Chapter 3

This is the third chapter, focused on the basic nature of title and its transfer over time.

The private/public theme comes through in the move from estates and qualified transfers to title registration

Title (Estates) #

This section is about title.

  • A Brief Overview of Feudal Land Tenure

    An excerpt that provides some brief background to the history of feudal land tenure and its relationship to common law estates as interests in land distinguished from ownership of the land itself.

  • Basic Estates and Future Interests

    Introduction to the basic common law estates in land and the concept of future interests.

  • Conveyancing Act

    A statue establishing parameters for the transfer of land title in Nova Scotia.

  • Land Back - A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper

    A research paper on the legal foundations of the Land Back movement in Canada, published by the Yellowhead Institute.

  • Re Walker

    Interpretation of a will addressing the type of common law estate conveyed.

  • Stuartburn (Municipality) v Kiansky

  • Wills Act

    A statue addressing the transfer of land title by bequest in Nova Scotia.

Aboriginal Title #

  • Constitution Act, 1982

    The key provision in Canada's constitution recognizing and affirming Aboriginal and treaty rights, including Aboriginal Title.

  • Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General)

  • Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General)

  • Delgamuukw v British Columbia

  • Duty to Consult

  • Guerin v R

  • J.D. Irving, Limited et al. v. Wolastoqey Nation

  • Overview - The St. Catherine's Milling Case

    Background to St. Catherine's Milling

  • Royal Proclamation (1763)

    A edict issued by King George III in 1763 following the Treaty of Paris--by which Britain acquired control over French territories in North America--and establishing the British Crown's colonial policy at the time with respect to Indigenous land rights.

  • Southwind v Canada

  • St. Catherine's Milling and Lumber Co. v R

  • Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia

Alienation #

  • Blackburn v McCallum

  • Restraints on Alienation

    An introduction to restraints on alienation

Reserve Lands #

  • Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management Act

    Federal legislation enabling First Nations to opt out of the lands-related provisions of the Indian Act.

  • Indian Act

    Federal legislation establishing the structure of land rights in reserve lands.

  • The Rise of the First Nations Land Management Regime in Canada: A Critical Analysis

Qualified Transfer #

  • Canada Trust Co v Ontario (Human Rights Commission)

  • McCorkill v McCorkill (Estate)

Express Trusts #

  • Duthie v Gallagher & Duthie

    A claim by the plaintiffs as beneficiaries that the defendant trustees were in breach of trust for their failure to sell the trust property for at a good market price, before real estate prices dropped dramatically.

  • Introduction to Trusts

    A brief primer on the historical development of the "use" as a precursor to the modern trust and some basic principles applicable to modern trusts.

  • Iwasaki v R

  • Nakashima v R

  • The Unlawful Dispossession of Japanese Canadians

    A recent legal-historical study of the internment and dispossession of Japanese Canadians arguing that the federal government had established a kind of trust in the course of its dealings with their property.

Community Land Trusts #

Title Registration #

This section is about title registration.

  • Beals v Nova Scotia (AG)

    A case about the purpose of the Land Titles Clarification Act and its historical context

  • Downey v Nova Scotia (Attorney General)

    The plaintiff brought a claim under the Land Titles Clarification Act and challenges the application of an adverse possession analysis as part of the test for entitlement under the Act.

  • Land Titles Clarification Act

  • Lawrence v Maple Trust Company

  • Why Land Title Clarification?

    A critical lens on the sufficiency of the *LTCA*