Megarry J described the presumption that a conveyance of land abutting a highway or river passes with it the the adjoining half of that road or river: ‘Various reasons had been given for the presumption. It has been based on convenience and the prevention of disputes, and in the case of public highways on a supposition that the proprietors on each side of the road each contributed half of it. Theobald’s Law of Land, 2nd ed. (1929), p. 235, states:
‘It is unlikely that the grantor intended to reserve the narrow strip under the road or stream ad medium filum; there is therefore a presumption that such strip was intended to pass, but the presumption may be rebutted by the language of the conveyance, or the surrounding circumstances.’
This, perhaps, is an expansion of ‘convenience’: it also may be based on intention. It seems in some degree improbable that a grantor of land should intend to retain for himself an adjoining long thin strip of land over which there is a public highway or an easement of way. When from a practical point of view such a strip of land is unlikely ever to be capable of beneficial enjoyment by anyone save the grantee of the adjoining land and his successors in title, not only is it improbable that the grantor intended to retain the strip but also it would not be very long before serious difficulties in tracing the title to the strip might arise. As Lord Moulton said in City of London Land Tax Commissioners v Central Railway Co [1913] AC 364, 384, ‘The law cannot permit that the land under the highway should belong to nobody.’ This consideration seems to me to apply with equal force whether the thin strip is subject to a highway or an easement of way over its whole width, or whether the way merely runs down the middle with thinner strips on each side of it. ‘
Judges:
Megarry J
Citations:
[1973] 1 WLR 1572
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocesan Board of Finance v Clark (No.2) CA 1973
When looking at a contract ‘one must construe the document according to the natural meaning of the words contained in the document as a whole, read in the light of surrounding circumstances.’
The contra preferetem rule can only come into play . .
Cited – Paton and Another v Todd ChD 11-May-2012
The claimants sought leave to appeal against rejection of their request made to the Deputy Adjudicator for the rectification of the title to land they claimed title to land which was registered to the respondent neighbour.
Held: The claimant’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.515412