It was the country's first attempt at a system of universal land registration, specifically a title register, applying to England and Wales.

[2] It replaced several local deed registries throughout England, which had been established in the early 1700s in order to protect against fraud conducted by undisclosed prior incumbrances on titles.

[3] Registration under the 1862 act was also expensive, partially because it was necessary to map and survey the entirety of the property (this was fixed by later legislation).

[4] The prior deed registries had a number of problems, including those relating to notice, and the lack of standardized and reliable indexes to the considerably large documents.

[2] "Instrument Books" were also kept, containing documents like deeds, plans, and marriage certificates to verify contents of the registry.