Butler v Fairclough (1917) 23 CLR 78

The owner of a crown lease which was charged with a mortgage obtained a loan, providing the lease as security
The loan was not registered however
The owner of the loan decided to sell the loan, and the purchaser inspected the register but did not see the loan.
5 days after that, the person who had lodged the loan, added a caveat to state their equitable interest in the loan.
5 days after that the purchaser lodged the transfer document and the person who lodged the caveat was notified
The purchaser later withdrew the application for transfer but then did lodge it, and the registrar did not notify the caveat.
The person who put on the caveat said it was fraud.

Registration was valid; once registered the caveator lost their priority.
The legislation that governed caveats tried to protect the caveatour and recognise equitable rights unless precluded by
The caveator must take action within 14 days or their caveat will lapse, however a caveaor may not wish to restrict the registration and that therefore the caveator does not need to do anything.
Imports personal dishonesty or moral turpitude
Isaacs J: that it must be the fraud of the registered proprietor, and in this case the owner was not responsible for the registrar’s failure to notify.
If all things are equal, the earliest equity wins, but it can lose its priority if the holder does something bad (e.g. not acting promptly to protect the interest).
The party who lodged the caveat lost their priority by failing to lodge the priority promptly and before the purchase price had been paid.
An equitable interest first in time can lose its time by act or omission which can induce the later equitable interest to act to his or her detriment (e.g. the delay).