Search -
Commentaries on the laws of England applicable to real property
Commentaries on the laws of England applicable to real property Author:William Blackstone Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. OF THE ENGLISH LAWS IN FORCE IN ONTARIO, THE AUTHORITY FOR THEIR APPLICATION, AND FOR LEGISLATION BY THK PARLIAMENT OF CANADA, AND BY THE LEGISLAT... more »URE OF ONTARIO. Before entering on the consideration of the rights appertaining to real property in Ontario, it may be proper to enquire what laws (Imperial or otherwise) affect those rights in this, a British colony, and by what authority such laws apply. The subject may be examined with reference, 1st, to the mode in which colonies are established or acquired; 2nd, the system of laws which is to prevail or may be enacted after such establishment or acquisition, and how and by what authority introduced; and lastly, the position in which Canada as a colony, and more especially this Province of Ontario, stands in regard to those two subjects of consideration. Colonies by Colonies may be acquired by occupancy, as when British subjects take possession of and settle in an uninhabited, or uncivilized country (a); in which case the right is not only founded on the law of nature, but may be upheld as spreading throughout the world the growth of Christianity and civilization. Of such colonies Australia is an instance, for although not originally uninhabited, the assent or dissent of the uncivilized aborigines, so sparsely scattered in an immense continent, cannot be considered, or deemed of sufficient account to class that colony among those acquired by conquest; and the same may be said of the early French possessions in this country. () Blackstone, vol. I, p. 107. I Colonies inay also be obtained by conquest; which, as Conquert. Blackstone says, if not founded on the law of nature, is on that of nations. Again colonies may be obtained by treaty or cession; a Cession, right founded on the law of nations. On...« less