Betterment Law,

the object of which is to protect persons who in good faith improve land which they believe to be their own. The owner of land on which improvements have been made is bound to pay the value of the improvements unless he elects to have the land and improvements valued separately. Should the person claiming compensation refuse to purchase the land at the price at which it has been valued, he forfeits his right to compensation. In the Province of Ontario (statute 36 Vic., c. 22) a statute is in force having a similar object to those in force in several of the States. This Betterment Law is wider in its operation than the English Rule of Equity, which compels the real owner of property, who stands by and allows another person to expend page 24 money in improving the property, to compensate such person for the improvements, the reason being that the conduct of the real owner under such circumstances constitutes fraud. The English law on the subject will be found in the notes to the Karl of Oxford's case (2 Tudor's Leading Cases in Equity). The chief distinction between the American and the English law on this question is, that by the law of the former country the real owner may be ignorant of the fact that his land is being improved, the Courts looking almost entirely to the bona fides of the person expending the money, whereas in England the owner must have knowledge of, and wink at, the improvements whilst they are being made.

However tempting the occasion, I feel that time will not allow me to refer at any length to several of the other