Baxendale v Instow Parish Council: ChD 1982

Sir Robert Megarry V-C said: ‘Another instance of movable freeholds, and one that is very much in print in this case, may arise on a grant of foreshore; for such a grant may convey an estate in the foreshore in whatever position it is from time to time. If the sea imperceptibly recedes, the foreshore recedes with it, the foreshore that has been granted moves inland. This has to be considered in relation to the law of accretion and diluvion. Apart from any grant of the foreshore, if there is dituvion the movement of the foreshore appears to divest the frontager of some of his land; for what was dry land becomes part of the new foreshore, and so belongs to the owner of the foreshore, usually the Crown: see In re Hall and Selby Railway (1839) SM and W 327, 333; [1839] EngR 133; 151 ER 139, 141.’ and ‘one would expect sea-grounds, oyster-layings, shores and fisheries to follow the sea as it advances or retreats.’

Judges:

Sir Robert Megarry V-C

Citations:

[1982] Ch 14

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedLynn Shellfish Ltd and Others v Loose and Another SC 13-Apr-2016
The court was asked as to the extent of an exclusive prescriptive right (ie an exclusive right obtained through a long period of use) to take cockles and mussels from a stretch of the foreshore on the east side of the Wash, on the west coast of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land

Updated: 16 May 2022; Ref: scu.606896