University of Essex v Djemal and others: CA 1980

Students occupied the administrative office part of university premises. Following an order for possession of that part, they moved to a part known as Level Six. The university then sought an order for possession of the whole of its premises. Just prior to the hearing before the judge the students vacated Level Six but left behind a note threatening ‘further direct action’ against the university unless their demands were met. The university proceeded with its application but the judge refused to make an order for possession other than in relation to Level Six. The words of Order 113, R.S.C. 1965, restricted the court’s jurisdiction to making an order for possession of such part of the premises as was being or had been wrongly occupied. The university’s appeal was allowed and an order was substituted for possession.
Buckley LJ said: ‘I think the Order is in fact an Order which deals with procedural matters; in my judgment it does not affect in any way the extent or nature of the jurisdiction of the court where the remedy that is sought is a remedy by way of an order for possession. The jurisdiction in question is a jurisdiction directed to protecting the right of the owner of property to the possession of the whole of his property, uninterfered with by unauthorised adverse possession. In my judgment the jurisdiction to make a possession order extends to the whole of the owner’s property in respect of which his right of occupation has been interfered with, but the extent of the field of operation of any order for possession which the court may think fit to make will no doubt depend upon the circumstances of the particular case. In the present case there was, when the matter was before the judge, a threat to take what is described as ‘further direct action’, which presumably meant similar action to the action which had already been taken, action which might be taken in respect of any part of the university property. In those circumstances it would, in my judgment, have been open to the judge to have made an order extending to the whole of the university property, or he might have made an order extending to particular parts, such as the administrative offices, of the university property. In my judgment he was in error in thinking that he was bound, by the terms of R.S.C., Ord. 113, to restrict his order to that particular part of the university property of which the students were then in actual adverse possession.’

Judges:

Buckley LJ

Citations:

[1980] 1 WLR 1301

Statutes:

Rules of the Supreme Court Orde 113

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedDrury v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs CA 26-Feb-2004
Trespassers occupied part of the land owned by the claimant. They now appealed agaainst an injunction preventing them unlawfully occupying any part of the claimant’s land including areas not previously occupied.
Held: It was critical to . .
CitedMinistry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food v Heyman and others 1989
The respondent travellers were in wrongful occupation of an area of woodland owned by the appellant. The appellant sought an order for possession not only to that land but also for an area of woodland in its ownership two or three miles away. The . .
CitedManchester Airport Plc v Dutton and others CA 23-Feb-1999
The claimant sought an order requiring delivery of possession of land occupied by the respondent objectors. They needed to remove trees from the land in order to construct a runway on their own adjacent land. The claimant had been granted a licence . .
CitedSecretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs v Meier and Others SC 1-Dec-2009
The claimant sought a possession order to recover land from trespassers. The court considered whether a possession order was available where not all the land was occupied, and it was feared that the occupiers might simply move onto a different part. . .
CitedHall and Others v Mayor of London (on Behalf of The Greater London Authority) CA 16-Jul-2010
The appellants sought leave to appeal against an order for possession of Parliament Square on which the claimants had been conducting a demonstration (‘the Democracy Village’).
Held: Leave was refused save for two appellants whose cases were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Land

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.194587