Finally, I have found a resource that explains those odd notations in the Land Records about various "Instruments".
First, the resource: an obscure article entitled "Tracing Property Ownership in Nineteenth-Century Ontario: a Guide to the Archival Sources", by R. W. Widdis. This article is found in Canadian Papers in Rural History, volume 2, ed. Donald H. Akenson. Langdale Press, 1980. [Well worth reading, as it is easy to understand; I found it enlightening. Available in Toronto Public Libraries, and it does circulate.]
What he says about interpreting the "instruments" in the Abstract Index to Deeds:
"B&S" = "Bargain and Sale". "This is a deed of contract between the bargainer and the bargainee where there is a bargain for money or equivalent consideration in goods, mineral, and timber rights. It signifies transfer of property or a thing from one to another by way of sale."
"Quit Claim" - he quotes this definition from R. Steacy, Canadian Real Estate (P.Martin & Assoc., 1968), p.28: "'This is a face-saving system of avoiding foreclosure. When a mortgagor has reached the point-of-no-return by being absolutely unable to bring his mortgage arrears up-to-date, he can sit down with the mortgagee and work something like this out. It is a release of all the mortgagor's interests in his property.'" Wittis continues, "A quit claim may also be used to clarify earlier errors in property transfer (such as clerical mistakes), as under it an individual permanently gives up his claim to a given piece of land."
"Sheriff's Deed" - "This is a deed of contract between the sheriff of a district who has claimed the peoperty of a settler for a legal reason preparatory to clearing title for a prospective buyer. The original owner may have lost his property because of failure to complete the settlement duties or to meet the financial responsibilities of the contract."
"Mortgage" - an assignment of real estate to a person as security for the payment of a debt, on the condition that if the money is repaid accordint to the contract, the grant becomes void. The borrower is the mortgagor and the lender is the mortgagee... Under land titles registration, mortgages do not involve transfers of property with the lender. Private loans were the most common type of mortgage monehy in early Ontario.
"Discharge" - "This signifies full payment of the mortage and the completion of the transfer. The key date is that of registry. While date of instrument for other instruments means, for all purposes, the transfer of property, only the registry date of discharge has the force of conveyance."
He adds, "we can assume a high level of accuracy in the Abstracts, since it was generally n the interests of the parties involved to have the facts recorded accurately. If the records fail to include the quantity or sales price of a specific piece of land, the researcher can go to the Copy Books and examine the individual deed."
