National Trust v White: ChD 1987

Warner J discussed the cases of Cooke v Ingram and Pettey v Parsons concerning rights of way: ‘Each was concerned with the resolution, in particular circumstances, of the inevitable conflict between the dominant owner’s right of access to the way and the servient owner’s right to fence his land. No hard and fast rule emerges from those cases, let alone any rule that could be applied mechanically in the circumstances of the present case. The guidance that those cases do afford is, I think, this, that whilst the servient owner may not derogate from the grant, the dominant owner may not make unreasonable demands. What would, in a particular case, constitute a derogation from the grant and what would, in that case, constitute an unreasonable demand depends, of course, in the first instance on the proper construction of the grant and then on the factual circumstances.’

Judges:

Warner J

Citations:

[1987] 1 WLR 907

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedLomax and Another v Wood CA 11-Jun-2001
Land owners were granted a right of way over an occupation road to the highway. They had other means of access to the highway, but eventually sought to construct a gateway onto the occupation road. The owners of the occupation road resisted. It was . .
CitedEmmett v Sisson CA 3-Feb-2014
Appeal against judgment in boundary dispute involving a private driveway.
Held: The appeal failed. ‘The respondents are entitled to exercise the ‘relative luxury’ of the ample right to gain both vehicular and pedestrian access to their land . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land

Updated: 03 February 2022; Ref: scu.254438