In Manitoba it is provided by the Judgments Act, R.S.M. 1913, c. 107, s. 3, that a certificate of a judgment for the payment of money may be recorded in all or any of the registry offices or land titles offices of the province, and, from the time of the recording of the same, the said judgment shall, except as hereinafter mentioned, bind and form a lien and charge on all the lands of the judgment debtor in the several districts in the registry offices and land titles offices of which such certificate is recorded, the same as though charged in writing by the judgment debtor under his hand and seal (p).

In British Columbia it is provided by the Execution Act, R.S.B.C. 1911, c. 79, s. 27, that a registered judgment constitutes a lien or charge on all lands of the judgment debtor .. in the same manner as if charged by the judgment debtor under his hand and seal.

In Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories a writ of fieri facias directed by the sheriff is used for the purpose of resorting to the judgment debtor's lands (q), and under the Land Titles Acts the sheriff, upon delivery of the writ to him, and payment of the prescribed fees, is required forthwith to deliver or transmit a copy to the registrar. The writ binds the debtor's lands only from the receipt of the copy by the registrar, and upon the subsequent granting of any certivided for in Ontario by s. 74 of the Registry Act (quoted in 176) and this section applies also to a charge registered under the Ontario Land Titles Act; R.S.O. 1914, c. 126, s. 30.

(p) Cf. Manitoba Real Property Act, s. 70 (d).

(q) So in Ontario. In the case of land under the Registry Act the execution binds lands from the time of its delivery to the sheriff (The Execution Act, R.S.O. 1914, c. 80, s. 10), whereas in the case of land under the Land Titles Act (R.S.O. 1914, c. 126, s. 62) the land is not bound until receipt of a copy of the writ by the master of titles, and the sheriff is obliged to deliver or transmit a copy to the master of titles only upon the written request of the execution creditor or his solicitor.

It has been held in Saskatchewan that an execution binds only registered interests of the debtor in land and does not affect an unregistered interest, as, for example, one held under a contract with the registered owner (t), but a different conclusion has been reached with regard to a certificate of judgment in Manitoba (u), and it is expressly provided in Alberta (v) that "upon and from the receipt by the registrar" of the copy of the writ of execution "all lands and interests in lands whether such interests be legal or equitable and any interest of an unpaid vendor of land shall be bound by such execution."

It has been held that the provisions of the Northwest Territories statute, from which those of the Saskatchewan and Alberta statutes are derived, do not displace the rule of law that an execution creditor can sell the real estate of his debtor only subject to the charges, liens and equities to which the same is subject in the hands of the debtor, and do not give the execution creditor any superiority of title over prior unregistered transferees but merely protect the land from subsequent sales and dispositions by the execution debtor (w). A similar conclusion has been reached under the Manitoba and British Columbia statutes (x). The rule is the same in Ontario (y).

(r) Sask. ss. 149, 60; Alta. ss. 77, 43; N.W.T. ss. 124, 73.

(s) Robin Hood Mills v. Harrison, 1918, 40 D.L.R. 328 (Alta.).

(t) Canadian Pacific Railway Co. v. Silzer, 1910, 3 S.L.R. 162; Ranney v. Stirrett, 1911, 4 S.L.R. 179; cf. Thorn, The Canadian Tor-rens System, 261 ff.

(u) Wallace v. Smart, 1912, 22 M.R. 68, 1 D.L.R. 70 (equity of redemption under a mortgage in the form of an absolute conveyance).

(v) Alta. s. 77, as amended by 1917, c. 3, s. 40.

In the case, for instance, of an execution against a registered owner who has sold the land but who has retained the registered title for the purpose of securing payment of the purchase money, the execution creditor can sell only the execution debtor's beneficial interest. So far as that interest is concerned, however, the execution is a valid lien upon the land, and the purchaser is entitled, as between himself and the vendor, to have the lien removed before he pays the purchase money (z).

The Saskatchewan statute was amended (a) so as to provide that the writ of execution should bind and form a lien and charge on the lands of the execution debtor as fully and effectually to all intents and purposes as though the said lands were charged in writing by the execution debtor under his hand and seal from and only from the time of the receipt of a certified copy of the said writ by the registrar for the registration district in which such land is situated.

This provision has, however, been omitted from the present statute, which provides that the execution shall be subject to such equities, charges or incumbrances as exist against the execution debtor in the land at the time of the receipt of the execution by the registrar (b).

(w) Jellett v. Wilkie, 1896, 26 Can. S.C.R. 282, affirming 2 N.W. T. L.R. 133. If the sheriff sells, however, the purchaser by priority of registration of the sheriff's deed would under the statute take priority over previous unregistered transfers.

(x) Entwisle v. Lenz, 1908, 14 B.C.R. 51; Bain v. Pitfield, 1916, 26 M.R. 89, 28 D.L.R. 206.

(y) See chapter 8, The Registry Act, Sec. 76.

(z) Robinson v. Moffatt, 1916, 37 O.L.R. 42, 25 D.L.R. 462. See, however, Bank of Montreal v. Condon, 1896, 11 M.R. 366, a decision which is adversely criticised by A. H. G. Murray in an article in 38 C.L.T. at pp. 460 ff. Cf. Weidman v. McClary Mfg. Co., infra.

(a) Sask. 1912-13, c. 16, s. 17, amending R.S.S. 1909, c. 41. s. 118, the predecessor of the present s. 149.

Under the amendment above quoted it was held in Saskatchewan that an execution when received by the registrar has priority over an unregistered mortgage made by the judgment debtor (c), but in a later case it was held that an execution is subject to an unregistered transfer of the debtor's whole interest because the land is no longer his and therefore is not exigible (d). In a still later case a vendor agreed to sell lands but retained the registered title in them as security for the payment of the purchase money. It was held that the vendor had a beneficial interest which, coupled with the legal title, might be seized and sold under execution, but that the statutory charge of the execution creditor acquired pending the agreement for sale did not bind or form a lien on the purchase money, and that the purchaser who paid to the vendor the balance of the purchase money falling due after the filing of the execution without notice of the execution other than what, if any, might be presumed by reason of the filing of the execution, was entitled to an order for the removal of the execution (e).

Under the land titles system in Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories an unregistered mechanics lien, though valid against the owner during the period within which it may be registered, is like any other unregistered interest in that it is not good against a person who takes in good faith in reliance upon the register, but a prior mortgagee takes subject to the lien in so far as the lienholder can prove increased value (f).

(b) Sask. s. 149, in force on the 1st of May, 1918.

(c) Union Bank of Canada v. Lumsden Milling Co., 1915, 8 S.LR. 263, 23 D.L.R. 460.

(d) Schlosser v. Colonial Investment Co., 1916, 9 S.L.R. 382. J. E. Hogg, in an article in 38 C.L.T. 31, at p. 35 (Jan. 1918), remarks that the distinction drawn between mortgage and transfer seems unsatisfactory, and that the case of Union Bank of Canada v. Lumsden Milling Co. and that of Weidman v. McClary Mfg. Co., infra, are really inconsistent in their reasoning, since in the former Jellett v. Wilkie, supra, is held to be inapplicable by reason of the amendment, and in the latter is held to be applicable notwithstanding it.

(e) Weidman v. McClary Mfg. Co., 1917, 10 S.L.R. 142, 33 D.L.R. €72. See, however, Adanac Oil Co. v. Stocks, 1916, 11 A.L.R. 214, 28 D.L.R. 215, and an article by J. E. Hogg in 38 C.L.T. 579 (September, 1918).

In Manitoba, however, a certificate of title is by implication and without any special mention therein subject to any mechanics lien affecting the land (g).

In Ontario mechanics liens are valid against purchasers and mortgagees in the case of land under the Land Titles Act to the same extent as in the case of land under the Registry Act (h).