Historically, land records have been established to serve two main purposes. First, as „fiscal‟ records, primarily for the public sector, they served as the basis for the full and accurate taxation of land. Second, as „legal‟ records, primarily for the private sector, they served as registers of ownership and other land rights. On the European continent the development of fiscal/taxation record system was heavily influenced by the decision of Napoleon 1 to establish a French cadastre.

In continental Europe the word „cadastre‟ came to mean „a systematic classification and valuation of land under the control of the central government by means of maps of parcels drafted on the basis of topographical surveys and recorded according to parcels in a register‟.

„Cadastre‟ thus had a distinct meaning as a specific type of land record – supported by maps – which included not only the area and the land use for each parcel, but also land value and ownership information. Recently, however, there has been a tendency to give the word a broader meaning, so that it is now acceptable to use the term even to refer to land records which do not include information on land value and ownership. The UN Ad Hoc Group of experts on Cadastral Surveying and Land Information Systems uses the following definition: “The cadastre is a methodically arranged public inventory of data on the properties within a certain country or district based on a survey of their boundaries; such properties are systematically identified by means of some separate designation. The outlines of the property and the parcel identifier are normally shown on large-scale maps”.

Essentially, a cadastre is thus a systematic description of the land units within an area. The description is made by maps that identify the location and boundaries of every unit, and by records. In the records, the most essential information is the identification number and the area of the unit, usually differentiated by land use class. Information is often provided on the unit‟s registration date with reference to a particular file. Furthermore, the classical cadastre provides information concerning owners, land classes and values or land taxes. Databases are often established for buildings, physical plans, etc., especially in automated cadastres. Sometimes such an extended cadastre is referred to as a multipurpose cadastre. Strictly speaking, however, every cadastre nowadays – even in its simplest form is multipurpose.

Closely connected to the word cadastre is the term cadastral survey, which is simply defined as a survey of boundaries of land units. A cadastral survey may be carried out both for the initial information of the parcel as well as for any subsequent changes of the boundaries. A cadastral survey may also be conducted in order to reestablish missing boundaries.

The second type of land records is the “legal” records, which do not serve the purposes of land taxation or the description of land units, but are intended to include the description and the determination of rights to and encumbrances on the land. We use the term “(legal) land register”. This term has long been used in Englishspeaking countries to describe the legal registration of rights and deeds concerning real property.

(Legal) land register is a public register of deeds and rights concerning real property. Depending on the legal system, there may be a register of deeds or a register of titles. Under the system based on the registration of deeds, it is the deed itself which is registered. A deed is a record of a particular transaction and serves as evidence of this specific agreement, but it is not itself a proof of the legal right of the transacting parties to enter into and consummate the agreement. Under the alternative system based on a registration of titles, this process of tracing the chain of deeds is unnecessary. Title registration is itself a proof of ownership and its correctness is usually guaranteed by the state.