The defendant owned a 700 acre farm. He granted to the plaintiff ‘the exclusive right of shooting and sporting in over and upon it’ for a term of fourteen years. With still some four years of the term to run, he conveyed 12 acres of the farm for the erection of racing stables. The plaintiff objected.
Held: The building substantially interfered with or limited the shooting rights, and was therefore a derogation from the defendant’s grant of which the plaintiff could complain. Scrutton LJ said: ‘It appears to me that fundamentally changing the character of the land over which sporting rights are granted . . if it has the necessary effect of substantially injuring the rights of others is a derogation from grant, and is a substantial interference with the profit a prendre granted.’ The case of Farrar shows that: ‘both landlord and sporting tenant must use their land reasonably having regard to the interest of the other, and will be liable for damage caused to the other by extraordinary, non-natural, or unreasonable action.’
Scrutton LJ
[1931] 1 KB 1
England and Wales
Citing:
Explained – Farrer v Nelson 1885
The plaintiff was tenant of a farm over which the defendants’ predecessor had reserved shooting rights. The defendants had brought pheasants in coops on to land very close to the plaintiffs’ farm. The came onto the farm damaging his crops. The . .
Cited by:
Cited – Well Barn Shoot Limited and Well Barn Farming Limited v Shackleton and Another CA 22-Jan-2003
The defendants had been tenant farmers of the plaintiff company which retained shooting rights over the land when part was sold to the defendants. The defendant object to the use of a roadway by the plaintiff. The plaintiff sought to repurchase the . .
Cited – Pole and Another v Peake and Another CA 17-Jul-1998
The defendants owned land over which the plaintiffs owned shooting and other sporting rights. When the plaintiffs licenced those rights to others the defendants objected and prevented access. They appealed a finding that they had infringed the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 25 July 2021; Ref: scu.220698