Can you spot the differences between these two pictures?

Today’s Topic:

De facto Expropriation

Agenda:

1. Property rights
2. Legal framework for expropriation
3. Case law

Imagine that you inherit an old heritage building in downtown Halifax. You can’t modify, destroy or even sell it without special permission from the City. In what sense do you “own” the building? In what sense do you not?

Lawyers often describe property as a “bundle of sticks”. What “sticks” would you including in your definition of property ownership?

Legal Framework for “Takings”:

• constitution
• legislation
• case law
• int’ll trade agreements

Which section of Canada’s Charter of Rights & Freedoms protects private property rights in Canada?

Expropriation Act, RSNS 1989, c 156

3(1)(c) “expropriate” means the taking of land without the consent of the owner by an expropriating authority in the exercise of its statutory powers;

…

24. Where land is expropriated, the statutory authority shall pay the owner compensation as is determined in accordance with this Act.

Mariner Real Estate Ltd v Nova Scotia

Mariner/CPR test for “regulatory taking”

1. Acquisition of a beneficial interest in the property or flowing from it, and

2. Removal of all reasonable uses of the property

Annapolis Group v HRM

Annapolis Group test for “regulatory taking”

1. Acquisition of an advantage to the state, and

2. Removal of all reasonable uses of the property

Highway 102 corridor, designed by the province as a “special planning area”

To what extent would the Annapolis Group landowner have a better chance at compensation, on the same facts, if it were an American or Mexican corporation?