Law Students

Foundations of Canadian Law #3: Aboriginal Title

By Erin

This podcast we look at the landmark Delgamuukw case, in which the Supreme Court recognized the aboriginal title held by several First Nations in BC. This title is not the same as ownership, it is the sui generis right to exclusive use and occupation of the land, inalienable but to the crown. (If you were in Civil Property you’d be musing that the first part sounds a lot like the definition of ownership under article 947 CCQ, except minus the free disposal.) We will also talk about other historic cases dealing with First Nations rights, because it’s a complex and interesting issue. For the record, I think it’s very lame that we only did one class on this, but have spent about four on the “Hart-Fuller debate”.

Delgamuukw v British Columbia (1997)
R v Guerin (1984)
Calder v BC (AG) (1973)
St. Catherine’s Milling v the Queen (1888)

Full post as published by Life of a Law Student on January 31, 2007 (boomark / email).