An exploration of the impact of electronic conveyancing (eConveyancing) upon management of risk in conveyancing transactions

This research examined the management of risk in conveyancing transactions in the context of the move from paper based to electronic conveyancing (eConveyancing). Legal, descriptive, analytical and comparative techniques were deployed in order to determine the likely impact of technological change on the distribution of legal risk with particular reference to Ontario and Ireland. The impact is the extent to which a change in transactional process may unintentionally affect risk. Risk being the consequence of change and the likelihood of that consequence having a negative effect. The particular focus was on risks that impact on title registration and the security, protection or lack thereof that this registration offers to land owners, third parties and property claimants. The method deployed was to use a model or abstracted process to perform a transaction analysis based on abstract participants and their standpoint in the process. The methodology was based upon doctrinal legal scholarship in the comparative law tradition. Both the method and methodology demanded that a neutral vocabulary be generated and this formed the foundation for the schematic. The risks were identified, analysed and evaluated against the backdrop of title registration and the development of eConveyancing. As eConveyancing systems have not been extensively discussed in legal literature this research is original in the Irish context and more generally. It has the potential to influence policy development as it identifies normative possibilities for reform of conveyancing in Ireland. The model or abstracted process is also original as these are rarely used in property law. The third original feature of this research is that it fills a gap in the field. Much of the writing on eConveyancing has focused on the role of professionals in the conveyancing process and the change in their risk profile. Writers and researchers have generally failed to explore the impact on land owners and third parties or property claimants. This research fills this gap in the field.