The New "Chain" of Title

Blockchain has recently driven a financial revolution in the realm of virtual currencies, smart contracts, and escrow services. Over the last year, the technology has also been mentioned as a harbinger of change in real estate transactions and land title research. Speculation about the technology’s likely impact in various industries is more warranted in some instances than others. Goldman Sachs, for its part, has suggested that, like other industries which have benefitted from the transparency and efficiency of blockchain technology, the title insurance industry will experience a dramatic boost in the near future. This suggestion, however, fails to recognize both the efficiency already achieved by industry title plants and the extent of legal problems that arise during title research—very few of which blockchain holds promise of mitigating. Public land titling offices, on the other hand, stand to gain significantly by adopting the technology. Because of blockchain’s decentralized and unalterable structure, the technology is useful for protecting records from natural disasters and government corruption. This Comment charts the real property legal issues that blockchain likely will and will not address. Developers and investors will find that understanding what blockchain can and cannot do for the real estate industry is crucial, because blockchain hype looms large and, as Bitcoin’s recently fluctuating prices prove, the way forward for blockchain investment can be uncertain.

The impact of reinsurance for insurance companies

The study provides empirical evidence for the effect of reinsurance on solvency, profitability, and taxes of primary insurers. Our main finding is that primary insurers increasing in the use of reinsurance exhibit lower capital ratios. This impact involves the segments of health insurance, composite insurance, title insurance, and non-life insurance. Our interpretation is that reinsurance and capital can be seen as substitutes for improving solvency. This implies that, by sharing their risk with reinsurers, primary insurers can benefit from a relief on capital. Additional outcomes display an important relationship between demand and supply of reinsurance at the firm level, as we observe that, growing in the used reinsurance; primary insurers are more prone to providing reinsurance to other firms.

UBEZPIECZENIE TYTUŁU PRAWNEGO DO NIERUCHOMOŚCI NA PRZYKŁADZIE JEZIOR WYSTĘPUJĄCYCH W OBROCIE CYWILNOPRAWNYM

Real Property Title Insurance in Civil Law Transactions Concerning Lakes Summary The article presents title insurance for civil law transactions involving lakes. The purpose of this insurance is to compensate for financial losses in the event of legal defects relating to the ownership (title) of real property coming to light after the transfer of such ownership. The paper discusses the origins of title insurance, which comes from the USA, and accounts for its rapid development. The issues discussed include the concept of title insurance, its distinguishing features, and the scope of protection it offers. The authors conduct an analysis of a model title insurance for compliance with Polish law. The result they obtain is that this type of insurance meets the requirements imposed by the Polish legal order. They then move on to the applicability of title insurance to transfer of property ownership involving lakes, and show that title insurance can be a significant advantage protecting a buyer’s interests. This is all the more important because the legal disputes which may arise from the transfer of property ownership in civil law involve many aspects, require specialist knowledge, and can be expensive.

A CASE FOR TITLE INSURANCE IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN PROPERTY- REGISTRATION SYSTEM

Land and interests in land have traditionally been man’s most basic forms of wealth. As a result, many elaborate legal systems have evolved to protect this wealth and the rights associated with it. This has led to the establishment of the most recognized land registration systems, namely the title registration system (known as the Torrens system) and the deeds registration system. Both of these systems provide owners of land and lenders with protection regarding property ownership and financial interests in land. South Africa has chosen to adopt the deeds registration system with some elements of the title registration system. This system is hailed as among the best in the world, simply because the validity of ownership and interests in land are the responsibilities of conveyancing practitioners and land registration officials. However, such protection is not fully guaranteed. This paper discusses the possibility of introducing title insurance – a form of indemnity insurance which insures a person against financial loss from defects in title to immovable property and from the invalidity or unenforceability of mortgage liens – to protect the financial interests of both land owners and lenders in the property.