In Williams v Toronto, the Ontario Court of Appeal explores the relationship between the City and a tenant, Mr. Williams, over loss of rent paid by tenants owed reduced rent under a statutory rent-reduction scheme. This case determined that there could be sufficient relationship between the tenants and the City to ground a cause of [...]

The third question on my first year property law exam asked whether Canadian law classified body parts (organs, limbs and reproductive material) as property. Unfortunately for my class, Justice Russell of the Supreme Court of British Columbia answered that question on April 25th, 2012 in J.C.M v A.N.A. 2012 BCSC 584–two short weeks after the [...]

In February 2009, the British Columbia Court of Appeal lifted a stay of proceedings on Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2007 BCSC 1700, meaning that the momentous claim to Aboriginal title over a large area in the interior of British Columbia will proceed to the province’s Court of Appeal.  In 2007, Justice Vickers of the [...]

The legal concept of property is fluid and dynamic. It evolves over time in relation to “changes in the purposes which society or the dominant classes in society expect the institution of property to serve” [CB Macpherson in Mary Jane Mossman & William F Flanagan, eds, Property Law Cases and Commentary (Toronto: Edmond Montgomery Publications) [...]

A common law relationship is when two people live together in a marriage-like relationship. The two people can be of the same sex or the opposite sex. For Ontario family law purposes, you must cohabitate for 3 years, or have a child and a relationship of some permanence. Despite the decreased rate of marriage and [...]