for any property and purpose. Philippines: Registry of Deeds The Registry of Deeds exists in almost all cities and municipalities in the Philippines and it has a primary duty of registering and keeping all documents pertaining to transfer of real property and issuance of certificates of land title, whether original, transfer or condominium as well as chattel mortgage papers. The said agency is under the supervision of the Land Registration Authority, Department of Justice. South Africa: Deeds Registry The South African system of deeds registry is unique in that it is associated with tenure security. When conveyancers transfer title, they are expected to follow rigid procedures which involve ensuring the title and the property comply with all the relevant legislation and regulations, leading to a high degree of certainty and accuracy. Recent concerns about the standard of legal education in South Africa, however, has raised concerns about whether this is still the case. The South African Registrar of Deeds is responsible for the national system of deeds offices which, through a juristic foundation and long-standing practices and procedures, has the effect of “guaranteeing” title. The Deeds Registries Act and Sectional Titles Act are applied to regulate the deeds registry system, and form the foundation of land registration in South Africa. United States: Recorders of Deeds In the U.S., most recorders of deeds are elected officials who serve the area of a county or equivalent jurisdiction. In some states, the recorder of deeds may also act as a public posting place for documents that are not directly related to estates in land, such as corporate charters, military discharges, Uniform Commercial Code records, applications for marriage licenses, and judgments. Deeds in a few states of the U.S. are maintained under the Torrens title system or some limited implementation of it. (For example: Minnesota, some property in Massachusetts, Colorado, Hawaii, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington.) Other U.S. states maintain their deeds under common law; typically, they are filed in chronological order with a grantor/grantee index. Recorders/registers of deeds who became prominent in politics District of Columbia Simon Wolf: Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, 1869–1878 George A. Sheridan: Recorder for the District of Columbia, 1878 Frederick Douglass: Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, May, 1881 – August, 1886 James Campbell Matthews: Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, August 1886 – March, 1887 James M. Trotter: