Two brothers, J. Gray and his brother W., brought a writ of waste against a woman who held in dower of their inheritance and alleged by their count that this was because the lands were partible and counted of waste committed in buildings, lands and marshes and counted that the marsh was adjoining the sea and there was a wall for the defence of the marsh which she and all tenants of these lands are obliged to keep repaired and have done so and she had dug a perch in the wall and also because of lack of repair the wall is not repaired and so the sea has entered the marsh and has taken away around twenty-four acres to the depth of one foot and the remainder of the marsh is under water.
Mowbray. Judgment of the count because he does not allege that the woman held the wall in dower (and not allowed)
Mowbray. Again judgment of the count for they have alleged that the woman holds of their inheritance and they are males and this is against common right and they do not affirm that this belongs to them by descent as to say in the count that the woman holds of the endowment of their ancestor whose heirs they are etc. For it is possible that their ancestor never had anything but that they are purchasers.
SHARESHILL, J. Then they would have had another writ but by this writ and count we understand that they are heirs of the woman’s husband and there is no other count or writ in this case.
Mowbray. We tell you that there are several marshes and with respect to all except one no waste committed, as we are ready etc. As to that one we tell you that there is a wall by which this marsh is enclosed against the sea. And in respect of the digging in the wall he traverses; and where they suppose that the sea entered for lack of custody we tell you that the sea is so strong that by a storm it has carried off the soil and undermined the wall so that no-one could prevent it and so it was not carried off by our default. Judgment whether you can assign any wrong in our person etc.
And on that they were at issue as whether it was for lack of guard or not etc.
Citations:
[1343] [Co. Litt. 53b (q)]
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Dayani v London Borough of Bromley TCC 25-Nov-1999
LA Tenant liable for permissive waste
The local authority was tenant of properties which it sub-licensed to homeless persons for three years was liable for having allowed the properties to deteriorate. It was claimed that they were liable for permissive waste as tenants for a fixed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.196928