Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-03T23:25:43.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Transformation of Canadian Property Rights?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Richard A. Brisbin Jr.  and
Susan Hunter
Richard A. Brisbin Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6137USA, richard.brisbin@mail.wvu.edu
Susan Hunter
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6317USA, susan.hunter@mail.wvu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Legal scholars tend to situate the development of rights in constitutional courts. However, recent studies in the law and society tradition find that individual choices or choices by private organizations also can transform the meaning of rights. Further extending this argument, this paper hypothesizes that the transformation of rights also occurs through incremental policy changes made by subnational officeholders and administrators, including changes that “layer” new meanings onto law and rights. To examine the hypothesis, this paper uses the example of property rights and land use regulation. It concludes that Canadian officeholders and administrators engage in an ongoing development of the meaning of rights within a rationality defined by entrenched constitutive values about territoriality.

Résumé

Les juristes tendent à situer le développement des droits dans les cours constitutionnelles. Cependant, des recherches récentes dans la tradition Droit et Société montrent que les choix individuels ou ceux d'organismes privés peuvent également transformer la signification des droits. En allant plus loin, cet article pose que la transformation de droits se produit également à travers de petites modifications de politiques que les élus et les fonctionnaires régionaux font, incluant ceux qui ajoutent de nouvelles significations aux dispositions et aux droits. Cet article s'appuie sur l'exemple des règlements concernant les droits de propriété et l'utilisation du territoire pour tester cette hypothèse. Il conclut que les élus et les fonctionnaires canadiens attribuent constamment des significations aux droits, dont la rationalité se définie à partir de valeurs constitutives de la territorialité.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 21 , Issue 1: Exceptions, Excuses, Norm(e)s , April 2006 , pp. 135 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See Hiebert, J., Limiting Rights: the dilemma of judicial review (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996)Google Scholar; Howe, P. & Russell, P., eds., Judicial Power and Canadian Democracy (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001)Google Scholar; Manfredi, C., Judicial Power and the Charter: Canada and the paradox of liberal constitutionalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)Google Scholar; Morton, F. & Knopff, R., The Charter Revolution and the Court Party (Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2000)Google Scholar.

2 See Engel, D. & Munger, F.. Rights of Inclusion: Law and Identity in the Stories of Americans with Disabilities (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ewick, P. & Silbey, S., The Common Place of the Law: Stories from Everyday Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998)Google Scholar.

3 Canadian Bill of Rights, S.C. 1960, c. 44, I, 1Google Scholar.

4 See Sarat, A. and Kearns, T. R., “Beyond the Great Divide: Forms of Legal Scholarship and Everyday Life” in Sarat, A. and Kearns, T. R., eds., Law in Everyday Life (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993) at 27-32, 50–61Google Scholar; Brigham, J.Google Scholar. The Constitution of Interests: Beyond the Politics of Rights (New York: New York University Press, 1996) at 2–6Google Scholar.

5 Orren, K. and Skowronek, S., “Institutions and Intercurrence: Theory Building in the Fullness of Time” (1996) 38 Nomos: Political Order 111 at 112Google Scholar.

6 On layering see Schickler, E., Disjointed Incrementalism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U. S. Congress (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001) at 12–18Google Scholar.

7 Rose, N. and Valverde, M., “Governed by Law?” (1998) 7 Society & Legal Studies 541 at 549CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Although articulated by liberal political philosophy, see Locke, J., Two Treatises of Government, ed. by Laslett, P. (New York: Mentor Books 1960) at 395–99Google Scholar, this perspective on property is best understood as a “tangled” cluster of beliefs and used to convey the “rightness” of a mix of individual rights and state power over property. See also Alexander, G., Commodity and Property: Competing Visions of Property in American Legal Thought 1776-1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Blomley, N., “The Borrowed View: Privacy, Property, and the Entanglements of Property” (2005) 30 Law & Soc. Inquiry. 617 at 619–22, 645–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Hatcher, L., “Green Metaphors: Language, Land, and Law in Takings Debates” (2002) 5 Law & Geography 445Google Scholar.

10 See Bourne, L., “Presidential Address–Normative Urban Geographies: Recent Trends, Competing Visions, and New Cultures of Regulation” (1996) 40:1Canadian Geographer 1–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 On advanced liberalism as a convention of meaning, see Brown, W., “Neo-liberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy” (2003) 7 Theory & Event 1 at 10Google Scholar. See also Burchell, G., “Liberal government and techniques of the self” in Barry, A., Osborne, T., & Rose, N., eds. Foucault and Political Reason: Liberalism, Neo-liberalism, and Technologies of Government (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996) 19Google Scholar; Rose, N., Powers of Freedom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 137–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 On communitarianism as a convention of meaning generally and with property, see Rose, supra note 11 at 167-97; Duany, A., Plater-Zybreck, E., & Speck, J., Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream (New York: North Point Press, 2000)Google Scholar; Massam, B & Dickinson, J., “The Civic State, Civil Society, and the Promotion of Sustainable Development” in Pierce, J. & Dale, A., Communities, Development, and Sustainability across Canada (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1999)Google Scholar; Moe, R. & Wilkie, C., Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1997)Google Scholar; Talen, E., “New Urbanism and the Culture of Criticism” (2000) 21 Urban Geography 318CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Pierson, P., “Not Just What, but When: Timing and Sequence in Political Processes” (2000) 14 Stud. Am. Pol. Development 72 at 76CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For an example of the incremental adaptation and layering of contradictory property use policies in a Canadian neighbourhood, see Blomley, N., “Un-real Estate: Proprietary Space and Public Gardening” (2004) 36 Antipode 614CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 See Osborne, T. & Rose, N., “Governing cities: notes on the spatialization of virtue” (1999) 17 Environment & Planning D: Space and Society 737 at 740–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cooper, D., Governing Out of Order: Space, Law, and the Politics of Belonging (London: Rivers Oram Press, 1998)Google Scholar.

15 See Simpson, M., Thomas Adams and the Modern Planning Movement: Britain, Canada, and the United States, 1900-1940 (London: Mansell, 1985)Google Scholar; Gerecke, K., “The history of Canadian city planning” in Lorimer, J. & Ross, E., The Second City Book: Studies of urban and suburban Canada (Toronto: James Lormier & Co., 1977) at 151Google Scholar; Williams, F., The Law of City Planning and Zoning (College Park, MD: McGrath Publishing Co., 1922) at 510–13Google Scholar; Wolfe, J., “Our Common Past: An Interpretation of Canadian Planning History” (July 1994) 34 Plan Canada at 14–24. For specific activity, see T. Gunton, “Ideas and Policies of the Canadian Planning Profession, 1909-1931” in Artibise, A. & Stetler, G., eds., The Usable Urban Past: Planning and Politics in the Modern Canadian City (Ottawa: The Carleton Library, 1979) 177Google Scholar; P. Smith, “The Principle of Utility and the Origins of Planning Legislation in Alberta, 1912-1975” in ibid, 196; W. Van Nus, “Toward the City Efficient: The Theory and Practice of Zoning, 1919-1939” in ibid, 226; P. Moore, “Zoning and Planning: The Toronto Experience” in ibid., 316.

16 Mintrom, M., “Policy Entrepreneurs and the Diffusion of Innovation” (1997) 41 American Journal of Political Science 738CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sheingate, A., “Political Entrepreneurship, Institutional Change, and American Political Development” (2003) 17 Study of. American Political Development 185CrossRefGoogle Scholar; North, D., Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) at 73–104CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 See Jones, B. & Baumgartner, F., “Punctuations, Ideas, and Public Policy” in Baumgartner, F. & Jones, B., Policy Dynamics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002) 293Google Scholar.

18 See Mannheim, K., Freedom, Power, and Democratic Planning (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950) at 29, 43, 112–16, 281–84Google Scholar for an example of post-war European ideas. Socialist ideas of planning had surfaced outside the circle of Canadian professional planners during the 1930s; see Gerecke, supra note 15 at 158-60.

19 See Gerecke, supra note 15 at 152-55; Kaplan, H., Reform and City Politics: Montreal, Winnipeg, Toronto (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982) 247Google Scholar; Nicol, H. & Dobbin, R., “Planning at the Edge: Evaluation Ontario's Planning Legislation Since World War II” in Nicol, H. & Halseth, G., eds., (Re)Development at the Urban Edges: Reflections on the Canadian Experience (Waterloo, ON: Dept. of Geography, University of Waterloo, 2000) 349Google Scholar; Robinson, I., “Trends in Provincial Land Planning, Control, and Management” in Perks, W. & Robinson, I., eds., Urban and Regional Planning in a Federal State: The Canadian Experience (Stroudburg, PA: Dowden, Hutchinson, and Ross, 1979) 204Google Scholar; Moore, supra note 15, 316; Wolfe supra note 15, at 25-27.

20 Guttenberg, A., “The Social Uses of Planning: A Preliminary Inquiry” (1968) 9:1Plan Canada 6Google Scholar; Kiernan, M, “Ideology and the Precarious Future of Canadian Planning” (1982) 22:1Plan Canada 14Google Scholar; Martin, L., Filon, P. & Higgs, E., “A Survey of the Preferred Literature of Canadian Planners” (1988) 30:1Plan Canada 11Google Scholar. See also Mickelson, W., “Urban North America: The Next Thirty Years” (1970) 10:3Plan Canada 21Google Scholar; Pressman, N.. “Urbanism–Toward a More Humanized Environment” (1970) 11:1Plan Canada 13Google Scholar; Qadeer, M. “The Scope of Social Planning in Urban Planning” (1977) 17:2Plan Canada 86Google Scholar; Udy, J. “Why Plan? Planning and the Eternal Values” (1980) 20:3–4Plan Canada 176Google Scholar.

21 See T. Osborne & N. Rose supra note 14 at 750-51 on advanced liberalism. Gerecke, K. & Reid, B., “Planning, Power and Ethics” (1991) 31:6Plan Canada at 59–74Google Scholar find forms of political corporatism in these planning efforts, and Wolfe, supra note 15 at 30-31 calls them “neoconservative.”

22 Hempel, L., “Conceptual and Analytical Challenges in Building Sustainable Communities” in Mazmanian, D. & Kraft, M., Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999)Google Scholar; Hodge, G. & Robinson, I., Planning Canadian Regions (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2001) at 225–27Google Scholar; Maclaren, V., Sustainable Urban Development in Canada: From Concept to Practice (Toronto: ICURR Press. 1993) at 1: 5–7Google Scholar; Massam & Dickinson, supra note 12; Wolfe supra note 15 at 32-33.

23 See Berlin, S., “The Healthy Canadian Community” (1989) 29:4Plan Canada 13Google Scholar; Grant, J., “From ‘Human Values’ to ‘Human Resources’” (1989) 29:6Plan Canada 11Google Scholar; Gabor, A. & Lewinberg, F., “New Urbanism, New Zoning” (1997) 38:4Plan Canada 12Google Scholar; Witty, D., Healthy Communities: What Have We Learned?” (2002) 42:4Plan Canada 9Google Scholar; Wolfe, supra note 15, at 31-32.

24 Downs, A., “What Does “Smart Growth” Really Mean?” (2001) 67:4Planning at 20–28Google Scholar; Frece, J., “Smart Growth and Neighbourhood Conservation” (2001) 41:4Plan Canada 21Google Scholar; Krieger, A., “Beyond the Rhetoric of Smart Growth” (1999) 88 Architecture 53Google Scholar; Talen, supra note 11.

25 Congress for New Urbanism, “Charter of the New Urbanism” (2001), online: Congress for New Urbanism <http://www.cnu.org/cnu_reports/Charter.pdf.>>Google Scholar (date accessed 14 Oct. 2003); Fulton, W., The New Urbanism: Hope or Hype for American Communities? (Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1996)Google Scholar; Katz, P. 1994, The New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994)Google Scholar; Sewell, J., The Shape of the City: Toronto Struggles with Modern Planning. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993) at 224–40Google Scholar; Talen, supra note 12 at 318-41.

26 See Brigham, J., “The ‘Giving Issue’: A View of Land, Property Rights and Industrial Development in Maine and Nova Scotia” in Feldman, E. & Goldberg, M., eds., Land Rites and Wrongs: The Management and Use of Land in Canada and the United States (Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1988) 247Google Scholar; Howlett, M., “Policy Instruments and Implementation Styles: The Evolution of Instrumental Choice in Canadian Environmental Policy” in VanNijnatten, D. & Boardman, R., eds., Canadian Environmental Policy: Context and Cases, 2d ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) 31Google Scholar; Rabe, B. & Lowry, W., “Comparative Analysis of Canadian and American Environmental Policy: An Introduction to the Symposium” (1999) 27 Policy Stud. J. 263 at 263–266CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Chipman, J., A Law Unto Itself: How the Ontario Municipal Board Has Applied and Developed Law Use Planning Policy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hodge, G., Planning Canadian Communities: An Introduction to the Principles, Practice, and Participants. Scarborough, ON: Nelson, 2003) at 201Google Scholar; Confidential interviews by the authors: Beausejours, MN; Burlington, ON; Charlottetown, PEI; Halifax, NS; Halton Hills, ON; Hamilton, ON; Mississagua, ON; Oakville, ON; Regina, SK; Toronto, ON; Winnipeg, MN (Aug. 2002, Feb., Mar., May, & July 2003).

27 See Kiernan, M., “Urban Planning in Canada: A Synopsis and Some Future Directions” (1990) 30:1Plan Canada 11Google Scholar.

28 Province of Manitoba, Intergovernmental Affairs: Annual Report. (Winnipeg: Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, 2003)Google Scholar.

29 Province of Manitoba, A Review of Manitoba's Land Use Planning Law: Discussion Paper. Winnipeg: Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, 2002), 30, 32, 34, 26; Confidential interviews by the authors, Winnipeg, MN (May 2003).

30 The Planning Act. C.C.S.M. c. P80Google Scholar; Province of Manitoba, The Manitoba Water Strategy (Winnipeg: Manitoba Conservation, 2002)Google Scholar.

31 Confidential interviews, supra note 29.

32 Province of Manitoba, The Environmental Assessment and Licensing Process Under the Manitoba Environment Act. Information Bulletin 97-01E, revised (Winnipeg: Manitoba Conservation, 2002)Google Scholar.

33 he Planning Act. C.C.S.M. c. P80Google Scholar. Province of Manitoba, Planning Manitoba's Capital Region: Next Steps (Winnipeg: Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, 2001) at C1–C9Google Scholar.

34 City of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Housing Policy (Winnipeg: City of Winnipeg, 1999)Google Scholar.

35 Confidential interviews, supra note 29; Province of Manitoba, Intergovernmental Affairs: Annual Report (Winnipeg: Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, 2002)Google Scholar; Province of Manitoba supra note 29 at 50-52.

36 Confidential interviews by the authors, Beausejours and Winnipeg, MN (May 2003).

37 City of Winnipeg, Plan Winnipeg 2020 Vision (Winnipeg: City of Winnipeg, s.d.)Google Scholar.

38 Province of Manitoba, Building Strong Communities: A Vision for Rural Manitoba (Winnipeg: Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, s.d.)Google Scholar.

39 Province of Manitoba supra note 28.

40 Confidential interviews, supra note 29.

41 Confidential interviews, supra note 29; The Planning Act. C.C.S.M. c. P80Google Scholar, Part 7; Province of Manitoba, Planning for Livestock Operations in Manitoba: Finding Common Ground (Winnipeg: Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, 2003)Google Scholar; Province of Manitoba supra note 28.

42 See Brody, S., Godshalk, D., & Burby, R., “Mandating Citizen Participation in Planning. Six Strategic Planning Choices” (2003) 69 Journal of the American Planning Association 245CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hodge, supra note 26 at 339-47; Moore, K. & Swystun, L., “Planning Capacity for Decision Making,” (presentation at the meeting of the Canadian Institute of Planners, Halifax, NS, 8 July 2003) [unpublished]Google Scholar.

43 Province of Manitoba supra note 31; Confidential interviews, supra note 29.

44 The Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13Google Scholar, s. 1.

45 Confidential interviews by the authors, Burlington, Halton Hills, Oakville, & Toronto ON (Feb., Mar., & May 2003); Province of Ontario, Delegation/Exemption under the Planning Act: Implementation Strategy (Toronto: Queens Printer for Ontario, 1997)Google Scholar.

46 Confidential interviews, supra note 45.

47 The Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13Google Scholar, s. 1 et seq.; Confidential interviews, supra note 45.

48 See Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region Strategic Plan 2001-2003 (Oakville, ON: Regional Municipality of Halton, 2003)Google Scholar; Regional Municipality of Halton, Directions Report: The Greening of Halton–Smart Growth, Smart Choices (Oakville, ON: Regional Municipality of Halton, 2002)Google Scholar; City of Burlington, New Century, New Directions: Strategic Plan 2001-2003 (Burlington, ON: City of Burlington, 2001)Google Scholar; Confidential interviews, supra note 45.

49 Conservation Halton, Statistical Report (Burlington, ON: Conservation Halton, 2002)Google Scholar.

50 Town of Milton, Town of Milton East/Southeast Planning District: Implementation Strategy (Milton, ON: Town of Milton., 1998) at 1–2Google Scholar.

51 City of Burlington, A State of the Environment Report for the City of Burlington (Burlington, ON: Burlington Sustainable Development Committee, 1998)Google Scholar.

52 Town of Oakville, Oakville Official Plan (Oakville, ON: Town of Oakville, 2002) at 9Google Scholar.

53 Town of Milton, Town of Milton Official Plan, Consolidated (Milton, ON: Town of Milton, 2001) at 85Google Scholar.

54 Regional Municipality of Halton, Strategic Plan, supra note 48 at 14.

55 Confidential interviews, supra note 45; City of Burlington, Official Plan. II, 11.0. online: <http://www.burlington.ca/Planning/Official%20Plan/index.htm> (date accessed: 10 Nov. 2003): Town of Milton, supra note 53 at 79, 82-85, 122-24; Town of Oakville, supra note 52 at 23-29.

56 City of Burlington supra note 55 at VI; Town of Milton supra note 53; Town of Milton, Town of Milton Bristol Survey Planning District: Secondary Plan (Milton, ON: Town of Milton, 1999)Google Scholar; Town of Oakville, supra note 52 at 126-322.

57 Confidential interviews, supra note 45.

58 Regional Municipality of Halton, Directions Report, supra note 48 at 21-26.

59 Regional Municipality of Halton, Strategic Plan, supra note 48 at 15.

60 Town of Milton, supra note 53 at 15.

61 Town of Oakville, supra note 52 at 8.

62 Town of Milton, supra note 53 at 86.

63 City of Burlington, supra note 55 at Il, 6.0; Town of Milton supra note 50; Town of Milton, supra note 53 at 85-97; Town of Oakville, supra note 52 at 40-44.

64 Amborski, D. & Lister, N., An Eco-Tech Village for Milton: Considerations for Policy (Milton, ON: Town of Milton, 2002)Google Scholar; B.G.D. Consulting Inc. 2002, Implementation Options Report: Town of Milton Eco-Tech Village Project (Thornhill, ON: B.G.D. Consulting Inc. 2002)Google Scholar.

65 Regional Municipality of Halton, Strategic Plan, supra note 48 at 17-19.

66 Province of Ontario, Smart Growth: A New Vision (Toronto: Queens Printer for Ontario, 2002).

67 Province of Ontario, Shape the Future: Central Ontario Smart Growth Panel Final Report (Toronto: Queens Printer for Ontario, 2003) at 1–6Google Scholar.

68 Ibid. at 9-59.

69 Confidential interviews, supra note 45.

70 Town of Milton supra note 53 at 30.

71 City of Burlington, supra note 55 at II, 2.0, 8.0; Town of Milton supra note 53 at 30-42; Town of Oakville, supra note 52 at 50-59.

72 Regional Municipality of Halton, Directions Report, supra note 48 at 54-57; Regional Municipality of Halton, Strategic Plan, supra note 48 at 19.

73 Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. N.2, s. 1, et seq.

74 Confidential interviews, supra note 45.

75 Province of Ontario, Five-Year Review of the Provincial Policy Statement (Toronto: Queens Printer for Ontario, 2002)Google Scholar.

76 Province of Ontario, supra note 67 at 89-90.

77 See Grosby, S., “Territoriality: the transcendental, primordial feature of modern societies” (1995) 1:2Nations & Nationalism 143CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

78 Ibid. at 158.

79 See Suchman, M. & Edelman, L., “Legal Rational Myths: The New Institutionalism and the Law and Society Tradition” (1996) 21 L. & Soc. Inquiry 903 at 936–38Google Scholar.

80 See Blomley, supra note 8 at 633-45.