Massachusetts. Land Court

The Court of Registration, established in 1898, was successively renamed the Court of Land Registration in 1900 and Land Court in 1904.

After a recommendation in Governor William E. Russell's inaugural address (Jan. 8, 1891) that Massachusetts adopt the Australian Torrens system of land registration and transfer, the governor was authorized to appoint a commission to draft appropriate legislation (St 1893, c 100), and later another committee (St 1897, c 511). The resulting Land Registration Act (St 1898, c 562) established the Court of Registration to have exclusive jurisdiction over applications for registration of land titles in the Commonwealth and related matters. It was renamed Court of Land Registration (St 1900, c 354, s1) and then Land Court (St 1904, c 448, s1). It is currently defined as the Land Court Department of the Trial Court (St 1978, c 478, s 2) and its functions are currently described in MGLA c 185, ss 1-25A.