual preparation and the fact that the Director of Surveys approves them all himself.
4A. The registers and maps are still kept in an analogue form. A start has been made with computerizing some of the indexes, and other pilots are considered.
4B. The land title register is completely analogue, and no serious plans for computerisation exist. A pilot with computerised preparation of title plans, based on digitised registry maps had promising results, and is likely to be introduced, alleviating a part of the bottle neck.
5. The Lands Commission, the Land Title Registry and the Survey Department are all under the supervision of the Ministry of Lands and Forestry. This has not prevented lack of cooperation between them, which has badly effected the systems of land registration in the country. The Survey Department operates over-centralised, and any approval needed has to be gotten in Accra from the Director of Surveys himself.
5A. The older Ghanaian system of land registration is run by the Deeds Registry and the Lands Commission, with assistance from private practitioners, both lawyers and surveyors. Since 1989 the Survey Department is also formally involved. The Deeds Registry functions as a part of the Lands Commission, although the registrars are formally employed by the Attorney General's Office. There are only six registry offices (some of which do not have their own registrar). Only recently the functions of the Lands Commission were decentralised to the ten regional land commissions. The licensing system of the surveyors is not directly connected with the professional body 'Ghana Institution of Surveyors' and appears weak.
5B. The newer Ghanaian system of land registration is run by the Land Title Registry, with assistance from the Survey Department. The Land Title Registry is independent from the Attorney General's office. They intend to establish an office in each of the declared districts (so far four offices have been established, but only one has issued title certificates so far).
6A. In the traditional classifications the older Ghanaian system is referred to as an improved deeds registration. Parcels are represented by certified maps, which usually depict 'general boundaries'. Upon registration one can request a certified copy or an extract from the deeds register. In practice one relies mainly on a 'title search' performed at the 'records room' of the Lands Commission.
6B. In the traditional classifications the newer Ghanaian system is referred to as a title registration. Parcels are represented by title plans. The boundaries, although in general referred to as 'general boundaries', are demarcated and monumented. Upon registration one receives a 'land title certificate' which includes the title plan and a copy of the entry in the land title register. Although the title is in principle indefeasible, the law recognises quite some overriding interests, including actual occupation. This is caused by an attempt to avoid changes in the substantive rights of the customary land tenure systems, but also poses a threat to the completeness of the system of land registration.
Ghana has had, and still has, a reputation for land litigation. There are numerous causes for this. The attempt to improve the situation by greatly improving the deeds registration with the Land Registry Act (1962) has only had limited success, and the later attempt to register traditional, oral transfers was never really implemented. Even the introduction of the Land Title Registration Law has had little effect so far. In practice the problems are often not experienced in the numerous traditional, close-knit communities that still exist, where the customary law system provides security of tenure. When such communities are 'overrun' by modern development, however, great problems arise. If the land is expropriated, compensation is often paid only to the (tribal) chiefs, or not paid at all. In other cases land is granted more than once by the chiefs. Confusion is also caused by the unclear mix of customary and national land law, which often seems to benefit the chiefs. The government is working on formulating a clear land policy and improving the land administration processes to implement it (with some assistance form the World Bank).
IDEAS FOR A MODEL
To develop a multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary conceptual model of land registration, I like to come to a list of attributes. Each attribute can be found in different occurrences in different systems of land registration (if this attribute is not present in certain functioning systems, it is a non-essential attribute). When designing a system of land registration, one needs to decide for each attribute which occurrence one is going to use. There are likely to be some attributes that are interdependent, which would make a certain combination of occurrences useless.
Classifying the attributes in the three aspect categories I put central in my project (technical, legal and organisational), the following aspects, attributes and occurences appear useful to me:
I. technical aspects
II. legal aspects
III. organisational aspects
CONCLUSIONS
The multiple case study has strengthened my ideas that the traditional, one-dimensional classifications (esp. 'title vs deeds') are quite useless to describe different systems in such a way that one really gets an idea on if and how the system of land registration in a certain country functions. To get such an idea, one can not limit the study to the theory of how the system is set up (by laws and regulations), but one has to try and grasp how the processes are being carried out in practice. It turns out that some laws or regulations are not abided by (in some cases even supported by the courts). It also becomes clear that good administrative practices sometimes repair a theoretical flaw of the laws and regulations. The success of a system seems to depend very much on the organisational aspects. The way the necessary functions are distributed amongst organisations, and level of cooperation between those organisations, seem to be the paramount factor in determining the success of a system of land registration. This factor is of greater importance than the precise level of technical or legal sophistication. The latter, however, is still very dominant in descriptions of existing, and proposals for improving systems of land registration.
REFERENCES
de Soto, H, 1994, DIES keynote speech, Addresses of the 44th Dies Natalis of ITC, p 4-8, Enschede
Frank, Andrew U, 1996, An Object-Oriented, Formal Approach to the Design of Cadastral Systems, Proceedings 7th International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling ‘Advances in GIS Research’, p 5A.19-5A.35, Delft
Henssen, Jo, 1995, Basic Principles of the main cadastral Systems in the World, Proceedings Seminar ‘Modern Cadastres and Cadastral Innovations’ in Delft, FIG Commission 7, p 5-10, Melbourne
Kast, Fremont E and James E. Rosenzweig, 1970, Organization and Management, A systems approach, New York, McGraw and Hill
McLaughlin, J.D. and S.E. Nichols, 1989, Resource Management: The Land Administration and Cadastral Systems Component, Surveying and Mapping, No. 2, 1989, p 77-86
Nichols, Sue E., 1993, Land Registration: Managing Information for Land Administration, Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Surveying Engineering Technical Report No. 168, Fredericton, University of New Brunswick
StubkjFr, E., 1994, A theoretical basis for cadastral development, Proceedings ELIS, p 0.9-0.23, Delft
Williams, Ian, 1997, The Justification of Cadastral Systems in Developing Countries, Geomatica, Vol. 51, No. 1, p. 21-36
Yin, Robert K., 1994, Case study research: design and methods - sec. edt (Applied Social Research Methods Series, vol. 5), London, Sage Publications
Zevenbergen, Jaap, 1995, What makes a land registration 'go round'?, Proceedings of 3rd Polish-Dutch Symposium on Geodesy, p 171-179, Olsztyn
AUTHORS ADDRESS
J.A. Zevenbergen, M.Sc.(Geodetic Eng. - TU Delft), M.A.(Law -
RU Leiden)
Delft University of Technology
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Subfaculty of Geodetic Engineering
Department of Geo-information and Land Development
Thijsseweg 11
2629 JA DELFT
the Netherlands
tel +31 15 2784418
fax + 31 15 2782745
e-mail: j.a.zevenbergen@geo.tudelft.nl
home-page: http://www.geo.tudelft.nl/pjg/