CHAPTER 12. PUBLIC GRANTS. 1. Grants issued under the Great Seal of the Province may be written on paper. CHAPTER 13. TRESPASSES TO LANDS AND OTHER PROPERTY OF THE CROWN. 1 Penalty for taking away lumber, 10 When Judge may order officer to minerals, &c. deliver up property to claimant on his giving bond. If property is not delivered to When Judgment shall be entered When Judge may certify costs to 16 1. No person shall cut down any trees, lumber or wood of any description on any Crown Lands, or open any mine, or dig or raise any minerals belonging to the Crown, or take, use, remove or carry away from such Crown Lands any property thereon belonging to the Crown, without license from the Governor or other legal authority, under the penalty of not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each act in violation hereof. 2. All trees, timber, wood or other lumber which shall or may, without such license as aforesaid, be cut upon or removed from any such Crown Lands, or anything made therefrom, and all minerals which may be raised or removed from any mine or lands belonging to the Crown, or which shall be taken, removed, used or carried from any Crown land without such license as aforesaid, shall and may be seized and taken possession of by any seizing officer duly appointed. 3. Any property which shall be seized as aforesaid, shall, unless claim therefor be made as hereinafter provided, le sold by the officer seizing the same at public auction to the highest bidder therefor, thirty days notice of the time and place of such sale having been first given by advertisement in some newspaper published in the County where the property so seized may have been situate at the time of such seizure, or if there be no newspaper so published, then by publication in the Royal Gazette or other papers for the like time, and also by public notices posted up in at least five public places in the Parish in which the thing so seized may be situate, at least twenty days before the time of sale; such sale shall be for cash payable at the time of the sale, and such seizing officer shall forth with transmit the net proceeds of such sale to the Receiver General; such seizing officer may deduct from such proceeds all costs, charges and expenses attending such seizure and sale, and shall in addition thereto be allowed such sum, not exceeding ten per cent. of the proceeds of the sale, as to the Governor in Council shall seem just and reasonable. 4. The claim referred to in the last preceding Section shall be made by the claimant in writing, on oath, setting forth fully and specifically the nature of the ownership which such claimant has in the property so seized, or any part thereof, and if of a part, specifying which part by giving the marks or number of pieces, or such other description as shall render the same easily distinguishable, and that he believes such property has been unjustly taken, seized and detained from him; and such claim shall be served by delivering a copy thereof to the seizing officer, or by filing a copy thereof in the Crown Land Office within fourteen days after such seizure; and if the property so seized, or such part thereof as aforesaid, be not released within ten days after such service as aforesaid, either the claimant or the seizing officer may make application on oath to a Judge of the County Court of the County in which the seizure is made, for a summons requiring the other party to appear before such Judge, at a time and place therein named, to shew cause, by affidavit or otherwise, why the property so seized should not be released or condemned as the case may be. 5. Such summons shall be served on the party against whom issued by delivering to him a copy thereof, together with a copy of the affidavits upon which it is granted, at least six days before the return thereof, and shall from the time of the service thereof operate as a stay of the sale of the said property if advertised as aforesaid. 6. Upon the return of the said summons the said Judge shall hear the parties and any evidence by affidavit or otherwise, and any witnesses they may produce, and determine the matter according to the very right thereof, and award costs to either party as he may think just, such costs to be taxed by the Clerk of the Court. 7. Subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses before the said Judge at the return of the said summons may be issued out of the said County Court, in like manner as subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses at the trial of causes in such County Court, and shall have the like force and effect. 8. If the Judge on such hearing shall be satisfied there is good cause why the right of the claimant or seizing officer, as the case may be, should be tried by a Jury, he may make an order authorizing the issuing of a summons out of such County Court as aforesaid against such claimant or seizing officer, as the case may be, in like manner and in the same form as an action of trespass or trover, and thereupon the like proceedings shall be had as in actions of trespass or trover in the said Court, except as hereinafter provided, notwithstanding the value of the property seized shall exceed the sum over which the said Court has jurisdiction. 9. The claimant shall before demand of plea give a bond, with two sureties, to the Crown, in the penal sum of one hundred dollars, to the satisfaction of the Clerk of the said Court, conditioned for the payment of costs to said seizing officer. 10. Ifat any time after the issue of the summons mentioned in the eighth Section of this Chapter, the claimant shall file with the Clerk of such Court a bond to the Crown, with two sureties, to the satisfaction of such Clerk, conditioned that the said claimant shall prosecute his suit with effect, and that he will pay to the Crown such sum as the jury on the trial of the said cause may find to be the value of the property so seized, or any part thereof, with costs of the suit, any such Judge may make an order requiring the seizing officer to deliver the said property to the claimant. 11. If the said Judge on the hearing as provided for in the sixth Section of this Chapter, or the jury on the trial of the said cause shall find the property, or any part thereof, to be in the claimant, such Judge shall, if the property seized be not already delivered over to him as provided in the tenth Section of this Chapter, make an order requiring the seizing officer to deliver to the claimant the property so found to be in him. 12. If the said property shall have been delivered to the claimant in obedience to an order made as provided in the tenth Section of this Chapter, and the jury on the trial of such cause shall find that the property so seized as aforesaid, or any part thereof, is not in the claimant, they shall assess the value thereof and render their verdict for the amount so assessed, and thereupon judgment shall be entered up in such cause against the claimant for such amount, with costs of suit. 13. If the said Judge on the hearing provided for in the sixth Section, or the jury on the trial of the said cause shall not find the property so seized as aforesaid, or some part thereof, to be in the claimant, and the same has not been delivered to him by the seizing officer in obedience to the Judge's order granted as provided for in the eleventh Section of this Chapter, the said seizing officer shall proceed to sell the said property, or such part thereof as may by such finding be declared not to be in the claimant, by giving notice of the sale thereof in the manner provided in the third Section of this Chapter. 14. If on such hearing or trial as aforesaid, the property so seized or any part thereof shall be found to be the property of the claimant, it shall be in the discretion of the said Judge to determine whether the said claimant shall be entitled to his costs of the said hearing, or in the said suit, or any part thereof, which costs, when taxed, shall be paid by warrant out of the Provincial Treasury. 15. If the Judge who tried the cause shall certify there was reasonable cause for making the seizure (even though the property shall have been found in the claimant), no action shall be maintained against any person concerned in the seizure or prosecution thereof, and any such person may, (if an action be brought against him in respect of such seizure or the prosecution thereof,) plead the general issue, and give the special matter in evidence. 16. The Governor in Council may order the release of any property so seized as aforesaid, upon the payment of such sum not less than double the rates payable in case the same had been cut or carried away under license therefor duly obtained, and such other terms and conditions as to them shall seem just and reasonable. 17. All penalties and forfeitures under the provisions of this Chapter, may be prosecuted by information of the Attorney General, and where judgment shall be awarded therein, it shall be with costs against the offender, and the prosecution shall be commenced within one year after the commission of the act for the commission of which the penalty or forfeiture is incurred. 18. The fourth Section of Chapter 12, Title iii, of the Revised Statutes, Of Trespasses to Lands and other Property of the Crown,' is unrepealed, and is in the following words: "Any person who shall assault or obstruct any seizing officer in the execution of his duty, or any person in his aid, or shall wilfully remove, cut or set loose any thing seized as aforesaid, shall pay a fine to the Queen not exceeding one hundred pounds nor less than two pounds, at the discretion of the Court where prosecuted, and if not paid after conviction, such person shall be imprisoned not exceeding one year, nor less than ten days, at the like discretion." 1. The Governor in Council may cause eligible portions of the vacant Crown Lands to be selected for settlement in various parts of the Province, and cause public roads to be made to and through such lands, and may have the said lands surveyed and laid off in one hundred acre lots on both sides of such road. |