Newfoundland's Case on Offshore Minerals: A Brief Outline
![handle is hein.journals/ottlr7 and id is 42 raw text is: NEWFOUNDLAND'S CASE ON
OFFSHORE MINERALS:
A BRIEF OUTLINE*
Cabot Martin**
I. INTRODUCTION
The Province of Newfoundland claims ownership of, and jurisdiction
over, the mineral resources of its adjacent continental margin (i.e., continental
shelf, slope and rise). I
The province claims that these minerals were vested in the Crown in
Right of Newfoundland prior to Confederation, and the claim follows from
the well-established principle that the ownership of natural resources not ex-
pressly transferred to the federal government by the British North America
Acts (or, in the case of Newfoundland, by the Terms of Union) was retained
by the provinces. This principle is embodied in Term 37 of the Terms of
Union between Newfoundland and Canada:
All lands, mines, minerals, and royalties belonging to Newfoundland at the
date of Union, and all sums then due or payable for such lands, mines,
minerals, or royalties, shall belong to the Province of Newfoundland, sub-
ject to any trusts existing in respect thereof, and to any interest other than
that of the Province in the same. -
Since Newfoundland did not expressly, or by implication, transfer its offshore
resources to the federal government in the Terms of Union, Newfoundland
claims to have ownership of, and jurisdiction over, the resources of its con-
tinental margin.
Behind this rather simple claim lies a web of history, politics and eco-
nomics unparalleled in Canadian judicial history, both for its complexity and
for its implications for the nation. The modest purpose of this paper is to
* A shorter version of this paper formed the basis of a presentation by the author
to the Law and Policy Symposium on Energy sponsored by the University of Ottawa
Common Law Student Society on March 2, 1974. The views are those of the author,
not of the Government of Newfoundland.
** B.Sc., 1965, Memorial University of Newfoundland; LL.B., 1968, Queen's
University; Legal Advisor to the Minister of Mines and Energy, Province of New-
foundland.
' See Newfoundland's Position on the Management of Energy Resources of the
Continental Margin presented to the National Energy Conference, Ottawa, January
22-23, 1974 [hereinafter referred to as Newfoundland's Position on Offshore Manage-
ment].
2 Schedule of Terms of Union Newfoundland with Canada, British North America
Act of 1949, 12 & 13 Geo. 6, c. 22.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ottlr7&div=10&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Newfoundland's Case on Offshore Minerals: A Brief Outline
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