A tenant had openly used the premises for many years in breach of a covenant in the lease.
Held: Pollock CB said: ‘It is a maxim of the law to give effect to everything to which appears to have been established for a considerable course of time, and to presume that what has been done was done of right, and not in wrong.’
Judges:
Pollock CB
Citations:
(1857) 2 HandN 615, [1857] EngR 925, (1857) 157 ER 253
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Followed – In re Summerson (Note) 23-Feb-1899
The buyer of leasehold promises sought to be discharged from her obligation to complete, when it was revealed after exchange of contracts, that the lease contained a clause for forfeiture if the premises should be used as an alehouse. The property . .
Followed – Hepworth v Pickles ChD 2-Nov-1899
The parties contracted for the sale and purchase of a shop which had been used continuously and openly with an off-licence for the sale of alcohol for twenty four years. After exchange, a restrictive covenant was revealed against the use of land as . .
Cited – Attorney General of Hong Kong v Fairfax Limited PC 17-Dec-1996
(Hong Kong) A lease had been granted containing a covenant that the tenant would build villa residences only on the land. In breach of that covenant many high rise properties had been erected over many years. The applicant, now respondents, had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Updated: 06 December 2022; Ref: scu.252341