Brocklebank v Thompson: 1903

Parishioners sought to assert as a common right the right to walk across the local manor to the local church.
Held: Rights which have been long enjoyed, and in the absence of evidence that the enjoyment is recent only, are deemed to have been enjoyed since time immemorial. A jury’s finding that such rights have been enjoyed for twenty years is sufficient to raise the presumption. There was no evidence that use had been restricted to tenants of the manor only, and the right was by immemorial custom a churchway or path for the inhabitants of the parish generally.

Judges:

Joyce J

Citations:

[1903] 2 Ch 344, [1903] 72 LJ Ch 626, [1903] 89 LT 209, [1903] 19 TLR 285

Cited by:

CitedOxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and others HL 24-May-2006
Application had been made to register as a town or village green an area of land which was largely a boggy marsh. The local authority resisted the application wanting to use the land instead for housing. It then rejected advice it received from a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land

Updated: 01 May 2022; Ref: scu.242338