Robert Halliday

Two groups of landowners appealed the Surveyor General's confirmation of a survey that extended road allowances to the water's edge of Georgian Bay, separating their properties from the beach.

The appellants argued the Surveyor General erred by ignoring a previous Divisional Court decision, misapplying common law principles of accretion, and rejecting estoppel arguments.

The Divisional Court dismissed the appeals, finding the Surveyor General made reasonable findings of fact supported by evidence, including that no accretion had occurred and that the original 1820s survey intended the road allowances to reach the water.

The court held the standard of review was correctness for law and palpable and overriding error for fact, and found no such errors.

The appellant and respondent owned adjacent bush lots.

A dispute arose over the boundary line, with the appellant relying on an old fence and the respondent relying on a recent survey.

The Director of Titles determined that the fence was the best evidence of the original boundary.

The Divisional Court reversed this decision.

On further appeal, the Court of Appeal restored the Director's decision, finding that the appropriate standard of review was reasonableness and that the Director reasonably applied the surveyors' hierarchy of evidence to conclude the fence marked the boundary.