will be recorded and the said application will be taken as confessed, and you will be forever barred from contesting said application or any decree entered thereon.

of

Witness:

Attest:

, judge of said court, this in the year nineteen hundred and

day

Clerk of Said Court.

SEC. 32. The return of said notice shall not be less than twenty nor more than sixty days from date of issue. The court shall also, within seven days after publication of said notice in the newspapers, as hereinbefore provided, cause a copy of the publication in Spanish to be mailed by the clerk to every person named therein whose address is known. The court shall also cause a duly attested copy of the notice to be posted, in the Spanish language, in a conspicuous place on each parcel of land included in the application, and also in a conspicuous place upon the chief municipal building of the pueblo in which the land or a portion thereof is situate, by the governor or sheriff of the province or city, as the case may be, or by his deputy, fourteen days at least before the return day thereof, and his return shall be conclusive proof of such service. If the applicant requests to have the line of à public way determined, the court shall order a notice to be given by the clerk by mailing a registered letter to the president of the municipal council, or to the Municipal Board, as the case may be, of the municipality or city in which the land lies. If the land borders on a river, navigable stream, or shore, or on an arm of the sea where a river or harbor line has been established, or on a lake, or if it otherwise appears from the application or the proceedings that the Insular Government may have a claim adverse to that of the applicant, notice shall be given in the same manner to the Attorney-General. The court may also cause other or further notice of the application to be given in such manner and to such persons as it may deem proper. The court shall, so far as it deems it possible, require proof of actual notice to all adjoining owners and to all persons who appear to have interest in or claim to the land included in the application. Notice to such persons by mail shall be by registered letter if practicable. The certificate of the clerk that he has served the notice as directed by the court, by publishing or mailing, shall be filed in the case before the return day, and shall be conclusive proof of such service.

SEC. 33. Upon the return day of the notice, and proof of service of all orders of notice issued, the court may appoint a disinterested person to act as guardian ad litem for minors and persons not in being, unascertained, unknown, or out of the Philippine Islands, who may have an interest. The compensation of the guardian or agent shall be determined by the court and paid as part of the expenses of the court. SEC. 34. Any person claiming an interest, whether named in the notice or not, may appear and file an answer on or before the return day, or within such further time as may be allowed by the court. The answer shall state all the objections to the application, and shall set forth the interest claimed by the party filing the same, and shall be signed and sworn to by him or by some person in his behalf.

SEC. 35. If no person appears and answers within the time allowed, the court may at once upon motion of the applicant, no reason to the

contrary appearing, order a general default to be recorded and the application to be taken for confessed. By the description in the notice, "To all whom it may concern," all the world are made parties defendant and shall be concluded by the default and order. After such default and order the court may enter a decree confirming the title of the applicant and ordering registration of the same. The court shall not be bound by the report of the examiner of titles, but may require other or further proof.

SEC. 36. If in any case an appearance is entered and answer filed, the case shall be set down for hearing on motion of either party, but a default and order shall be entered against all persons who do not appear and answer, in the manner provided in the preceding section. The court may hear the parties and their evidence or may refer the case or any part thereof to one of the examiners of title, as referee, to hear the parties and their evidence, and make report thereon to the court. The trial before the referee may occur at any convenient place within the province or city, and the time and place of trial shall be fixed by the referee and reasonable notice thereof shall be given by him to the parties. The court shall render judgment in accordance with the report as though the facts had been found by the judge himself, unless the court shall for cause shown set the report aside or order it to be recommitted to the referee for further finding: Provided, nevertheless, That the court may in its discretion accept the report in part or set it aside. in part. The court may in any case before decree require a survey to be made for the purpose of determining boundaries, and may order durable bounds to be set, and referred to in the application, by amendment. The expense of survey and bounds shall be taxed in the costs of the case and may be apportioned among the parties as justice may require. If no persons appear to oppose the application, such expense shall be borne by the applicant. If two or more applications claim the same land, or part of the same land, the court may order the hearings upon all such applications to be consolidated, if such consolidation is in the interest of economy of time and expense.

SEC. 37. If in any case the court finds that the applicant has not proper title for registration, a decree shall be entered dismissing the application, and such decree may be ordered to be without prejudice. The applicant may withdraw his application at any time before final decree, upon terms to be fixed by the court.

SEC. 38. If the court after hearing finds that the applicant has title as stated in his application, and proper for registration, a decree of confirmation and registration shall be entered. Every decree of registration shall bind the land, and quiet title thereto, subject only to the exceptions stated in the following section. It shall be conclusive upon and against all persons, including the Insular Government and all the branches thereof, whether mentioned by name in the application, notice, or citation, or included in the general description "To all whom it may concern." Such decree shall not be opened by reason of the absence, infancy, or other disability of any person affected thereby, nor by any proceeding in any court for reversing judgments or decrees; subject, however, to the right of any person deprived of land or of any estate or interest therein by decree of registration obtained by fraud to file in the Court of Land Registration a petition for review within one year after entry of the decree, provided no innocent purchaser for value has acquired an interest. If there is any such purchaser, the decree of WAR 1903-VOL 8-11

registration shall not be opened, but shall remain in full force and effect forever, subject only to the right of appeal hereinbefore provided. But any person aggrieved by such decree in any case may pursue his remedy by action for damages against the applicant or any other person for fraud in procuring the decree. Whenever the phrase "innocent purchaser for value" or an equivalent phrase occurs in this act, it shall be deemed to include an innocent lessee, mortgagee, or other encumbrancer for value.

SEC. 39. Every applicant receiving a certificate of title in pursuance of a decree of registration, and every subsequent purchaser of registered land who takes a certificate of title for value in good faith, shall hold the same free of all incumbrance except those noted on said certificate, and any of the following incumbrances which may be subsisting, namely:

First. Liens, claims, or rights arising or existing under the laws or Constitution of the United States or of the Philippine Islands which the statutes of the Philippine Islands can not require to appear of record in the registry.

Second. Taxes within two years after the same have become due and payable.

Third. Any public highway, way, or private way established by law, where the certificate of title does not state that the boundaries of such highway or way have been determined. But if there are easements or other rights appurtenant to a parcel of registered land which for any reason have failed to be registered, such easements or rights shall remain so appurtenant notwithstanding such failure, and shall be held to pass with the land until cut off or extinguished by the registration of the servient estate, or in any other manner.

SEC. 40. Every decree of registration shall bear the day of the year, hour, and minute of its entry, and shall be signed by the clerk. It shall state whether the owner is married or unmarried, and if married, the name of the husband or wife. If the owner is under disability, it shall state the nature of the disability, and if a minor, shall state his age. It shall contain a description of the land as finally determined by the court, and shall set forth the estate of the owner, and also, in such manner as to show their relative priority, all particular estates, mortgages, easements, liens, attachments, and other incumbrances, including rights of husband or wife, if any, to which the land or owner's estate is subject, and may contain any other matter properly to be determined in pursuance of this Act. The decree shall be stated in a convenient form for transcription upon the certificates of title hereinafter mentioned.

SEC. 41. Immediately upon the entry of the decree of registration the clerk shall send a certified copy thereof, under the seal of the court, to the register of deeds for the province, or provinces, or city in which the land lies, and the register of deeds shall transcribe the decree in a book to be called the "Registration Book," in which a leaf, or leaves, in consecutive order shall be devoted exclusively to each title. The entry made by the register of deeds in this book in each case shall be the original certificate of title, and shall be signed by him. and sealed with the seal of the court. All certificates of title shall be numbered consecutively, beginning with number one. The register of deeds shall in each case make an exact duplicate of the original certificate, including the seal, but putting on it the words "Owner's dupli

cate certificate," and deliver the same to the owner, or to his attorney duly authorized. In case of a variance between the owner's duplicate certificate and the original certificate the original shall prevail. The certified copy of the decree of registration shall be filed and numbered by the register of deeds with a reference noted on it to the place of record of the original certificate of title: Provided, however, That when an application includes land lying in more than one province, or one province and the city of Manila, the court shall cause the part lying in each province or in the city of Manila to be described separately by metes and bounds in the decree of registration, and the clerk shall send to the register of deeds for each province, or the city of Manila, as the case may be, a copy of the decree containing a description of the land within that province or city, and the register of deeds shall register the same and issue an owner's duplicate therefor, and thereafter for all matters pertaining to registration under this Act the portion in each province or city shall be treated as a separate parcel of land.

SEC. 42. The certificate first registered in pursuance of the decree of registration in regard to any parcel of land shall be entitled in the registration book, "Original certificate of title, entered pursuant to decree of the Court of Land Registration, dated at" (stating time and place of entry of decree and the number of case). This certificate shall take effect upon the date of the transcription of the decree. Subsequent certificates relating to the same land shall be in like form, but shall be entitled "Transfer from number" (the number of the next previous certificate relating to the same land), and also the words "Originally registered" (date, volume, and page of registration).

SEC. 43. Where two or more persons are registered owners, as tenants in common, or otherwise, one owner's duplicate certificate may be issued for the whole land, or a separate duplicate may be issued to each for his undivided share.

SEC. 44. A registered owner holding one duplicate certificate for several distinct parcels of land may surrender it, with the approval of the court, and take out several certificates for portions thereof. So a registered owner holding separate certificates for several distinct parcels

may surrender them, and, with like approval, take out a single duplicate certificate for the whole land, or several certificates for the different portions thereof. Any owner subdividing a tract of registered land into lots shall file with the clerk a plan of such land, when applying for a new certificate or certificates, and the court, before issuing the same, shall cause the plan to be verified and require that all boundaries, streets, and passageways shall be distinctly and accurately delineated thereon.

SEC. 45. The obtaining of a decree of registration and the entry of a certificate of title shall be regarded as an agreement running with the land, and binding upon the applicant and all successors in title that the land shall be and always remain registered land, and subject to the provisions of this act and all acts amendatory thereof.

SEC. 46. No title to registered land in derogation to that of the registered owner shall be acquired by prescription or adverse possession. SEC. 47. The original certificate in the registration book, any copy thereof duly certified under the signature of the clerk, or of the register of deeds of the province or city where the land is situate, and the seal of the court, and also the owner's duplicate certificate, shall be received as evidence in all the courts of the Philippine Islands and

shall be conclusive as to all matters contained therein except so far as otherwise provided in this Act.

SEC. 48. Every certificate of title shall set forth the names of all the persons interested in the estate in fee simple in the whole land and duplicate certificates may be issued to each person, but the clerk or register of deeds, as the case may be, shall note in the registration book, and upon each certificate, to whom such duplicate was issued.

SEC. 49. The clerk, under direction of the court, shall make and keep indexes of all applications, of all decrees of registration, and shall also index and classify all papers and instruments filed in his office relating to applications and to registered titles. He shall also, under direction of the court, cause forms of index and registration and entry books to be prepared for use of the registers of deeds. The court shall prepare and adopt convenient forms of certificates of title, and shall also adopt general forms of memoranda to be used by registers of deeds in registering common forms of deeds of conveyance and other instruments, and to express briefly their effect.

VOLUNTARY DEALING WITH LAND AFTER ORIGINAL REGISTRATION.

SEC. 50. An owner of registered land may convey, mortgage, lease, charge, or otherwise deal with the same as fully as if it had not been registered. He may use forms of deeds, mortgages, leases, or other voluntary instruments like those now in use and sufficient in law for the purpose intended. But no deed, mortgage, lease, or other voluntary instrument, except a will, purporting to convey or affect registered land, shall take effect as a conveyance or bind the land, but shall operate only as a contract between the parties and as evidence of authority to the clerk or register of deeds to make registration. The act of registration shall be the operative act to convey and affect the land, and in all cases under this Act the registration shall be made in the office. of register of deeds for the province or provinces or city where the land lies.

SEC. 51. Every conveyance, mortgage, lease, lien, attachment, order, decree, instrument, or entry affecting registered land which would under existing laws, if recorded, filed, or entered in the office of the register of deeds, affect the real estate to which it relates shall, if registered, filed, or entered in the office of the register of deeds in the province or city where the real estate to which such instrument relates lies, be notice to all persons from the time of such registering, filing, or entering.

SEC. 52. No new certificate shall be entered or issued upon any transfer of registered land which does not divest the land in fee simple from the owner or from some one of the registered owners. All interests in registered land less than an estate in fee simple shall be registered by filing with the register of deeds the instrument creating or transferring or claiming such interest and by a brief memorandum thereof made by the register of deeds upon the certificate of title, signed by him. A similar memorandum shall also be made on the owner's duplicate. The cancellation or extinguishment of such interests shall be registered in the same manner.

SEC. 53. Where the register of deeds is in doubt upon any question of law, or where any party in interest does not agree as to the proper memorandum to be made in pursuance of any deed, mortgage, or other