Improper Property: Squatters and the Idea of Property in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada, 1838-1866

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Improper Property: Squatters and the Idea of Property in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada, 1838-1866
Abstract
An examination of the illegal occupation by squatters of rural land in the Eastern Townships between 1838 and 1866, and how the courts and the Legislature dealt with this situation. The author points out that by 1838, demographic pressure in the seigneuries, inflated land prices due to speculation, and inaccessible public land granting practices had made squatting a commonplace strategy for land acquisition. The responses to squatting by the Department of Crown Lands, the Legislature and the judiciary are analysed by the author for what they implied about ideas of property in Lower Canada. The author notes that while the Department of Crown Lands' policy of pre-emption affirmed that squatters held rights ta public land because they laboured ta cultivate and improve it, the legislature refused to acknowledge that squatters could acquire such rights on private land; nine out often bills intended to ensure ejected squatters a systematically-determined remuneration for improvements made by them on the private property of absentees failed to pass into law during the period. Most were rejected by the Legislative Council which defended the interests of landed wealth. Lower Canadian courts, meanwhile, struggled to sort out laws relating to squatting. The author argues that the, ultimately, they found that while squatters on private property owned their improvements, they had no right ta the land itself. Thus, he concludes, the judiciary applied a bifurcated concept of property to rural land in Lower Canada despite the prevalence of liberal theories of absolute property rights during the nineteenth century.
Type
Master's Thesis
University
McGill University
Place
Montreal
Date
1996
# of Pages
iv-126p.
Language
en
URL
Citation
Whan, Eric. “Improper Property: Squatters and the Idea of Property in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada, 1838-1866.” Master’s Thesis, McGill University, 1996. https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/3f4627397?locale=en.
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