RAOUL TREMBLAY Vs. DUKE PRICE POWER CO LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Their Lordships do not require to hear any argument from the respondents because they have come to the conclusion that on the point on which alone special leave to appeal was given in this case the appellant fails. The appeal is brought by the appellant, who was the owner of land adjacent to, or in the vicinity of, Lake St. John in Quebec. He had a right to compensation for the value of certain land, which the respondents, who are a Hydro-Electric Power Company, had the right to flood, by reason of powers which were given to them by statute to raise the level of the lake and its tributaries up to a contour of 17.5 ft. above the datum line mentioned in the proceedings. The appellant possessed land, which he cultivated as a farmer, which sloped downwards towards the north until it got to a relatively low level, somewhere below the contour of 10 ft. above the datum line, and he claimed compensation for the whole of his land that had been flooded up to the 17.5 ft. contour, and for damage to land above that in respect of the diminution of the amenities of the land and the facilities for working it.

(2.) The case made by the respondents was that they were not obliged to pay compensation for land which was lower than the 15 ft. contour, because they said, land up to that contour was, on the proper construction of the legislation under the law of Quebec, part of the lake, which belonged to the public domain, in respect of which the appellant had got no rights.

(3.) The case came on for the award of compensation eventually before the Court in Quebec; it could have been heard by Commissioners, but the appellant preferred not to go before them and the matter went to the Court. The learned Judge who gave judgment was, unfortunately, not the learned Judge who had heard the evidence, because the learned Judge who heard the evidence had died in the meantime. Judgment was given some 18 months or so after the event, but no criticism has been directed to the decision in that respect, and it must be taken to be a judgment which was regular and valid.