the federal government decided to incorporate the bill of rights to the states in 1897.
the federal government decided to incorporate the bill of rights to the states in 1897.
when did the federal government decide to incorporate the bill of rights to the states?
1897
Na
Na
the federal government attempted to sell a fishery lease on the miramichi river. at issue was the locus of jurisdiction. section 91(12) of the constitution act, 1867, assigns to the federal parliament at ottawa exclusive legislative authority over sea coast and inland fisheries. although it was initially believed that the federal government had exclusive jurisdiction over all fisheries throughout canada, it was found here that section 91(12) did not have the effect of transferring ownership of the beds of freshwater rivers and lakes to the federal government. the fisheries authority vested in parliament ends where provincial authority over property and civil rights begins, unless an encroachment is essential to the effectiveness of federal legislation. under ancient british fisheries law, rights to fish in tidal waters were of a fundamentally different legal character from rights to fish in inland or non-tidal waters. the former were public rights vested in the crown as "parens patriae" for the use of the public and could have no new private owner after magna charta. the latter, which were the subject of property, required an owner and could not be vested in the public generally. in determining the respective jurisdictions of parliament and the provinces, the court seized on the distinction between "fishing as a public right" and "fishing as a proprietary right". in the provincial fisheries reference, the judicial committee of the privy council distinguished between rights of property and legislative jurisdiction, holding that section 91 conferred the latter on the federal parliament and that only the provinces were competent to deal with the private right of fisheries in inland waters under section 92(5), management and sale of public lands, or under section 92(13), property and civil rights. since such "legislation deals directly with property, its disposal, and the rights to be enjoyed in respect of it", it does not fall under section 91(12). as a result, the province was entitled to allocate the resource; that is, to decide who may fish, how much may be harvested per person, and where the harvesting may occur. it could do this through the issuing of licences, through its own legislation and through property transactions. the federal government retained the right in inland waters to preserve, protect and manage the fisheries. this included the right to set the maximum amount of fish to be harvested, and to impose gear restrictions and limitations on locations. the federal government also retained the right to legislate with respect to the protection of fish habitat and waters frequented by fish. despite the federal parliament's inability to legislate respecting property and civil rights, the privy council in the provincial fisheries reference made it clear that if federal legislation is truly legislation respecting fisheries it may powerfully affect proprietary rights.
list of new brunswick case law