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THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY
OF HONG KONG.
SECRETARY OFFICE,
Loke Yew Building, 7th flr.
The Land Officer, Hong Kong.
Hong Kong, 25th February, 1946.
Dear Sir,
Your letter of the 10th of last month has had the care-
ful consideration of the Committee of this Society and has also
been circulated to every member of the profession who is a member
of this Society, and has been a subject of discussion at a General
Meeting of the members.
The Society have the following comments to make upon
your "proposed solution" set forth in paragraph 5 of your letter:-
The danger of this proposal is that it will leave an ambiguous and defective document on the title which will be open to challenge by conveyancers in the future one acceptance of the title will not prevent a more cautious solicitor from refusing the title at a later
The date when a remedy is more difficult to obtain. form of the memorial is not of great importance but it would probably be a danger because the tendency would be to make the memorial give the impression that the Japanese deed was as nearly "regular" as possible.
This Society feels with regard to the transactions in
respect of land which took place during the occupation of Hong Kong by the Japanese that so far as they are unchallenged tran- sactions then there should be little or no difficulty in obtain- ing the execution of such a deed as will in each case have the effect of giving the purchaser a good title and that so far as they are challenged then the onus of establishing a good title should be on the person setting up a title to the property
acquired during the Japanese occupation.
The present position appears to be that the documents used for the purpose of these transactions are for all practical purposes ineffective and even if registered with a proper mem- orial or given by legislation the effect of deeds would do little more than give notice to an intending purchaser or mortgagee
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