>From another list - very informative for those that use the Crown Maps. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 1:42 AM Subject: Re: [NS-CB] Land Certificates > Hi Allene and Listers, > The Crown Land Index sheets have several items of info on them. > The bare number refers to the Petition number of the applicant for > a Crown grant; many of the petition numbers are not known or printed > on the sheets. > Another item is the registry book number always prefaced by "BK" > and refers to the entry in a land registry. Although the registry location > is not stated, many of the early grants were in the Halifax registry while > later ones are in the registry of the county wherein the Crown grant lies. > Another item, the one I think you are interested in, is a certificate > number. > Certificate numbers appear within a circle on the sheets. Usually the > land in question was never granted by the Crown to anyone, or it was > escheated to the Crown at some time in the past. It may or may not > have been petitioned for at some point in time. > The two usual scenarios for a person occupying ungranted land are: > 1. They want legal title to the land they occupy which may have been > in the family and occupied by members of the family for 100 yrs or > more. They ask the Crown to release their interest in the land. In > effect the Crown is quitting claim to the land. The Crown will survey > the property first and then draw up a "certificate" which releases the > Crown's interest in the property. > The emigrant ancestor may have petitioned for the land and failed > to meet requirements to receive a grant from the Crown. > 2. Broken title and the occupant cannot get clear title to the property. > For various reasons, such as the death of the petitioner before the > Crown granted the land parcel, no will of the petitioner and sons > or daughters of the petitioner not able to sign over land to the > sibling who remained on the land (many of the Norman McLeod > followers left their siblings who remained in CB in limbo in this > manner), or an unregistered deed somewhere along the line, being > some of the circumstances which led to the land remaining ungranted > while some of the family occupied the land but never held legal title. > It must be pointed out that many of the occupiers had either made > some payment to the Crown or had purchased the "improvements" > of a previous occupier who had not yet met the requirements for > a Crown grant. Very few were simple squatters who decided to > occupy a lot of land. > > There are various regulations regarding Crown release by > certificate including length of occupancy. Usually an affidavit must > be filed by the occupants giving their history of occupancy. > The certificate is filed in the registry of deeds in the county wherein > the land lies. The affidavit may be held by the Crown records office > in Dept of Natural Resources. I might note that this "vault" is a wealth > of info on ungranted properties. > I am not a lawyer and the above is simply an explanation of the numbers > on Crown Land Index sheets. > > Roberta