The House considered the construction of a consolidation Act. Held: It is ordinarily both unnecessary and undesirable to construe a consolidation Act by reference to statutory antecedents, but it is permissible to do so in a case where the consolidation Act is unclear, or cannot be resolved by classical methods of construction. Self-contained statutes, whether … Continue reading Farrell v Alexander: HL 24 Jun 1976
Intention to Establish Adverse Possession of Land A squatter had occupied the land and defended a claim for possession. The court discussed the conditions necessary to establish an intention to possess land adversely to the paper owner. Held: Slade J said: ‘It will be convenient to begin by restating a few basic principles relating to … Continue reading Powell v McFarlane: ChD 1977
Land once conveyed for the purposes of becoming a highway, became dedicated for that purpose even though no steps were ever taken for its use for that purpose. The registration of a company as proprietor by the Land Registry did not displace the dedication since the interest was an over-riding one under the Act.The dispute … Continue reading Secretary of State for the Environment Transport and the Regions v Baylis (Gloucester) Ltd; Bennett Construction (UK) Ltd v Baylis (Gloucester) Ltd: ChD 16 May 2000
The court considered the effect of a strip of land being designated as a public right of way. Denning LJ said: ‘The statute . . vest[s] in the local authority the top spit, or perhaps, I should say, the top two spits of the road for a legal estate in fee simple determinable in the … Continue reading Tithe Redemption Commission v Runcorn Urban District Council: CA 1954
Question as to the meaning of the GLA Roads and Side Roads (Transfer of Property etc) Order 2000. When the highway was transferred was only the working surfaces, the road surface and the airspace and subsoil necessary for the operation, maintenance and repair of the road , or the full extent of the land; all … Continue reading London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London: SC 5 Dec 2018
The Land of a roadway was to be transferred to TFL. The parties disputed whether there would be transferred the areas adjacent to the surface, or whether it should be the full depth of the earth and to the skies. McFarlane, McCombe, David Richards LJJ [2017] EWCA Civ 1220, [2017] WLR(D) 546, [2018] PTSR 333 … Continue reading London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London: CA 4 Aug 2017
The landowner practised from property in Harrow. The former garden had now for many years been used as a forecourt open to the highway, for parking cars of staff and clients. Cars crossed the footpath to gain access, and backing out into the road when leaving. That use was recognised as lawful under planning law. … Continue reading Cusack v London Borough of Harrow: SC 19 Jun 2013
The claimant was driving along a road. He skidded on ice, crashed and was severely injured. He claimed damages saying that the Highway authority had failed to ‘maintain’ the road. Held: The statutory duty on a highway authority to keep a road in repair did not include an absolute duty to remove all ice. The … Continue reading Goodes v East Sussex County Council: HL 16 Jun 2000
The plaintiff owned land over which were two old streets. He obtained an order from the Magistrates stopping up the stopping up and diversion of parts in return for new streets matching the proposed area layout. The defendants, in whom the land had been vested under the 1855 Act served notices to prevent this. Held: … Continue reading Rolls v Vestry of St George the Martyr, Southwark: CA 14 Jun 1880
By an award under an Inclosure Act passed in 1766 a private road E was set out. In about 1818 road E became a public highway. A local board was formed in 1863 and in 1876 the board let the pasturage upon E to the Plaintiff. He thereupon commenced to depasture the herbage with his … Continue reading Coverdale v Charlton: CA 2 Dec 1878
Under s. 149 of the Public Health Act, 1875, which provides for the vesting in the urban authority of the streets within their district, the question how much above and below the surface of the street vests in the urban authority is determined by reference to what is necessary for the user of the street … Continue reading Finchley Electric Light Company v Finchley Urban Council: CA 11 Feb 1903
The Public Health Act 1875, which by s. 149 vests certain streets in the urban authority, does not vest the subsoil. Therefore where a local Act authorized the urban authority to erect and maintain ‘in any street or public place, or on land belonging to them or under their control,’ lavatories for the use of … Continue reading Tunbridge Wells (Mayor Of) v Baird: HL 4 May 1896