Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “appurtenances”, in relation to land, means all houses (including cellars, areas, courts, courtyards, cisterns, sewers, gutters, drains, passages and lights), buildings, out-houses, erections, fixtures, hedges, ditches, fences, ways, waters, water-courses, easements, rights, privileges and advantages whatever appertaining or reputed to appertain to the land, or any part thereof or, at the time of dealing with the land, demised, occupied or enjoyed with or reputed or known as part or parcel of or appurtenant to the land or any part thereof; “court” means the Supreme Court; “deed” means a writing or instrument written on paper or parchment, signed, sealed and delivered, to prove and testify the agreement of the parties whose deed it is, to the things contained in the deed; 10 “equitable interest” means estates, interests and charges in or over land which are not legal estates, interests and charges in or over land, and “equitable title” means a title to an equitable “equitable powers” means powers which by this Act are to “estate” with reference to an estate owner means his legal “land” includes land of any tenure, mines and minerals, whether or not held apart from the surface, buildings or parts of buildings (whether the division is horizontal, vertical or made in any other way) and other corporeal hereditaments, and an easement, right, privilege or benefit in, over or derived from land, but not an undivided share in land; “legal estates” means the estates, interests and encumbrances in or over land which under section 3 are authorised to subsist, to be conveyed or created at law; “legal mortgage” means a charge by way of legal mortgage; “lessee” and “lessor” have the meanings assigned to them in the Landlord and Tenant Act, Cap. 189; “mortgage” includes any charge on any property for securing money or money’s worth; “mortgagee” means a person entitled to a charge by way of legal mortgage and includes any person from time to time deriving title under the original mortgagee or entitled to an order for sale under the mortgage; “mortgage money” means money or money’s worth secured by 11 “mortgagor” includes any person from time to time deriving title under the original mortgagor or entitled to redeem a mortgage according to his estate, interest or right in the mortgaged property; “owner” means the owner of a legal estate; “person of unsound mind” has the meaning assigned to it in the Unsoundness of Mind Act, Cap. 122; “personal representative” has the meaning assigned to it in the Administration of Estates Act, Cap. 197; “property” includes anything in action and any interest in real “purchase” has a meaning corresponding with that of “purchaser” means a purchaser in good faith for valuable consideration and includes a lessee, mortgagee or other person who for valuable consideration acquires an interest in property except that in Part II and elsewhere where so expressly provided; “purchaser” only means a person who acquires an interest in or charge on property for money or money’s worth, and in reference to a legal estate includes a chargee by way of legal Provided that where the context so requires “purchaser” includes an intending purchaser; “residuary estate” has the meaning assigned to it in the Administration of Estates Act, Cap. 197; “securities” include stocks, funds and shares; 12 “settlement” and “settled land” have the meanings assigned to them in the Settled Land Act, 1925, c. 18; “term of years absolute” means a term of years (taking effect either in possession or in reversion whether or not at a rent) with or without impeachment for waste, subject or not to another legal estate, and either certain or liable to determination by notice, re-entry, operation of law or by a provision for cesser on redemption, or in any other event (other than the dropping of a life, or the determination of a determinable life interest), but does not include any term of years determinable with life or lives or with the cesser of a determinable life interest; “trust for sale”, in relation to land, means an immediate binding trust for sale, whether or not exercisable at the request or with the consent of any person, and with or without a power at discretion to postpone the sale; “trustees for sale” means the persons (including a personal representative) holding land on trust for sale; “valuable consideration” includes marriage, but does not include a nominal consideration in money; “will” includes codicil. (2) Where an equitable interest in or power over property arises by statute or operation of law, references to the creation of an interest or power include references to any interest or power so arising. (3) All words and expressions defined in the General Registry Act, Cap. 327, shall have the same meaning in this Act as they have in that Act. (4) Sections 146 and 148 of this Act, shall not apply to a trust created on or after the 18th day of May, 1992. 13