The concept of the parties on Land Registration act of Korea is related with Claim for Registration. Claim for Registration is a difficult concept to analyze its essential meanings and legal features. Although this concept has been an object of study ...
The concept of the parties on Land Registration act of Korea is related with Claim for Registration. Claim for Registration is a difficult concept to analyze its essential meanings and legal features. Although this concept has been an object of study for a long time, little is revealed about its real meaning and legal structure. The purpose of this paper is to explore the origin of Claim for Registration and the concept of the parties in Land Registration Act and the Civil Law in Korea. It is not concerned here with a variety of problems of land registration and real property issues in the Korean Law.
In Korea, Claim for Registration is a theoretical method in other to solve the issues of real property. Claim for Registration is a practical right that the Holder of the right of registration require the Obligator for registration to apply a right in Land Registration Act. According to Land Registration Act and the Civil Code in Korea, it is said that people should not only strike a bargain but complete land registration for the completion of real estate transaction. The Holder of the right of registration hold, the so-called, "Claim for Registration" to Obligator for registration, who shall obey this claim. The legal characteristic of this claim is practical right, which is originated from contract between the Holder and Obligator but there are no provisions on the Civil Code in Korea. This is because no one could prove obvious traits of Claim for Registration notwithstanding amounts of efforts.
The origin and nature of parties in Land Registration Act become the persuasive solution to the meaning of Claim for Registration. This is because Claim for Registration results from a opposing structure between the Holder of the right of registration and Obligator for registration caused by Land Registration Act. The claim itself includes two opposite parties and it is based on Joint-application system in Land Registration Act, which means collaboration of two parties in real property transaction. It is an official frame in Land Registration Act, but the frame has influenced on the Civil Law dealing with land transaction. The fact that two different parties have been made contract and registration by themselves is to provide self-regulation system for real property transaction. This is because a notary public is not able to infringe their contract unlike the other countries such as Germany, France and Switzerland. This method is different from a large number of European countries, but it has been applied in Korea and Japan. In contrast to the parties revealing on the contract, the concept of the parties in Land Registration Act has its own legal characteristic because this concept is independently determined and defined by a register book. Therefore, there are often some discord between the parties in contract and parties in a register book. A indigenous solution to amend such discord is core content of Claim for Registration. In addition to this, it is fact that the Claim has played a role to amend this discord between contract and registration since Korean Civil Law has established.
Moreover, there is another party on Land Registration Act in Korea, the so-called, "the Third Party" in Land Registration. The Third Party in Land Registration, mortgagee, is based on contract and registration between the Holder and Obligator. The register book has no title to prove its confidence by the Civil Code and the Third Party has potential instability. Thus, Land Registration Act is not allowed to correct the context of the register book without the permission of the Third Party. However, the Third Party need to allow such correction conducted by the Holder and Obligator under necessary conditions construed by a practical law. Korean Civil Code and Land Registration Act do not recognize the public trust of the register book and do not protect the Third Party formally by Land Registration Law.
The conclusion to be drawn here is that Korean Civil Law and Land Registration Act maintained the validity of registration through the confrontational structure of the Holder of the right of registration, Obligator for registration, and the theory of Claim for Registration. This legal structure stems from a historical tradition in Korean Civil Law which does not allow to intervene a public notary, but permit the freedom of registration and contract by two parties. This legal mechanism created the development of real property transaction based on the individual independency. However, this system has a probability of discord between registration and contract including unpredicted damage to the Third Party. On this basis, one might be able to presume the fact that Korean land registration system is unstable in some aspects, but Korea has a IT system and legal theory developed in terms of Land Registration, which is accomplished with remarkable outcomes. When it comes to the development of the IT system in the world, registration system are supposed to be developed rapidly in the close future. As a result, Land Registration Act and the Civil Law in Korea will interact and cooperate each other in case legal systems in land registration support not only freedom of real property contract but also technical methods, which represent the contents of real property contract more precisely and perfectly.