The Government is to update more than 150 land laws in new legislation designed to speed up property deals.
Repealing scores of complex statutes, some of which date back to the 13th century, the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill aims to encourage online conveyancing, reduce delays and cut the cost of buying and selling.
Feudal rights and the idea that all land is ultimately held by the Crown will also be done away with.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said many of the rules dating back to Norman times were totally inappropriate in a modern free market republic.
"This Bill is without doubt the single most comprehensive and far-reaching reform of the law in this area since the foundation of the State," he said.
"Removing archaic laws dating back to the Normans and replacing them with provisions more suited to modern conditions will reduce delays encountered in buying and selling property as well as the costs involved.
"The Bill will also remove outdated references to feudal tenure and Crown lands which can have no place in this State's land and conveyancing code."
Mr McDowell said it would accommodate modern conditions and simplify rules to make conveyancing more easily understood and accessible while reducing delays and cost.
It is hoped the changes will promote the extension of the registration of title system in the Land Registry and facilitate the introduction of e-conveyancing of land as soon as possible.
Solicitors will be able to do land searches and exchange documents electronically, speeding up the process of buying and selling property.
The Bill will make it easier to resolve boundary disputes between neighbours; improve rules on co-ownership, which is becoming more popular; and clarify mortgage law.
A number of archaic laws will be abolished, including the feudal concept of tenure brought in by the Normans that gave the Crown the ultimate control of lands, enabling them to be seized at will.
The fee tail system created by the State of Westminster II in 1285 and designed to enable landowners to ensure their lands descended through successive generations of their family, usually through the male line, will also be done away with.
The Bill is part of larger reforms including the establishment of the Property Registration Authority and changes to rules on the registration of land, provided for in the recently enacted Registration of Deeds and Title Act 2006.
The ultimate goal of that change is to bring in electronic conveyancing of land.
The Bill - which is the result of a reform project by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Law Reform Commission - was presented in the Seanad today and will be debated at second stage on Tuesday, June 20th.