Ulrich Hübbe

Ulrich Hübbe LL.D. (1 June 1805 – 9 February 1892) was a German immigrant to South Australia, remembered for his part in framing the Real Property Act, which led to the Torrens title system of land registration.

Dr. Hübbe was born in Hamburg in 1805, the third son of Heinrich Hübbe (1771–1847), and was educated at the Johanneum Gymnasium before studying law at Jena, Berlin, and the University of Kiel (then in Denmark), where he was awarded his LL.D.

He arrived in South Australia aboard the Taglioni, 350 tons, from London in October 1842, and for a time worked for the South Australian Register before being involved as a land agent.

The system of land title deeds which existed from the foundation of South Australia, as inherited from the Britain, was complex, open to abuse and disliked by both land agents and landowners, and seemed to have few supporters apart from traditionalists and lawyers. Suggestions for centralized registration of property were made in the earliest days after Proclamation by such as James Hurtle Fisher. Dr. Hübbe, who had personal experience with both the German system and the British, was one among many who wrote to the papers suggesting reform, but it was not until R. R. Torrens submitted his "Real Property Act" to the House of Assembly that any substantial effort towards reform was made.

Hübbe, who was away from Adelaide around this time, returned in 1856 to find Torrens's campaign in full swing, and wrote, as "Sincerus", to The Register supporting the Act and making light of the difficulties in its implementation. Torrens, who was under siege from some powerful interests, sought out Hübbe as an ally, no doubt with an eye to enlisting the support of the equally powerful German community. In support of Torrens's campaign, Hübbe wrote a booklet The Voice of Reason and History on Conveyancing, printing and publishing paid for by G. F. Angas, drawing on his knowledge of European law, particularly that inherited from Hanseatic League States, but also of France.

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