A conceptual framework: what the forgotten history of Victorian Torrens legislation tells us about priority disputes involving paramount interests

The history of the Transfer of Land Act 1958 (Vic) can tell us much about exceptions to indefeasibility known as ‘paramount interests’. Current case law suggests these interests do not enjoy automatic priority in Victoria. Instead, once a paramount interest is established, the registered interest is effectively stripped of indefeasibility and a priority dispute ensues, with the outcome determined under general law priority rules. In this article I analyse Victorian legislative history to argue paramount interests were legislatively intended to enjoy ipso facto priority over registered interests. I develop a historically based conceptual policy framework to support future purposive interpretations of the Victorian paramount interest provision (s 42(2) of the Act). My insights demonstrate how the paramount interest exception was intended to operate in Victoria, how competing legislative aims were balanced within it, as well as the way in which it interacts with other exceptions to elucidate how priority operates for exceptions to indefeasibility more broadly. Moreover, I outline the vulnerability of other jurisdictions to case law outcomes similar to that which has arisen in Victoria. A deeper understanding of the Victorian legislative history can help prevent a similar folly in those jurisdictions.