System Systems
Resume:
A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
Jaap ZEVENBERGEN, The Netherlands
Key words: systems approach, land registration, cadastre, trustworthiness.
ABSTRACT
Land registration and cadastre together play an important role in a society, as long as they
function well and fulfil the goals set by that society. Unfortunately in many cases the land
registration and cadastral functions are organized independently, and often do not cooperate
in the most effective way. Improvements, both technological and others, in quite some cases
only mend one or a few links in the chain. Regularly not even the weakest link.
In my PhD research, called Systems of Land Registration Aspects and their Effects, a
systems approach is used to study systems of land registration and cadastre as a whole. This
to avoid the traditional divisions. The focus is on the technical, legal and organizational
aspects and their interrelations. The research includes a case study of four countries (the
Netherlands, Indonesia, Austria and Ghana). An important role within the systems approach
is played by emergence; an attribute contributed to the system as a whole and not to one or
more elements as such. It is argued that trustworthiness is an example of emergence within
the wider system of land registration. This and other main results of the research are
presented.
This paper can be seen as a follow up to my paper The interrelated influence of the
technical, legal and organisational aspects on the functioning of land registrations
(cadastres) presented at the XXI FIG International Congress in Brighton in 1998
(Commission 7, p. 130-145).
CONTACT
Jaap Zevenbergen
Delft University of Technology
Department of Geodetic Engineering
Thijsseweg 11
2629 JA Delft
THE NETHERLANDS
Tel. +31-15-278-****
Fax +31-15-278-****
E-mail: abqsfo@r.postjobfree.com
Web site: http://www.geo.tudelft.nl/gigb/
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Jaap Zevenbergen
A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
FIG XXII International Congress
Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
Jaap ZEVENBERGEN, The Netherlands
1. INTRODUCTION
Land registration and cadastre together play an important role in a society, as long as they
function well and fulfil the goals set by that society. Land registration can be described as
the process of recording legally recognized interests (ownership and/or use) in land
(McLaughlin and Nichols 1989: 81). This process forms an important part of the system of
land registration. To fully understand such a system it should be studied in its wholeness.
This way we can avoid the traditional divisions, which is especially found in the fact that in
many countries the land registration and cadastral functions are organized independently, and
often do not cooperate in the most effective way. Improvements, both technological and
others, in quite some cases only mend one or a few links in the chain. Regularly not even the
weakest link. The systems approach is used here to study systems of land registration and
cadastre as a whole to prevent this.
In this paper a short introduction is given into the systems approach and the system of land
registration as I see it, including a model of the static and dynamic system of land
registration. Furthermore trustworthiness is presented as an emergent property of the system
of land registration. Emergence is a term used to describe an attribute contributed to the
system as a whole and not to one or more elements as such.
2. SYSTEMS APPROACH
There is a tendency within the field of land registration to approach the object of study with a
lot of emphasis on relative details, which has led to one-dimensional classifications. To break
away from this, there is a need for a framework to approach land registration as much as
possible as a whole. Such a framework can be found in the 'systems approach'. A
characteristic of the systems approach is that a system is studied with emphasis on the
relations between its elements and the common goal this wholeness is aimed at. Traditionally
subsystems are studied separately, with the idea to later put the parts together into the whole.
According to the systems approach this is not possible and the starting point has to be with
the total system. (Kast and Rosenzweig 1970: 115).
There are many definitions of systems. Virtually all of them include the idea of wholeness,
and the idea of (inter-)relation between components. A part of the definitions adds to this the
idea of purpose towards which the activities of the system and its parts are working. (Keuning
1973: 56-57). For the purpose of studying land registration, I see a system as: a set of
elements together with relationships between the elements and between their attributes
related to each other and to their environment so as to form a whole that aims to reach a
certain goal.
Whole is the most fundamental word in the definition. The system as a whole is more than
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FIG XXII International Congress
Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
its parts together. Groups of elements have attributes that are only meaningful when they are
attributed to the whole, not to its parts. And although they are derived from its component
activities and their structure, they cannot be reduced to them. These attributes are the so-
called emergent properties. This principle of emergence can be seen for instance with the
smell of ammonia, the picture emerging form a completed jigsaw, the self-awareness of a
brain or the vehicular potential of a bicycle. (Hitchins 1992: 10)
The system of land registration, being a so-called open system, can be depicted as a black
box in an input - throughput - output model. In my study, I take the increase of legal security
for persons holding or purchasing rights in land as the (main) goal of the system of land
registration. Then the input into the system is the (factual) land tenure situation and the output
the legal security.
Land
Land Legal
Regis-
Tenure Securtity
tration
Situation
System of Land Registration as a Black Box
Another way to look at the system of land registration would be to see it primarily as an
information processing system, with for instance agreement as input and information as
output. However, this undervalues the importance of land registration in providing legal
security for persons holding or purchasing rights in land. The information is not the end
product, and should be included within the system.
Administrators and professionals involved in systems of land registration, regularly get so
absorbed in the legal and technical intricacies of the system, that they seem to loose sight of
the system as a whole. Even when society does not support and rely on the system, they -
often with the best of intentions- are discussing or implementing improvements to one small
task, without changing the fundamental shortcomings that cause the lack of trust in the
system. Therefore we have to start by looking at the system as a whole, with society s view
on the system as the important emergent property of trustworthiness .
3. MODELING SYSTEMS OF LAND REGISTRATION
3.1 Static and dynamic systems
Several classifications of systems are used, one of them making the distinction between static
and dynamic systems. Kast and Rosenzweig consider structure and processes to represent the
static and dynamic features of organizations. In some cases the static features are the most
important for investigation, in other cases the dynamic features. (Kast and Rosenzweig 1970:
171) When describing the system of land registration I find both of them useful. The static
form of the system of land registration focuses on describing which information is kept, with
regard to which objects and with which identifiers. The dynamic form of the system of land
registration focuses on describing and understanding the main processes of land registration
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Jaap Zevenbergen
A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
FIG XXII International Congress
Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
(to fulfill the 3 main functions of first registration, transfer of whole parcel and subdivision).
3.2 Model of the static system of land registration
The static form of the system of land registration is
represented by the regularly used figure that connects
person, right and parcel, and exists in several
varieties (e.g. Henssen 1995: 6; Kaufmann and
Steudler 1998: 37-38; Zevenbergen 1998: 133). It
also represents the question which person holds
which parcel with which right. Each of these three
questions is related to one of the main objects, being
person, right and parcel. Each of these has to be
identified correctly and unambiguously. These
objects are very closely interrelated, and only when
they are interconnected we can talk about a system of
land registration. The person represents an individual
or a group of people who are the rightful claimant,
and gives the answer to the question 'who'. The parcel
represents a certain part of land that is seen as a property, and gives the answer to the
questions 'where' and 'how much'. The right or title represents a certain legal relation
(ownership, leasehold, other form of tenure, etceteras) and gives the answer to the question
'how'. In my view the three entities are closely interrelated, and can represent different
varieties of humankind to land relationships . I regret the adding of a one-directional arrow
to the figure as is done in Cadastre 2014' (Kaufmann and Steudler 1998: 37-38). They
assume an arrow pointing from person to parcel in Henssen s variety of figure, which they
dub the deeds approach . In my terminology it could be described as a view from the legal
aspect system (see paragraph 3.4). An alternative view is suggested in Cadastre 2014 in
which the arrow points from parcel to person (and the whole figure is flipped around). It
takes the point of view of (geo) information management (a part of the technical aspect
system). I find that view equally limited, since it might encourage seeing land registration
(and the wider land administration) as an end in itself, without looking at its goals. If an
arrow has to be added, it should be a bi-directional one.
In several earlier papers I focused a lot on this static form of the system of land registration
(Zevenbergen 1995, Zevenbergen 1998). But it falls short when trying to understand for
instance the interaction between systems of land registration and land markets, the reasons for
unregistered transactions, and the trustworthiness of the whole.
3.3 Model of the dynamic system of land registration
The dynamic form of the system of land registration can help here. Within the dynamic
system three functions have to be fulfilled. They can be described as the three main cadastral
processes of adjudication of land rights, land transfer and mutation (subdivision or
consolidation) (Soni Harsono 1996: 3-4). The wholeness of the system of land registration is
very apparent here, since each of the three functions is only useful when the other functions
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A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
FIG XXII International Congress
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are fulfilled as well. There needs to be something present in order to be able to update, and if
no updating takes place the initial compilation becomes quite useless very fast. Depending on
the history and development of a country the emphasis might be more on first registration or
on updating. It is not easy to tackle both at the same time in a trustworthy manner.
In the two developing countries studied (Indonesia and Ghana) the first function is of great
interest since most of the land is still unregistered. However, many persons holding interests
are not really looking for registration, because the benefits of it -as they perceive them- do
not hold up to the time and money they will have to invest. Furthermore even transactions
with regard to land that has been put on the register before, take place without updating the
register. In certain cases even the courts have ruled such informal transactions legally valid.
Dynamic model of system of land registration ( mushroom encompasses the static model)
The system of land registration is depicted in the figure with the emphasis on the dynamic
model, but it includes the static model as well. At the left-hand side we find an unregistered
land tenure situation, which is transformed into a registered situation through adjudication,
which can be seen as a project that is executed once. In the middle is the registered situation
(with person, right and parcel connected to each other, here represented by a mushroom ).
This registered situation is part of two circular processes, being the transfer and subdivision.
This has to be seen as updating, a continuous activity. Both types of updating concentrate on
a different part of the mushroom . Nevertheless it can be seen that the change in the identity
of one of the three objects that make up the static model of the system of land registration, is
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A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
FIG XXII International Congress
Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
only a useful activity as long as it remains connected to the other objects. This can be seen as
another reason for looking at the system of land registration firstly as a whole, as the systems
approach learns us.
Adjudication, the first of the three functions that the system of land registration has to fulfil,
is the most common form of first registration. In certain cases it can also be called land
titling. It deals with the initial compilation of the registers. It is of great importance when no
(real) system of land registration exists yet in an area. In certain cases of cadastral reform
conversion from the old to the new system may be applied. But when virtually no written
documentation is available, a careful procedure is necessary to inventory all relevant interests
that exist and should be entered in the register. Two methods of adjudication can be used:
systematic and sporadic adjudication. An explanation of the differences and the advantages
and disadvantages of them in different circumstances can be found in e.g. (Bogaerts and
Zevenbergen 2001). Another important distinction is between administrative and juridical
procedures, whereby under the former, claimants who are not satisfied with the preliminary
register can appeal to an adjudication committee before they will have to go to court (which
often is very slow and expensive). Furthermore first registration could either directly lead to a
full title, or deliver a qualified or provisional title at first, which can be upgraded later.
Once a register exists, it needs to be updated for the changes caused by subsequent transfers.
Of the two varieties of subsequent transfers, the transfer of rights is the most common. It
deals with the situation that one person takes over from another person, an interest in a
property unit that remains the same well-defined parcel. If the system is working properly the
former right holder is known to the system, and upon receipt of the notice of change
(document) the information can be updated. Usually the register is only updated after certain
conditions are checked. Sometimes the check is limited to purely formal conditions, in other
cases the check includes several legal aspects of the transfer itself. This type of changes takes
place for several reasons, of which sales transactions are the most important ones in case of
an active land market, and inheritance in case of a more frozen situation. Especially with
regard to sales transactions the legal security of the purchaser can be greatly enhanced when
there is a good system of land registration. In principle the procedures for this situation can
and should be kept relatively simple, not involving too many organizations, taking too long
and being too expensive.
The other variety of subsequent transfers deals with the case that the property unit changes.
This means that the existing registers (usually including maps) have to be updated due to
subsequent changes in the boundaries of the parcel (subdivision, consolidation). This is also
called property formation. Although this is less common, it is of great importance. It deals
with a change in the part of the continuum we want to regard as one parcel. And since real
properties could be seen as being liquid, subdividing and amalgamating existing parcels
should be possible and is often even desirable. These changes often take place in conjuncture
with a change in the land rights and the usage of the land. The formation of a new property
unit needs to be accompanied by the redefining of a newly identified parcel, which will then
become the object to which the land rights are (re-)connected. The procedures for this are
often quite complicated. This is partly because of the control necessary to come (again) to a
clearly defined and uniquely identified parcel. Further complications are present in most
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A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
FIG XXII International Congress
Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
countries because of land control mechanisms (need to get one or more permits) and the fact
that these changes coincide with changes in usage and/or the rights.
In most systems of land registration, the new boundaries that subdivision creates will have to
be surveyed. In a rare exception existing topographic features visible on a map or (aerial)
photograph can be used to do this in the office, but in virtually all cases new measurements
will have to be made (usually by field survey; airborne methods are not so efficient here
because of the incremental nature of these changes). Quite a number of countries demand the
erection of visible boundary markers, being either fences, ditches or hedges on the one side,
or special corner stones ( monuments ) on the other hand. The cadastral surveys usually need
to have been completed before the land rights can be vested in the newly formed properties.
And the cadastral map and plans have to be ready in their updated form before the transfer
documentation can be fully processed.
Often subdivision involves an elaborate procedure. Usually one needs to get permission from
the relevant (local) authority, the survey work will have to be carried out, the cadastral
(index) map will have to be updated, the register will have to be updated, and the correct
persons will have to be (re-)connected with the correct rights to the newly formed parcels. In
many countries virtually all of these activities are performed by different organizations. To
get the right understanding of the time and money a person needs to spend to have a
subdivision processed in the formal way, we need to look at this as a whole.
3.4 Part systems
Although the systems approach teaches us to look at the whole first, it allows for identifying
and studying part systems. Two types of part systems exist: subsystems and aspect systems.
A subsystem consists of a part of the elements of the system, where we consider all relations
in that part of the system. In an aspect system, however, we consider only a part of all the
relations that can be found between the elements, and neglect the rest of the relations. With
regard to systems of land registration a first division in subsystems would be one subsystem
land registry and one subsystem cadastre, which is mirrored by institutional arrangements in
for instance Austria. In Austria both subsystem clearly cooperate and exchange information
(even share a database), making it very useful to see the whole as one system.
Regarding the aspect systems of the system of land registration, I focused in my study on
three of those, being the technical, legal and organizational aspect systems1. Studying each of
the aspect systems separately is done by the relevant aspect disciplines (like surveying and
database technology; law (jurisprudence); and sociology and management science). However,
to make a land registration go round it is not enough to look at it from one aspect system.
Doing that is likely to lead to a suboptimal solution or strengthening the wrong link in a chain
(not the weakest). The interrelations between the different aspect systems play an important
role, and they are constantly influencing each other. A well known example are survey
regulations (part of the legal aspect system) which are so strict and detailed that they stand in
1
It is clear that more aspect systems exist and are relevant, for instance the social, cultural and economical
aspect systems.
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A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
FIG XXII International Congress
Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
the way of applying later developed technologies (part of the technical aspect system). Once
again a clear reason for primarily looking at the whole of the system of land registration, in
an interdisciplinary way.
4. TRUSTWORTHINESS
An important reason for something to be seen as a system is found in it having emergent
properties. For systems of land registration I see trustworthiness as the main emergent
property. This can not be attributed to one or a few elements, but it depends on the system as
a whole. Trustworthiness could be seen as the ultimate expectation society has of the
system of land registration; society wants to be able to trust the system. If that is possible or
not depends on the way in which features and criteria as for instance mentioned in the
Statement on the Cadastre (FIG 1995: 19-20) are being met2.
The success of a system of land registration in the end depends on society s view on it.
Society has to realize that it needs such a system, society has to support the system in place
and society has to use and rely on the system of land registration and the information from it.
However, in general the existing systems of land registration are not really tuned towards the
needs and interests of the right holders. Even though customer demands is an often-used
buzzword, most right holders consider getting a land transfer finalized a pain in the neck.
Land registration procedures are often expensive, slow and bureaucratic in their minds.
(Zevenbergen 1999). Still, it is the willingness of these individual members of society to use
and rely on the system, especially when they want to transact or mortgage a land right, that
makes or breaks the system. Different individuals can be in different circumstances or might
perceive their circumstances differently. This influences the balance between incentives and
disincentives to use and rely on the system of land registration, and in the end the level of
success of the system. The ultimate question is whether they have TRUST in the system.
In many countries there is ongoing work done on improving the system of land registration,
but these improvements usually mean that some legal intricacy is further refined, that the
accuracy of the surveying work is improved, or that the data has been moved to a new
medium. These improvements might be interesting for the technocrats involved, but often
have very little bearing on the perception the right holders have of the whole system. His/her
perception of the trustworthiness of the system is much more influenced by the
administrative layout and day-to-day operation. Although those are influenced by the limits
of the law and other preconditions, it is the daily practice that really counts. Similarly
Twaroch and Muggenhuber say that Independent from legal and technical solutions a LAS3
is successful when all partners involved in land management (owners, banks and agents
dealing with information on land) can trust in this system. (Twaroch and Muggenhuber
1997: F.5). Unfortunately the administrators and professionals involved in the systems of
2
Listed are a number of well recognized criteria for measuring the actual or potential success of a Cadastre,
being security, clarity and simplicity, timeliness, fairness, accessability, cost and sustainability (FIG 1995: 19-
20).
3
LAS = Land Administration System; slighty wider concept than system of land registration as used here.
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FIG XXII International Congress
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land registration, regularly get so absorbed in the legal and technical intricacies of the system
that they seem to loose sight of this.
5. FINAL REMARKS
The right system of land registration for a society will be a great help and facilitator in
achieving legal security of right holders and purchasers, especially when there is an active
land market. Systems of land registration, however, are complex wholes of many interrelated
elements. The so-called traditional aspect disciplines (like surveying or law) only see a part
of the systems. If improvements are suggested from such a partial perspective, there is a
serious risk that this does not affect the weakest link of the chain. Especially the (further)
enhancement of technical or legal sophistication does rarely convince society, and especially
the individuals that should use the system, of an improved trustworthiness of the system.
With trustworthiness I mean living up to the expectations the society has of the system of
land registration.
These preceding remarks follow from using the systems approach with regard to land
registration. This approach prescribes that we start by looking at the whole, before going into
the details of the parts. This approach also points to the emergent properties of a system;
properties which can only be attributed to the whole, and not to the parts. The use of this
approach on systems of land registration has been very enlightening for me, and I consider it
to be very useful for anyone who wants to study land registration from a wider perspective
than any one of the aspect disciplines. The approach helps us to avoid the use of simplified
one-dimensional classifications, and is in my view inevitable in designing and implementing
true improvements for systems of land registration.
REFERENCES
Bogaerts, T. and J. Zevenbergen, 2001, Cadastral Systems; alternatives, Computers,
Environment and Urban Systems, Vol. 25/4-5, p. 325-337.
FIG (International Federation of Surveyors), 1995, The Statement on the Cadastre, FIG
Publication No. 11, Canberra.
Henssen, J., 1995, Basic Principles of the main cadastral Systems in the World, Proceedings
Seminar Modern Cadastres and Cadastral Innovations in Delft, FIG Commission 7, p.
5-10, Melbourne.
Hitchins, D.K., 1992, Putting Systems to Work, Chichester, Wiley.
Kast, Fremont E. and James E. Rosenzweig, 1970, Organization and Management, A systems
approach, New York, McGraw and Hill.
Kaufmann, J. and D. Steudler (with the Working Group 1 of FIG Commission 7), 1998,
Cadastre 2014, A Vision for a Future Cadastral System, FIG, July 1998
(http://www.swisstopo.ch/fig-wg71/cad2014.htm).
Keuning, D., 1973, Algemene systeemtheorie, systeembenadering en organisatietheorie
[General Systems Theory, the Systems Approach and Organization Theory], PhD
Thesis VU Amsterdam, Leiden, Stenfert Kroese (in Dutch).
McLaughlin, J.D. and S.E. Nichols, 1989, Resource Management: The Land Administration
and Cadastral Systems Component, Surveying and Mapping, No. 2, p. 77-86.
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A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
FIG XXII International Congress
Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
Soni Harsono, Opening speech by the Minister of Lands, United Nations Inter-Regional
Meeting of Cadastral Experts (of Asia and the Pacific) at Bogor, 18-22 March 1996.
Twaroch, Ch. and G. Muggenhuber, Evolution of Land Registration and Cadastre; Case
study: Austria, Lecture material Workshop F, JEC GI, Vienna 1997, p. F.3 - F.16.
Zevenbergen, J., 1995, What makes a land registration 'go round'?, Proceedings of 3rd Polish-
Dutch Symposium on Geodesy, Olsztyn, p. 171-179.
Zevenbergen, J., 1998, The interrelated influence of the technical, legal and organisational
aspects on the functioning of land registrations (cadastres), Proceedings XXI FIG
Congress, Commission 7, Brighton, p. 130-145.
Zevenbergen, J., 1999, Are cadastres really serving the landowner?, Proceedings of 21st
Urban Data Management Symposium Information Technology in the service of local
government planning and management, Venice 21-23 April 1999, Theme 1, p. 3.1-
3.10.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Mr. Zevenbergen belongs to the section Geo information and Land Development of the
Department of Geodesy of TU Delft. Since 1995 he has been working on his PhD study on
systems of land registration, based on case studies in four different countries, which he is
about to defend. He has also been involved as a consultant in land registration and cadastre
projects in Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore he takes an interest in especially the
legal and administrative aspects of geo information in general and NSDI s in particular.
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Jaap Zevenbergen
A Systems Approach to Land Registration and Cadastre
FIG XXII International Congress
Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
Contact this candidate