Upper Canada. Heir and Devisee Commission : An Heir and Devisee Commission was established by provincial statute in 1797 (37 Geo. III, cap.3) to clarify the titles to lands in Upper Canada which had been granted before the provision was made, in 1795, for the issuance of patent deeds on Crown Grants. The life of the Commission was extended further by legislation in 1799 (39 Geo. III, cap. 2). An Act of 1802 (42 Geo. III, cap. 1) amended the operations to some extent and legislation passed in 1805 (45 Geo. III, cap. 2) changed the composition, powers, and duties of the Commission considerably. The Commission established under the 1805 legislation continued in operation until 1896 and was formally abolished only in 1911.
The two distinct periods of Commission activity (1797-1805 and 1805 onward) are characterized as the "First" and "Second" Heir and Devisee Commissions (see, for example, the descriptions prepared by the Archives of Ontario for its holdings of Heir and Devisee Commission records, descriptions upon which much of the present text is based). Under the 1797 legislation and its amendments, Heir and Devisee Commissioners were appointed to hear and rule upon claims within the various districts of the Province brought forward by the original nominees of the Crown, their heirs, devisees, or assignees. Each commission consisted of three or more persons, with the stipulation that one member be the Chief Justice or one of the justices of the Court of King's Bench. Decisions of the Commissioners could be appealed to the Executive Council. The 1805 legislation resulted in a centralization of the Commission work. Thereafter, a single Commission met at York, its membership made up of members of the Executive Council, the Chief Justice, and justices of the Court of King's Bench. At the second Commission's first meeting in 1805, the Deputy Clerk of the Executive Council (John Beikie) was appointed to serve as its Clerk. The work of the second Commission was restricted to claims to land made by heirs, devisees or assignees, not by the original nominees themselves.
