地主盼捍卫土地权 司法界指误解法律意义
明报编译/(多伦多9日加新社电)安省地主协会(Ontario Landowners Association)吁全国土地业主，申请公地持有权证(Crown patent)，重新捍卫私人土地权，减少政府不公平侵入。
安省地主协会发起宣传行动，鼓励人们取得公地持有权证副本。政府颁发该证书给最初的土地业主，尽管其法律权限并不明朗。
该协会认为，政府不公平的侵入私人物业，公地持有权证是它的最新抗争工具。
协会主席布莱克(Tom Black)说：“我们的主要目的，是要重建土地权利。为了这个目的，我们回到原始的公地持有权证，因为我们知道，我们基本上有它的合约保证。”
布莱克说，譬如，政府会进入私人土地保护濒危物种。按照现有法例，政府雇员可进私人物业范围，检查濒危物种，并可能指定它为受保护的湿地。这会导致物业价值损失。
公地持有权证的历史，可追溯到18世纪末期，当时英国政府正式将土地所有权，转给新来的定居者。该协会辩称，权证将土地所有权与特定权利，授予原始业主及以后拥有该土地的其他人。地主协会相信，公地持有权证，可对抗一切规管个人物业的政府法例。
但司法界不完全认同这观点。西安大学(University of Western Ontario)法学教授、地产法专家拉姆(Michael Lamb)说：“认为公地持有权证捍卫个人物业权，那是误解它的法律意义。它们不转让土地所有权(ownership)，仅授予公地的使用和持有(use and possession)。”
拉姆指出，技术上，政府拥有加拿大的所有土地。这个法律基础给政府掌握一些权力，控制居民的私人物业。
负责处理公地持有权证申请的安省部门，已经注意去年申请数量激增，导致大量积压，部门被迫增加雇员。
对抗省府侵犯地主权益 土地转让证书申领飙升
星岛日报编译/安省一个物业权利组织敦促全国土地所有者要从政府获得一纸文书，他们指该文件超越所有影响私人物业的政府立法。安省地主协会(Ontario Landowners Association)一直在发起运动，劝说人们获得其政府土地转让证书(Crown patent)复印件。政府土地转让证书是政府发给一块土地原始所有者的一份文件，但这种土地转让证书的法律效力目前尚不清晰。
安省地主协会最近将土地转让证书当作工具，对抗他们认为是政府侵入私人物业的不公平案例。该协会主席布莱克(Tom Black)说，他们的最初目的就是重建物业权。他给出例子说，他们一个主要的关注是，政府进入某人的土地，去保护濒危物种。他说，按照目前的法律，政府雇员可以进入某人的物业，查看濒危物种，并在某些案例中，将该土地指定为受保护的湿地，结果造成物业价值损失。
政府土地转让证书的历史可追溯到1700年代晚期，当时英国政府正式将土地所有权转让给新移民。该组织说法的争议是，他们宣称，土地转让证书向原始土地所有者和未来拥有该物业的任何人，授予所有权和某些权利。他们认为，这一加拿大任何地方物业都可获得的转让证书，令所有可能适用于私人物业的政府立法都失效。
西安大略大学(University of Western Ontario)房地产法律专家、法学教授兰姆(Michael Lamb)在电子邮件中表示，安省地主协会称私人物业权利受政府土地转让证书保护，但问题是，他们误解了这种转让证书的法律立场。政府并未转让土地的所有权，只是授予了土地的使用和占有权。兰姆称，政府严格来说拥有加拿大的所有土地，这一法律基础给予政府声称对某人私人物业有某种程度控制的权利。
法律超越性尚未确定
至少在一个案例中，辩方使用土地转让证书作为证据，却没能说服法庭。尼亚加拉(Niagara)地区男子马奇(Robert Mackie)被控未经允许经营射箭场。他辩称，他的土地转让证书超越所有省府法律，但法庭拒绝这一说法，并判定马奇罪名成立。他目前正在上诉。
不论政府土地转让证书的所有者拥有何种法律权利，安省地主协会的倡导活动无疑令土地所有者获得自己物业土地转让证书的兴趣大增。负责处理土地转让证书申请的安省政府部门注意到，去年相关申请数量飙升，造成大量积压工作，迫使该部门调入更多雇员处理相关事宜。现在处理申请的时间需要约6个月。(资料来源：加通社)
Landowners group whips up frenzy of property rights claims
The Canadian Press
Date: Saturday Jul. 9, 2011 7:30 AM ET
TORONTO — A property rights’ group in Ontario is urging landowners across the country to get a piece of paper from the government which they say supersedes all government legislation affecting private property.
The Ontario Landowners Association has been running a campaign to convince people to get copies of their Crown patents, a piece of paper issued by the Crown to the original owner of a piece of land, even though the legal weight of those patents is far from clear.
The patents are the latest tool being used by the organization to combat what it believes are unfair government intrusions on private property.
“Our prime goal has been to re-establish property rights,” said Tom Black, president of the Ontario Landowners Association. “In that quest we went back to our beginnings, to the land patent grants, and we recognized we basically have that guaranteed to us in the contracts.”
One of the main concerns is governments coming onto someone’s land to protect species at risk, Black offered as an example.
As the legislation stands now, government employees can come onto a person’s property to check for endangered species and designate it as protected wetland in some cases. This results in lost property value, said Black.
The history of the Crown patents dates back to the late 1700s, when the British government officially transferred ownership to new settlers.
The organization’s argument stems from the claim that the patents conferred ownership and a certain amount of rights to the original owner and anyone else who would own the property in the future.
They believe the grants, which can be obtained for property anywhere in Canada, void any government legislation that might apply to their properties.
But that view is not held universally in the legal community.
“The problem with the argument that individual property rights are preserved by Crown patent grants is that it misunderstands what such grants stand for legally,” wrote Michael Lamb, a University of Western Ontario law professor and an expert on real estate law, in an email.
“They do not transfer ownership of land but only grant the use and possession of the land.”
The Crown technically owns all land in Canada, said Lamb. This legal underpinning gives governments the right to assert a certain level of control over people’s private property.
In at least one case, a defence using a Crown patent failed to convince the court.
Robert Mackie, a Niagara region man charged with operating an archery range without a permit, argued that his grant superseded all provincial legislation. The court rejected the argument and convicted Mackie, who has appealed the decision.
Regardless of what legal rights the owner of a Crown patent has, there is little doubt the organization has whipped up a frenzy of interest among landowners hoping to get the grant that pertains to their property.
The Ontario government department responsible for processing requests for patent grants has noticed a huge spike in the number of applications in the past year, creating large backlogs and forcing the department to direct more employees to the area.
The department currently has about a thousand open patent grant applications — a far higher number than they would have had five years ago, said Neil Hayward, co-ordinator of the land, business unit for the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The service used to be mainly a tool for lawyers and government officials, said Hayward. He attributed the increase in applications from ordinary people to the Ontario Landowners Association campaign.
Processing the applications is now taking about six months.
“Typically our turn-around time in the past, before this higher level of interest through the OLA, would have been a couple of weeks,” he said, adding that the backlog was previously “nowhere near a thousand.”
It’s not just rural landowners who are making use of the historical documents as a legal means of stopping government intervention on their property.
Terry Green, an Ottawa lawyer, has applied for a patent on behalf of one of his clients in downtown Toronto. The city is taking his client to court to seek an injunction to tear down an addition she made to her home.
“If it says what I expect it’s going to say, I may bring a constitutional challenge to strike down the portions of the Toronto building bylaw that basically infringe my client’s rights,” he said.
The issue is one of increasing concern for municipalities in Ontario. The Ontario Bar Association published a paper last month, authored by a solicitor with the town of Newmarket, to help municipal lawyers deal with property owners who were using Crown patents to keep governments off their land.
The landowners association is not aiming to make Canada a place where the rule of law no longer exists, said Black.
“We don’t want to create anarchy or anything like that,” he said. “That’s not our intention and it never has been and it’s not the reason for this push.”
“The reason for this push is to make legislators write legislation that respects the Crown patents, that respects that contract.”
