FEATURE
Dr Ulrich Hübbe LLD (1805–1892) and the true origins of the Real Property Act RITA BOGNA, SENIOR ASSISTANT PARLIAMENTARY COUNSEL
It was perfectly well known at the time that Sir R. R. Torrens brought in the Real Property Act, that Dr. Hübbe provided the ideas, the brains, and the work of the measure. – —The Hon. Rudolph Henning M.P. (1880)1 During a visit to the Hahndorf Cemetery I came across a grave site that got my attention because of a memorial to the son and grandson of the deceased, both soldiers killed in action and buried overseas. Captain Samuel Grau Hübbe was killed in South Africa in 1900 during the Second Boer War at the age of 52, and his son, Captain Hermann Fritz Hübbe, was killed in 1916 in Pozieres, France, during the First World War at the age of 21. When I researched Samuel’s father, Ulrich Hübbe, I found that he had studied law in Jena and Berlin and had been awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1837 by the University of Kiel. After spending some time in a junior position in the Prussian Civil Service, Hübbe practised as a barrister in Hamburg, helping Old Lutheran congregations persecuted by the Prussian Government to obtain refuge in South Australia. In 1842 Hübbe went to England and, with help from George Fife Angas, migrated to South Australia. Not being able to practice law here due to his foreign qualifications, Hübbe worked variously as a journalist, teacher, government interpreter and translator and land agent, but he was a passionate advocate of law reform, particularly in the areas of succession and property law. In 1857 Angas paid for the publication of Hübbe’s pamphlet, The Voice of History and Reason Brought to Bear Against the Absurd and
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Expensive Method of Encumbering Immoveable Property. The Evening Journal wrote that “Dr. Hübbe explained to Sir R.R. Torrens the form of certificates of title and encumbrances in force in the Hanseatic towns of his native land, and Sir Robert was pleased with the simple way in which the charges were detailed that, with Dr. Hübbe’s assistance, he transferred the idea as far as was practicable into the Bill”.2 From this source in particular was embodied the principle that mortgages should not change the freehold property, but that they should simply be charges on the property in priority one over the other. Dr Hübbe, at his own suggestion, drew the very comprehensive repeal clause printed in the Act, and also spent a considerable time in remodelling the whole draft of the Bill. He submitted his alterations to Sir R.R. Torrens, and the draft Bill thus revised was placed before Parliament and was made law. It is to be regretted that these important services were never properly recognised by the State.3 Hübbe was also interested in reform of the law relating to inheritance in cases of intestacy, ardently supporting the abolition of the law of primogeniture. He drafted a Bill for uniform law on succession on intestacy and gave evidence to the Commission on the Real Property, Intestacy and Testamentary Causes Acts in 1873. He also proposed a consolidation of statutes passed or applying in South
Ulrich Hübbe circa 1880. Photo State Library of South Australia Collections
Australia, with tables of amendments and repeals, and suggested an index of the colony’s laws. Unfortunately, none of these projects interested the Government. By 1884 Hübbe was practically destitute. A deputation consisting of several Members of Parliament met the Premier and Chief Secretary, the Hon. (later Sir) John Colton M.P., and asked for the Government to make some provision to Hübbe’s poverty and remunerate him for his contributions to the Real Property Act. The Chief Secretary was also asked to present a petition to Parliament, and it was pointed out by the gentlemen who spoke that when Sir Richard Torrens was engaged in framing the Real Property Act the whole of the legal profession, without exception, were hostile to the measure.
