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| This archived statute consolidation is current to November 10, 1992 and includes changes enacted and in force by that date. |
1. Where land situated in the Province has escheated to the Crown by reason of the person last seised or entitled to it having died intestate and without lawful heirs, or has become forfeited to the Crown, the Attorney General may cause possession of the land to be taken in the name of the Crown. In case possession is withheld, the Attorney General may cause an action to be brought for its recovery without any inquisition being first necessary.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-2.
2. The proceedings in the action may be in all respects similar to those in other actions for the recovery of land.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-3.
3. (1) Where a person dies without an heir and intestate in respect of any real estate consisting of any estate or interest, whether legal or equitable, in any incorporeal hereditament, or of any equitable estate or interest in any corporeal hereditament, whether devised or not devised to trustees by the will of that person, the law of escheat applies in the same manner as if that estate or interest were a legal estate in corporeal hereditaments.
(2) Where any beneficial interest in the real estate of any deceased person, whether the estate or interest of the deceased person therein was legal or equitable, is, owing to the failure of the objects of the devise or other circumstances happening before or after the death of the deceased person, in whole or in part not effectually disposed of, the deceased person shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, to have died intestate in respect of that part of the beneficial interest as is ineffectually disposed of.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-4.
4. (1) Where a corporation is dissolved, the land situated in the Province of which the corporation was seised or entitled to at the time of its dissolution shall for all purposes be deemed to escheat to the Crown in right of the Province. The law of escheat and the provisions of this Act shall apply in respect of that land in the same manner as if a natural person had been last seised or entitled to it and had died intestate and without lawful heirs.
(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council shall not, within a period of one year from the date of the dissolution of a corporation, make any grant or other disposition of land of the corporation which escheats to the Crown.
(3) Where a corporation is, within a period of one year from the date of its dissolution, revived under any Act by order of any court, the order shall have effect as if the land of the corporation had not escheated to the Crown, and, subject to the terms of the order, the land shall vest in the corporation.
(4) This section applies in respect of real estate of a corporation consisting of any estate or interest, whether legal or equitable, in any incorporeal hereditament, or of any equitable estate or interest in any corporeal hereditament, in the same manner as if that estate or interest were a legal estate in corporeal hereditaments.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-5.
5. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make a grant of land which has so escheated or become forfeited, or of any portion of it, or of any interest in it, to any person, for the purpose of restoring it to that person, or transferring it to any person having a legal or moral claim on the person to whom it had belonged, or of carrying into effect any disposition of it which the person may have contemplated, or of rewarding any person making discovery of the escheat or forfeiture, as to the Lieutenant Governor in Council seems proper.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-6; 1982-46-15.
6. Any such grant may be made without actual entry or inquisition being first necessary, although the land is not in the actual possession of the Crown, and notwithstanding that some person claims title to it adversely to the person whose estate the same had been. In case possession of the land is withheld, the person to whom the grant is made is thereon entitled to institute in any court of competent jurisdiction proceedings for the recovery of the land.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-7.
7. (1) Where a forfeiture takes place of land or any interest in it, as aforesaid, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may waive or release any right which the Crown may thereby have become entitled to, so as, by the waiver or release, to vest the property, either absolutely or otherwise, in the persons who would have been entitled but for the forfeiture.
(2) The waiver or release may be either for valuable consideration or otherwise, and on the terms and conditions as to the Lieutenant Governor in Council seem proper.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-8.
8. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make any assignment of personal property to which the Crown is entitled by reason of
(a) the person last entitled to it having died intestate and without leaving any kin or other person entitled to succeed to it;
(b) the property having become vested in the Crown as bona vacantia; or
(c) the property having become forfeited to the Crown,
or may make an assignment of any portion of the personal property, for the purpose of
(d) transferring or restoring it to any person or persons having a legal or moral claim on the person to whom it had belonged;
(e) carrying into effect any disposition of it which the person may have contemplated; or
(f) rewarding the person making discovery of the right of the Crown to the property,
as to the Lieutenant Governor in Council seems proper.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-9.
9. (1) Where administration is taken out under the provisions of the Estate Administration Act, Part 2, the Attorney General may apply to the Supreme Court for an order for the making of inquiries necessary to determine whether or not Her Majesty is entitled to any portion of the estate of the deceased on account of the deceased dying intestate and without heirs or next of kin or otherwise.
(2) A judgment made on such inquiry is, unless reversed on appeal, final and conclusive.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-10.
10. (1) Where a person dies in possession of or entitled to real estate in the Province, intestate as to such real estate, without any known heirs, the Attorney General may apply to the Supreme Court for an order for the making of inquiries necessary to determine whether or not Her Majesty is entitled to any portion of the real estate of the deceased on account of his dying intestate and without heirs. A judgment or order given on such inquiry is, unless reversed on appeal, final and conclusive.
(2) Where the Attorney General is entitled to apply under the preceding subsection, he may bring an action, either in his own name, on behalf of Her Majesty or in the name of Her Majesty, to recover possession of the real estate of the deceased, and is entitled to judgment and process to recover possession, unless the person claiming adversely shows that the deceased did not die intestate as to the real estate, or that he left heirs or that some other person is entitled to the real estate.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-11.
11. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may sell any land escheated to the Crown under this Act, at the price and on the terms as may be determined, and may give a preference in making any such sale, to a person who may be regarded as having a legal or moral claim on the person to whom the same had belonged.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-12.
12. Where any property or any interest, legal or equitable, in it, has escheated or become forfeited to the Crown, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may
(a) appoint a person to take possession of it, or of any part of it, and manage it for the time he thinks proper;
(b) rent it or any part of it;
(c) sell it or any part of it by private sale;
(d) advertise it or any part of it for sale by tender;
(e) cause it or any part of it to be sold by public auction under the conditions he considers proper.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-13.
13. (1) Any money arising from the exercise of the powers conferred by section 12 shall be freed from any claims on it, whether legal, equitable or moral, and shall be paid into the consolidated revenue fund.
(2) Where the Lieutenant Governor in Council is satisfied that a person had a legal, equitable or moral claim on money paid into the consolidated revenue fund under subsection (1), he may authorize the Minister of Finance to pay to that person out of the consolidated revenue fund an amount of money he considers appropriate.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-14; 1985-51-17, effective July 11, 1985 (B.C. Reg. 223/85).
14. (1) Where any property has been Crown granted under the provisions of the Mineral Tenure Act, or under any ordinance or Act affecting minerals, precious or base, or under the Land Act, or any other statute providing for the granting of land by the Crown, if the property so granted has escheated to the Crown under this Act, and if the property so escheated has not been restored to any legal or moral claimant, sold, leased or released, and if for any reason it is inconvenient or not advisable to deal with it under section 11 or 12, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may direct the Surveyor General to cancel the survey, field notes and official plan of survey of the property so escheated, and thereon the property shall for all purposes be deemed to be Crown land of the Province within the meaning of the Land Act, and all the provisions of that Act and the Mineral Tenure Act apply to the land and to its sale, lease, staking or other alienation to the like extent as if no grant of the land had been issued.
(2) The Surveyor General, when so directed, shall, by notice in the Gazette, cancel the survey, field notes and official plan of survey of the property so escheated, and shall forward a notice of the cancellation to the registrar of the land title district in which the land is situated, and the registrar shall file the notice and, if the title to the land is registered, make a reference to it in the proper register against the title to the land to which the notice relates.
Historical Note(s): RS1960-132-15; 1978-25-333; 1988-5-68; 1989-64-1.
Copyright (c) Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada