CANADIAN PROPERTY LAW MODEL EXAM 2011 LAWSKOOL CANADA
IRAC method of completing exams Issues Outline the issues that you are going to discuss Rules Define the legal rules that are relevant to the question Application Apply the legal rules to the facts of the question Conclusion Tie things up, usually in the form of an advice to your hypothetical client Always use your reading time wisely to PLAN YOUR ANSWER before writing. This is very important as it will help clarify your thoughts and ensure that you avoid Following desperate exam strategies such as: (i) the kitchen sink i.e. spilling all of your knowledge that is vaguely related to the topic onto the exam paper and hoping for the best (ii) the garden path i.e. going off on an irrelevant tangent Remember that the APPLICATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SECTION of your answer and should take up the bulk of your time. The actual conclusions you reach are often superfluous. Rather, your marker will be most interested in how you arrived at your conclusion.
Question One: Mike owns a parcel of rural land on the shores of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada named Cowdon. He uses the land to raise cows. Adjoining Cowdon is another parcel of rural land belonging to Ocean Grape Wine Estate owned by Karen. Recently, both Mike and Karen attended a town meeting about a proposed road by-pass which, according to the provincial government, will cut into their parcels of land. Concerned about this, Mike and Karen sought initial legal advice about the legality of the acquisition, should the planned road go ahead. The lawyer advised them that the government could compulsorily expropriate the required land from them to construct the road, but that it would need to ensure notice in advance (do not be concerned with the details of the acquisition). Soon thereafter, Mike and Karen learned that the boundaries between the two blocks of land were inaccurate as a result of prior dealings with the land before they both acquired it. The lawyer discovered: (i) That the original line dividing the properties, set down in 1927, gave Cowdon a greater land holding which includes part of Karen s vineyard. That when Karen acquired her property in 1989, the fences had been in a state of great disrepair since 1927. Mike, having acquired the property in 1991 decided to hire a contractor to fix the fences. However, the contractor did not properly survey the land and were erected on Karen s land thereby giving Mike possession of part of Karen s land, unbeknown to her.. Question Two In 1999, George, a Caucasian and a devout Catholic, died leaving behind a fairly large estate to be distributed in accordance with the directions set out in his will. George had left $300,000 to his daughter Catherine on the following condition:
$300,000 to my daughter Catherine as long as she does not contract a marriage with a person who is not of the Caucasian race and who is not of the Catholic faith if she does so contract a marriage with a person who is not of the Caucasian race and who is not of the Catholic faith, to Bob and his heirs. In a subsequent paragraph in the will, George also left Catherine his house on the condition that if she ever wished to sell it, she had to sell it to her brother, Fred. The exact language of the disposition was as follows:.. Question Three Sam is the owner and operator of DD Treats, a coffee, hot-dog and dessert stand. The stand is located downtown Toronto just outside the Eaton Centre and has operated successfully there for the past 10 years. The location is prime and Sam makes quite the profit catering to the business people downtown, tourists and such. The Ontario government recently passed legislation establishing a Crown corporation with the monopoly on the sale and distribution of food from mobile food stands in Ontario. There is no mention in the legislation that there will be compensation available. Sam is distraught. His primary source of income has been DD Treats and had been in the process of expanding his business to other locations in the city of Toronto. Soon thereafter, Sam starts to make a plan that will hopefully solve his financial troubles that have been brought on by this new piece of legislation. Sam owns a residential building in Oshawa, Ontario. He rents to approximately 50 tenants. In addition, Sam has had an agreement with Felix s Laundro-mat to operate on the ground floor of the residential building. The terms of the agreement were as follows: Sam Brighton hereby leases the said premises to Felix s Laundro-mat for the purposes of operating a laundromat for the period of 20 years and hereby commencing on April 20 th 1999. Felix, who runs and operates the laundro-mat on the ground floor, has a key to the room where the machines are located. Sam, however, also has a key and enters the room from time to time to fetch equipment he stores there..
Question Four Julie owns the house at 34 Park Avenue, Kirkland, Ontario, a small town just outside of Ottawa. She has lived there for the past fifty years with relatively little change in the residential neighbourhood. The majority of houses are bungalows and have large backyards. Julie is particularly lucky, given how her house is situated. Her vegetable garden enjoys plenty of sunlight during the day which produces award-winning vegetables. Julie has been recognized as growing the best vegetables for the past 30 years by the town. She also enjoys the long periods of daily sunlight through the windows on the right side of her house. Julie has also been privileged to have her son and daughter-in-law living in the house to the left of her for the past 10 years. However her son recently decided to sell the house and move to larger house three hours away. A few years ago, before moving, her son decided to build a new garage, however its ideal position would be such that he and his family would have to cross over Julie s land to access it with their car. Julie of course had no problem with this and was in fact glad to see her son taking on such large home improvement projects. Julie has been extremely distraught over the sale of her son s house and his move three hours away. So distraught that she decided to build a dividing fence between her house and the house where her son previously lived in order to block the view of the new neighbours. She couldn t bear to see people other than her son living there. As a result of this fence, the new owner, Gary, could no longer access his garage with his vehicle. He argues that Julie had granted her son an easement over part of her property in order for her son to access his new garage. Gary seeks to enforce this easement so as to maintain access to the garage with his vehicle..
Question Five Sarah, a soon-to-be bride, recently finished making the wedding gown of her dreams. It had taken her two years and $10,000 worth of material to make it. However, over the past couple of months, Sarah has lost over fifty pounds and needs the dress to be altered and dry-cleaned as soon as possible. She has a million other things to do before the wedding in two weeks so she decides she will bring it into InFashions for professional cleaning and alterations. InFashions is a cleaning and alteration store located in Yorkdale mall in Toronto, Ontario. Upon delivering her dress, she explains to the employee, David, that this dress is one of a kind and must be treated with utmost care. She notes that it is absolutely essential that the dress be ready within 13 days, as her wedding is in two weeks. David ensures Sarah that he has never had a problem in the past involving delivery of garments by the customer s designated time frame. Sarah is content. Upon receiving the dress from Sarah, David gives her a ticket which she must provide in order to retrieve the dress. On the back of this receipt it reads: InFashions is not responsible for any damage caused to garments during the cleaning and alteration process. Neither are we responsible for any time delays or for lost items. Being in a hurry, Sarah does not look once at this receipt and shoves it into her purse. See you soon she says to David as she exists the store.. To order the complete version of the lawskool Property Law Model Exam please visit www.lawskool.ca