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In This Volume

1 In this Act:

  • “applicant” means a person applying for a disposition of Crown land under this Act or a former or other Act respecting Crown land;
  • “boundary by agreement” means a conventional boundary located by agreement between the government and the adjoining owner;
  • “commissioner” means the person appointed under the Public Service Act as commissioner in charge of any land recording district, and includes the minister, deputy minister, an assistant deputy minister and a person authorized by the minister to act for the minister in the portion of British Columbia for which the person may be appointed to discharge the duties of a commissioner under this Act;
  • “construction purpose” includes, without limitation,
  • (a) the building or maintenance of a road, railway bed, runway, berm, dam, impoundment, breakwater, dike, levee, foundation, rock wall and other similar thing, and
  • (b) the providing of fill and riprap;
  • “conventional boundary” means a boundary consisting of a straight line or a series of straight lines of fixed direction and length conforming as nearly as possible to the natural boundary, but eliminating minor sinuosities;
  • “corporation” means a corporation incorporated or registered in British Columbia;
  • “Crown grant” means an instrument in writing conveying Crown land in fee simple;
  • “Crown land”, subject to section 1.1, means land, whether or not it is covered by water, or an interest in land, vested in the government;
  • “director” means a person employed under the Public Service Act and designated by the minister as a director for the purposes of this Act;
  • “disposition” means the act of disposal or an instrument by which the act of disposal is effected or evidenced, or by which an interest in Crown land is disposed of or effected, or by which the government divests itself of or creates an interest in Crown land;
  • “fossil” means fossil as defined by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council;
  • “interest” in reference to land includes a right or estate in that land;
  • “land district” means a portion of British Columbia that is a land district under section 2;
  • “land recording district” means a portion of British Columbia that is a land recording district under section 3;
  • “natural boundary” means the visible high water mark of any lake, river, stream or other body of water where the presence and action of the water are so common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary years, as to mark on the soil of the bed of the body of water a character distinct from that of its banks, in vegetation, as well as in the nature of the soil itself;
  • “public road” means a portion of Crown land designated or indicated as a road on a plan of survey made under this Act, whether or not a road is constructed, and includes a road allowance or walkway allowance established under section 79;
  • “registrar” means the registrar under the Land Title Act;
  • “registry”, except in Part 1.1, means the Crown land registry continued under section 7;
  • “reserved land” means Crown land that has been withdrawn from disposition under this or any other Act;
  • “right of way” means a statutory right of way as defined in the Land Title Act;
  • “surveyed land” means land the survey of which is accepted and confirmed by the signature of the Surveyor General on a plan made under this Act;
  • “Surveyor General” means the Surveyor General of British Columbia.

1979-214-1; 1980‑22‑1, proclaimed effective September 18, 1980; 1990‑4‑1; 1993-13-4, effective August 19, 1993 (B.C. Reg. 278/93); 1995-50-43, deemed effective December 1, 1995 (B.C. Reg. 455/95); 1999-38-35, effective January 28, 2000 (B.C. Reg. 15/2000); 2006-7-15, effective April 1, 2006 (B.C. Reg. 74/2006); 2007-24-23, effective June 20, 2007 (B.C. Reg. 180/2007); 2010-6-8 (B.C. Reg. 214/2011); 2023-10-417.

CASE LAW

“Public Road”

Because ss. 1 and 2 of the Highway Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 188 (now s. 1 of the Transportation Act, S.B.C. 2004, c. 44) define “highway” as including all public roads, and describe all roads other than private roads as public highways, a public road created pursuant to the Land Act is a public highway (British Columbia (Minister of Transportation and Highways) v. Perepelkin, 1996 CanLII 1806 (BC SC). Note that the definition of highway has been amended by S.B.C. 2000-9-22 and 23 and by S.B.C. 2004-44-1. See the discussion under s. 23(2) of the Land Title Act in chapter 3 (Land Title Act Part 3 (ss. 20 to 38)—Registration and Its Effect).