Development 2

 Feudal System: - Europe

The basic government and society in Europe during the middle ages was based around the feudal system. In this system, land title was awarded to Lords or Barons or for military services rendered to the king or with stipulations of taxation for property. In turn, these nobles would offer a patch of their land to the peasants to work and provide services and taxes to the noble and they would receive protection in return.

Homesteading Acts: USA

In the United States, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act which gave citizens or future citizens up to 160 acres of public land provided they live on it, improve it, and pay a small registration fee. 

In the United States, all claims of land ownership can be traced back to a land patent, first-title deed, or similar document regarding land originally owned by France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the Kingdom of Hawaii, Russia, or Native Americans. Other terms for the certificate that grants such rights include first-title deed and final certificate. 

Lands Act: - Canada

In Canada, The Dominion Lands Act was a federal law that allowed for lands in Western Canada to be granted to individuals, colonization companies, the Hudson’s Bay Company, railway construction, municipalities and religious groups. The Act also set aside land for First Nations reserves and lands for what would become National Parks. 

The Dominion Lands Act devised specific homestead policies to encourage settlement in the West. It covered eligibility and settlers’ responsibilities, and outlined a standard measure for surveying and subdividing land 

In Canada, Colonization companies were corporations designed to promote and co-ordinate immigration and settlement, employed at various times during Canada's history. Colonization companies usually received blocks of land (eg, Huron Tract, Talbot Settlement) for reduced rates. 

They usually published brochures attracting potential settlers' attention, arranged for transportation to the block, helped settlers select land, provided (or helped them buy) equipment and seed for the first crop, and assisted with construction of homes. Once a group of settlers was established, the surrounding land would become more desirable to other settlers, and therefore more valuable to the company.

Scrip System – Canada:

Métis lands were organized by the government outside the Dominion Lands Act, using the scrip system. 

In Canada, the Scrip is any document used in place of legal tender, for example a certificate or voucher, where the bearer is entitled to certain rights. In 1870, the Canadian government devised a system of scrip — referred to as Métis (or “half-breed”) scrip — that issued documents redeemable for land or money. Scrip was given to Métis people living in the West in exchange for their land rights. For the federal government, scrip provided a convenient and inexpensive process to acquire Métis rights to land in the West, thereby clearing it for commercial development and white settlement.

Land Patents – General Law

A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of a particular tract of land which has gone through various legally proscribed processes – such as surveying and documentation, followed by the letters signing, sealing, and publishing in public records – made by a sovereign entity. 

It is the highest evidence of right, title, and interest to a defined area. It is usually granted by a central, federal, or state government to an individual, partnership, trust or private company. 

"Patent" is both a process and a term. As a process it is somewhat parallel to gaining a patent for intellectual property, including the steps of uniquely defining the property at issue, filing, processing, and granting. Unlike intellectual property patents, which have time limits, a land patent is permanent. 

A land patent is known in law as "letters patent", and usually issues to the original grantee and to their heirs and assigns forever. The patent stands as supreme title to the land because it attests that all evidence of title existent before its issue date was reviewed by the sovereign authority under which it was sealed and was so sealed as irrefutable; thus, at law the land patent itself so becomes the title to the land defined within its four corners. 

Land Grants – General Law

The land patent is not to be confused with a land grant. Patented lands may be lands previously granted by a sovereign authority in return for services rendered or accompanying a title or otherwise bestowed gratis, or they may be lands privately purchased by a government, individual, or legal entity from their prior owners. 

Land Grants on the other hand were a gift of real estate – land or its use privileges – made by a government or other authority as an incentive means of enabling works or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service.

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