“In paragraph 12 of Catania v. Giannattasio (1999), 174 DL.R. (4th) 170 (Ont. C.A.), Mr. Justice Laskin noted that while there is authority that Canadian courts have jurisdiction to enforce rights affecting land in foreign countries, that jurisdiction extends to those circumstances where the rights are based on contract, trust or equity and the opposing party resides in Canada. Justice Laskin stressed that this jurisdiction should only be exercised in exceptional circumstances. (Catania dealt with lands located in Italy.) He found that when exercising this jurisdiction, Canadian courts are enforcing a personal obligation between the parties, or an in personam jurisdiction, which is an exception to the general rule that Canadian courts have no jurisdiction to decide title to foreign land. He held that Canadian courts will only exercise this exceptional in personam jurisdiction if four criteria are met (see McLeod, The Conflict of Laws, (Calgary: Carswell, 1983) at 321):
(1) The court must have in personam jurisdiction over the defendant. The plaintiff must accordingly be able to serve the defendant with originating process, or the defendant must submit to the jurisdiction of the court.
(2) There must be some personal obligation running between the parties. The jurisdiction cannot be exercised against strangers to the obligation unless they have become personally affected by it . . . An equity between the parties may arise in various contexts. In all cases, however, the relationship between the parties must be such that the defendant’s conscience would be affected if he insisted on his strict legal rights . . .
(3) The jurisdiction cannot be exercised if the local court cannot supervise the execution of the judgment . . .
(4) Finally, the court will not exercise jurisdiction if the order would be of no effect in the situs . . . The mere fact, however, that the lex situs would not recognize the personal obligation upon which jurisdiction is based will not be a bar to the granting of the order.
While Justice Laskin referred to “Canadian” courts and “foreign” lands, the same principles apply within Canada among provinces and territories. In other words, unless the circumstances fit within the exceptions outlined above, a court in Ontario cannot accept jurisdiction over lands situated in another province.”