The respondent had obtained registration of land, Bachelors’ Acre, a grassed area of land in New Windsor, now used as a car park in the register of town and village greens under the Act as a customary green. It had been used for archery in mediaeval times and had later been leased for grazing subject to the recreational rights of the inhabitants. The plaintiff sought to deny the rights. The Commons Commissioner and Queens Bench upheld the registration.
Held: Tthe inhabitants indeed had a customary class b right to use the two-acre piece of land for sport and recreation. The land had been used since 1651 by the burgesses under various leases, allowing all to have access and for shooting and to maintain water butts. Improvements had been mde by the inhabitants in 1809. There was clearly a customary right to use the land for recreational purposes. That was a reasonable use and the registration as a village green was good. It may not be clear how the land could be used, but it could clearly not be used in a way inconsistent with the customary uses as wanted by the plaintiff. The period of 20 years in the Act referred to the 20 years before its passing.
Lord Denning considered the ‘one locality’ rule, and criticised the case of Edwards v Jenkins. Lord Denning MR said: ‘To be good, too, a custom must be certain. So, when all sorts of people came and played cricket on a field, it was held that the custom was good if it applied only to the inhabitants of the village and their guests, but not if it applied to all the world at large: see Fitch v. Rawling (1795) 2 Hy.B1. 394. In Edwards v. Jenkins [1896] 1 Ch. 308 Kekewich J. held that a custom for the inhabitants of three parishes to play on a field in one of these parishes was bad: but I do not think this is correct. So long as the locality is certain, that is enough. It is obvious that the custom may virtually deprive the owner of the land of any benefit of it: because he cannot use it in any way so as to hinder the villagers in their pastimes. But, nevertheless, the custom is good. It was so held where villagers proved a custom to erect a maypole and dance around it ‘and otherwise enjoy any lawful and innocent recreation at any times in the year’: see Hall v. Nottingham (1875) 1 Ex D. 1, 2′
Brightman LJ said this about the locality point: ‘I should prefer to reserve my opinion as to whether Edwards v. Jenkins [1896] 1 Ch. 308 is good law. There is some authority for supposing that a customary right cannot normally exist over land in one locality for the benefit of the inhabitants of a different locality. Nevertheless, were it relevant to this appeal, I would feel it difficult to understand why such a right cannot exist over land in one locality for the benefit of the inhabitants of that and one or more other localities, which was in effect the right unsuccessfully claimed in Edwards v. Jenkins. For myself, I express no concluded view’.
Judges:
Denning MR L, Browne LJ, Brightman J
Citations:
[1975] 3 All ER 44, [1975] 3 WLR 25, [1975] Ch 380
Statutes:
Commons Registration Act 1965 3
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Criticised – Edwards v Jenkins 1896
Application was made to register a customary right over land.
Held: The ‘locality rule’ applied. The inhabitants of the contiguous Surrey parishes of Beddington, Carshalton and Mitcham could not have a customary right of recreation over land . .
Cited by:
Cited – G and K Ladenbau (UK) Ltd v Crawley and De Reya QBD 25-Apr-1977
The defendant solicitors acted for the plaintiff in the purchase of land, but failed to undertake a commons search which would have revealed an entry which would prevent the client pursuing his development. The defect was discovered only when . .
Cited – Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council, Catherine Mary Robinson ChD 22-Jan-2004
Land had been registered in part as a common. The council appealed.
Held: The rights pre-existing the Act had not been lost. The presumption against retrospectively disapplying vested rights applied, and the application had properly been made. . .
Cited – Regina v Norfolk County Council ex parte Perry Admn 19-Dec-1996
The period of twenty years required to establish a common under the Act was the period up to the date of the application. . .
Cited – Oxfordshire 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 . .
Cited – Paddico (267) Ltd v Kirklees Metropolitan Council and Others ChD 23-Jun-2011
The company sought the rectification of the register of village greens to remove an entry relating to its land, saying that the Council had not properly considered the need properly to identify the locality which was said to have enjoyed the rights . .
Cited – Newhaven Port and Properties Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v East Sussex County Council and Another SC 25-Feb-2015
The court was asked: ‘whether East Sussex County Council . . was wrong in law to decide to register an area . . known as West Beach at Newhaven . . as a village green pursuant to the provisions of the Commons Act 2006. The points of principle raised . .
Cited – Lancashire County Council, Regina (on The Application of) v SSEFRA and Another SC 11-Dec-2019
Two appeals as to the circumstances in which the concept of ‘statutory incompatibility’ will defeat an application to register land as a town or village green where the land is held by a public authority for statutory purposes. In the first case, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Leading Case
Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.183166