
356 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 80 PART 3 MAY 2022
CONCLUSION
In Parts I and II of this article, I have wandered down a few paths, some less
travelled in gift discussions, such as the Torrens system and future interests.
I hope this helps all of us to remember that while we often study the
law in bits and pieces, much of what lawyers deal with covers many different
areas. That is part of the excitement of the law. “And that has made all
the difference.”39
ENDNOTES
1. (2022) 80 Advocate 203.
2. RSBC 1996, c 250, s 185 LTA.
3. Ibid, s 29(2) (“except in the case of fraud in which
he or she has participated, a person contracting or
dealing with or taking or proposing to take from a
registered owner (a) a transfer of land, or (b) a
charge on land, or a transfer or assignment or subcharge
of the charge, is not, despite a rule of law or
equity to the contrary, affected by a notice, express,
implied, or constructive, of an unregistered interest
affecting the land or charge other than …”). Section
29 does not refer to a bona fide purchaser for value
without notice: C is a person “dealing with or taking
… from a registered owner a transfer of land”.
4. A creative lawyer may argue that the gift to B should
prevail in light of s 20 of the LTA, which opens with
the words “except as against the person making it”.
Since C is not a purchaser for value, B might argue
that notwithstanding C’s application for registration,
the rules of equity should prevail and the Form A
from A to B should be given full effect. (See also note
10 below, regarding the Stonehouse case.) However,
that creative lawyer would also have to deal with
Breskvar v Wall (1971), 126 CLR 376 (Aust HC).
5. See LTA, supra note 2, s 191(1).
6. 1979 ABCA 339 MacLeod.
7. Ibid at para 9.
8. Ibid at para 31.
9. RSA 1970, c 198.
10. See e.g. Stonehouse v British Columbia (AG), 1962
SCR 103, where an unregistered deed was effective
to sever a joint tenancy, much to the disappointment
of Mr. Stonehouse. I note that the holder of the unregistered
deed applied for registration prior to Mr.
Stonehouse’s application for registration by way of
the right of survivorship.
11. LTA, supra note 2, s 185(2)(b).
12. Ibid, s 168.2(2)(b).
13. 80 DLR (3d) 377 (NSSC) Ross.
14. “Too important to be interfered with.”
15. Ross, supra note 13 at 380.
16. Ibid at 381.
17. For the litigators among you, I think that the law has
overshadowed the facts in some of the gift cases. In
MacLeod, supra note 6, the court referred to a lease
document that referred to Hattie Montgomery as
having a life interest and Donna MacLeod “as to her
interest”. The court noted that “there does not appear
to have been any attempt at the trial to enlarge on the
significance, if any, of this document” (para 6).
18. RSBC 1996, c 377, s 15(1) PLA.
19. Ibid, s 16.
20. Law and Equity Act, RSBC 1996, c 253, s 9.
21. LTA, supra note 2, s 73(3.1). This section does not
operate retroactively.
22. 1999 CanLII 5923 (BCSC).
23. RSBC 1996, c 378.
24. The relationship between s 8(3) of the PLA and s
3(1)(d) of the Limitation Act, SBC 2012, c 13 LA is
not clear to me. Section 3(1)(d) provides that the LA
does not apply to “a claim for possession of land by
a person who has a right to enter for a breach of a
condition subsequent or a right to possession arising
under possibility of reverter of a determinable
estate”. Perhaps a smart litigator can provide
enlightenment.
25. Harry D Anger & John D Honsberger, Law of Real
Property, 2nd ed (Aurora: Canada Law Book, 1985)
at 126–27.
26. Ibid at 432.
27. RSO 1990, c C.34.
28. Anger & Honsberger, supra note 25 at 433.
29. See e.g. PLA, supra note 18, s 8(2).
30. Anger & Honsberger, supra note 25 at 434.
31. PLA, supra note 18, s 8(1).
32. Robert Megarry & HWR Wade, The Law of Real
Property, 8th ed (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2012)
at 70.
33. Land Title and Survey Authority, Land Title Practice
Manual (Vancouver: CLEBC, 2020).
34. 1995 CanLII 1087 (BCSC) Westsea.
35. Given this discussion, I assume that a right of entry
or a possibility of reverter would be gifted, inter
vivos, by way of an assignment of charge, registered
at the LTO: see LTA, supra note 2, s 201.
36. Westsea, supra note 34 at para 38.
37. Ibid at paras 40–41.
38. Ibid at paras 54–56.
39. Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken: The Poems of
Robert Frost (New York: Henry Holt and Company,
1979).