Frightened Property Law Student Unearths Pre-Torrens Title In Restricted Section Of The Lawbry

Third-year student Thomas Weir has found himself shaking with fear and confusion, after doing a bit of research in the Restricted Section of the Walter Harrison Law Library.

Digging through dusty old tomes that were not for the eyes of the general student population, Thomas, or ‘Tom’ to his mates who are clearly in too much of a rush to use full names, happened across a registration of title to an estate - from 1812. Pre-Torrens. Pre-title by registration.

Letting out an incoherent scream of horror, Tom immediately dropped the tome to the floor. Anyone else think it’s weird that the word ‘tome’ is only ever used in the context of either old or dusty books? No-one ever cracked the new John Grisham ‘tome.’ Anyway, moving back to Tom.

The title documents were a mess, with interests and instruments flying across the paper as if by dark magic. Following the chain of title was difficult enough for Tom, an educated student of the TC Beirne School Of Witchcraft And Law (heaps of effort went into this joke), but when he cast his mind to the poor Registrars who had to grapple with the mess of deeds and documents, bile filled his throat.

He immediately sprinted to the door of the most portly, trustworthy Law professor he knew - Horace ‘Ryan’ Catterwell, who had put on a few KGs since that incident with Grindelwald in the Federal Court (native title, bizarrely enough).

‘Professor? I was in the library today, in the Restricted Section, and I read something rather odd about a bit of rare title registration,’ Tom began, before being cruelly cut off by Horace.

‘I beg your pardon? I don't know anything about such things and if I did, I wouldn't tell you! Now get out of here at once AND DON'T EVER LET ME CATCH YOU MENTIONING IT AGAIN!’ responded the PhD candidate, seminar leader, and professor.

Tom bolted down the stairs to the really slow tap, to fill up his S’well, and regroup. There was a frightening magic cast over the TC Beirne School Of Law, and he intended to find out what it was. And there was only one place to start.

Patrick Parkinson’s weekly baptisms in the Moot Court.

More to come.