Where land is acquired by agreement for the purposes of constructing waterworks under a Special Act incorporating the Waterworks Clauses Act 1847, and where the undertakers purchase all the mines and minerals under the land so taken, they ipso facto step into the former owner’s place as regards the common law right of support from the minerals under adjacent lands. The common law right of support from minerals under adjacent lands is not taken away by sections 18 to 27 of the Waterworks Clauses Act 1847, nor have the owners of adjacent minerals any greater rights of working as against the undertakers than they had against the former owners. The rights in the two cases are the same.
Judges:
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Macnaghten, James of Hereford, Robertson, Atkinson, and Collins
Citations:
[1908] UKHL 981, 45 SLR 981
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Land
Updated: 26 April 2022; Ref: scu.621497