Cadastre

Cadastre (Low Latin, capitastrum, a register on which a poll-tax was based), a register of the landed proprietors of a district, with the extent of their estates, as a basis for taxation. Such registers are kept in most countries of modern Europe, though not in the United Kingdom, and are illustrated by careful "cadastral maps." In England the comparative unimportance of the land-tax has prevented their need being felt. Their existence, however, greatly cheapens and facilitates land transfer.