Hey everyone,
I rarely respond on here, but thought this one was a bit important. I "think" there are only 2 states which do registered/torrens land. Massachusetts and Hawaii. In Ma, for a piece of land registered with the state as registered land, a certificate of title is drawn up for an owner of that piece. On the cert of title every transaction which has taken place with that property and that owner is recorded on that certificate. When the property is sold or a new deed is placed on record, a new certificate is created, with all outstanding encumbrances forwarded to the new certificate. Registered land is supposed to be gauranteed by land court to be correct in legal description, etc.  It has the most stringent of requirements for recordation, any mtg, asgm, etc must match the owner and legal to a T, or it will not get on record. Hope this helps!
Helga