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The equitable doctrine that protects a 'bona fide purchaser of the legal estate for value without notice' (sometimes called 'equity's darling') provides that such a purchaser:
A
B
C
D
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2026 Statistics
Key Facts: NCA Property Law Exam
$500 CAD + tax
Exam Fee Per Subject
NCA, Federation of Law Societies of Canada (2026)
50%
Pass Mark (pass/fail)
NCA, Federation of Law Societies of Canada
3 hours
Open-Book Online Exam
NCA exam information (nca.legal)
11 topics
NCA Property Syllabus Areas
NCA Property Syllabus (2025)
Tsilhqot'in 2014 SCC 44
Leading Aboriginal Title Case
Supreme Court of Canada
100+
Practice Questions Here
OpenExamPrep question bank
The NCA Canadian Property Law Examination is an open-book, 3-hour online exam of 3-4 essay/short-answer problems, set by the NCA of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada for internationally trained and Quebec civil-law lawyers. The pass mark is 50%, and the fee is $500 CAD plus taxes per exam. The NCA Property syllabus is organized around 11 topics covering common-law estates and future interests, the Rule Against Perpetuities, equitable interests and trusts, possession and bailment, leases and licences, co-ownership, easements and covenants, priorities, the registry vs Land Titles (Torrens) systems, and Aboriginal title (Tsilhqot'in Nation v BC). These 100 multiple-choice questions are knowledge-prep practice, not the format of the real essay exam.
Sample NCA Property Law Practice Questions
Try these sample questions to test your NCA Property Law exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.
1Canadian real property law derives its historical structure from the English feudal system. Under the doctrine of tenures as received into Canada, who is regarded as the ultimate owner of all land, from whom all estates are notionally held?
A.The registered fee simple holder
B.The Federation of Law Societies of Canada
C.The Crown
D.The first person to take possession
Explanation: Under the doctrine of tenures, all land is held mediately or immediately of the Crown; a subject holds an 'estate' in land rather than absolute ownership of the land itself. This is the bedrock of Canadian real property law received from English law.
2The Statute Quia Emptores 1290 is foundational to the modern fee simple. What was its principal effect on the feudal land system?
A.It abolished the life estate
B.It created the Torrens registration system
C.It abolished all forms of tenure
D.It prohibited subinfeudation, permitting substitution so that a purchaser of a fee simple held directly of the grantor's lord
Explanation: Quia Emptores 1290 prohibited subinfeudation (creating new sub-tenancies) and instead allowed substitution, so that a buyer stepped into the seller's place in the feudal chain. Combined with the Tenures Abolition Act 1660, this caused the feudal pyramid to decay, leaving the fee simple as effectively absolute ownership held of the Crown in free and common socage.
3The numerus clausus principle in property law holds that:
A.The number of registered owners of any parcel is capped by statute
B.Parties may create only a closed, limited list of recognized forms of property interest, not novel ones at will
C.Property taxes are calculated on a closed schedule
D.Only the Crown may grant new estates
Explanation: The numerus clausus ('closed number') principle limits the categories of recognized property interests — fee simple, life estate, lease, easement, etc. Parties cannot invent wholly new proprietary forms binding on third parties; novelty is confined to contract. This standardization promotes certainty and reduces information costs for third parties dealing with land.
4A municipality refuses to approve development of privately owned land and effectively designates it for public parkland without compensation, while never formally expropriating title. Following Annapolis Group Inc. v. Halifax Regional Municipality, 2022 SCC 36, when may a landowner claim a 'constructive taking' (de facto expropriation)?
A.Where the state acquires a beneficial interest in the property OR effectively removes all reasonable uses of it
B.Only where formal title actually passes to the state
C.Never, because regulation can never amount to a taking in Canada
D.Only where the Charter expressly protects property rights
Explanation: In Annapolis (2022 SCC 36), the Supreme Court of Canada held that a constructive taking requires (1) an acquisition of a beneficial interest in the property or flowing from it, and (2) the removal of all reasonable uses of the property. The Court clarified that an 'advantage' to the state, not formal title, can satisfy the first branch, broadening the doctrine.
5Which of the following best describes the distinction between real property and personal property at common law?
A.Real property is owned outright while personal property is only leased
B.Real property is tangible and personal property is always intangible
C.Real property is land and interests in land; personal property comprises chattels (movables) and choses in action
D.Real property can be registered while personal property cannot be owned
Explanation: Real property (realty) consists of land and interests in land, historically protected by 'real' actions for recovery of the thing itself. Personal property (personalty) comprises chattels — both choses in possession (tangible movables) and choses in action (intangible rights enforceable by action, such as debts).
6Following the Tenures Abolition Act 1660, the surviving form of tenure by which most freehold land in Canada is held is:
A.Knight service
B.Frankalmoin
C.Serjeanty
D.Free and common socage
Explanation: The Tenures Abolition Act 1660 converted the various feudal tenures into free and common socage, a tenure free of burdensome feudal incidents. Land in Canada's common-law provinces is thus held in free and common socage of the Crown, the tenure underlying the modern fee simple.
7Under the division of powers in the Constitution Act, 1867, primary legislative jurisdiction over 'Property and Civil Rights in the Province' is allocated to:
A.The federal Parliament under s. 91
B.Municipalities under delegated authority
C.The provincial legislatures under s. 92(13)
D.The Supreme Court of Canada
Explanation: Section 92(13) of the Constitution Act, 1867 assigns 'Property and Civil Rights in the Province' to the provinces. Consequently, most real property law — conveyancing, registration, landlord-tenant, succession — is provincial. Federal jurisdiction touches property only through enumerated heads such as Indians and lands reserved for Indians (s. 91(24)).
8A landowner's neighbour erects a structure whose eaves and an advertising sign project into the airspace directly above the landowner's parcel at a low height. Applying Didow v. Alberta Power Limited (1988 ABCA), how does Canadian law treat such an intrusion into airspace?
A.Airspace is wholly unowned, so no trespass can occur at any height
B.A landowner owns airspace literally up to the heavens without limit
C.A landowner has rights in the airspace to such height as is necessary for ordinary use and enjoyment, and a permanent intrusion into that lower stratum is a trespass
D.Only the Crown can sue for intrusions into airspace
Explanation: Didow v. Alberta Power limited the maxim 'cujus est solum...usque ad coelum' (whoever owns the soil owns up to the sky). The landowner has rights in the lower airspace to the extent necessary for the ordinary use and enjoyment of the land; permanent fixed projections (power-line cross-arms there) into that zone constitute trespass, whereas transient passage at height (e.g., aircraft) does not.
9The doctrine of accretion concerns:
A.The gradual and imperceptible addition of land by deposit of soil along a water boundary, which generally belongs to the riparian owner
B.The accumulation of unpaid property taxes
C.The merger of two adjacent fee simple estates
D.The building up of equity in a mortgage over time
Explanation: Accretion is the slow, gradual and imperceptible addition of land to a riparian or littoral boundary through deposition. The newly formed land generally accrues to the adjoining owner. Its converse, erosion, gradually diminishes the parcel; sudden change (avulsion) does not alter boundaries.
10A commercial tenant installs heavy carpeting and equipment in leased premises. A dispute arises over whether these have become 'fixtures' (part of the realty) or remain chattels. Following the approach in La Salle Recreations Ltd. v. Canadian Camdex Investments Ltd., the primary tests for determining whether a chattel has become a fixture are:
A.The degree of annexation to the land and the object/purpose of annexation
B.The cost of the item and the identity of the installer
C.Whether the item is insured and registered
D.Whether the landlord consented in writing
Explanation: La Salle Recreations applied the classic fixtures tests: (1) the degree (mode) of annexation, and (2) the object or purpose of the annexation. An article resting on its own weight is prima facie a chattel; one affixed even slightly is prima facie a fixture, but the controlling question is whether annexation was for the better use of the chattel or for the permanent improvement of the realty.
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