For municipal taxation exemptions, "railway lands" refers to land in the lawful actual use and occupation of the railway company, regardless of legal title. Structures affixed to such land and used exclusively for railway purposes are exempt from assessment.

Lord Parmoor :-

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada confirming a judgment of the Supreme Court of Ontario. Special leave to appeal was granted by His Majesty in Council on the 18th August, 1916, the appellants undertaking not to raise on appeal the question that the Railway and Municipal Board of Ontario had no jurisdiction to hear the appeal direct from the Court of Revision or that the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Ontario, or the Supreme Court of Canada had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeals to these Courts. The question which was left open for the appellants to raise is, whether a railway bridge, which is described in the assessment as an international bridge between Canada and the United States of America, is assessable to municipal taxation, so far as it is situated within the Canadian boundary. The respondents raised in their case the further question whether the appeal is competent, having regard to a prohibition contained in a Provincial Statute, but their Lordships are of opinion that the Provincial Statute does not affect the jurisdiction of the Privy Council to entertain an appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada.

The northern portion of the bridge crosses the north channel of the St. Lawrence by a cantilever span, and is supported on two abutments and six piers. The abutments are on the land to the north of the Cornwall Canal and on Cornwall Island; two of the piers are erected in the canal, one on the strip of land between the canal and the north channel of the St. Lawrence, two in the north channel, and one on Cornwall Island. The southern portion of the bridge crosses the south channel of the St. Lawrence. It rests upon two abutments, one on Cornwall Island, and one on land within the territory of the United States, and upon four piers, one erected on the island, and the other three south of the international boundary. No question arises on details or on cost of construction, and the position of the bridge is sufficiently shown on a map attached to the case of the appellants.

The Assessment Act (R. S. O. Stat., 1914, c. 195) contains the provisions on which the appellants and respondents respectively rely in support of their contentions. Section 2 of the Act defines "land" "real property" and "real estate"" as including, inter alia, all structures erected or placed upon, in, over, under, or affixed to land and all structures erected or placed upon, in over, under, or affixed to any highway or other public communication or water but not the rolling stock of any rail way electric railway, tramway, or street railway. The distinction between structures placed over or affixed to land and structures placed over or affixed to any highway, canal, or, other public communication or water, becomes important in considering the assessment of railways under section 47 of the Act. Subject to certain exemptions, which are not material to the present case, section 5 of the Act renders all real property in Ontario liable to taxation. The structure of the bridge would therefore apart from the special provisions as to railways of the Act, appear to be liable to assessment. Where an international bridge is liable to assessment the method of valuation is specified in section 46.

Section 47 is the section under which steam railways are assessed to municipal taxation, and the present appeal depends on the construction of this section. It enacts that every steam railway company shall annually transmit to the clerk of every municipality in which any part of the roadway or other real property of the company is situate a statement under four heads. These four heads designate what property of a steam railway is liable to assessment. This statement is communicated to the assessor, who is directed to make the assessment on the prescribed basis. There is a third sub-section which exempts from assessment certain structures and other property on railway lands and used exclusively for railway purp