Flawed Precedent: The St. Catherine’s Case and Aboriginal Title: Landmark Cases in Canadian Law

In 1888, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled in theSt. Catherine’scase. This precedent-setting decision would define the legal contours of Aboriginal title in Canada for almost a hundred years. InFlawed Precedent,preeminent legal scholar Kent McNeil examines the trial and its context in detail, demonstrating how erroneous assumptions and prejudicial attitudes about Indigenous peoples and their land use influenced the case. He also discusses the effects the decision had on law and policy until the 1970s when its authority was finally questioned inCalderand in other key rulings. McNeil has written a compelling account of a landmark case that undermined Indigenous land rights for almost a century.