Wallbank and Wallbank v Parochial Church Council of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote With Billesley, Warwickshire: CA 17 May 2001

The defendant owned land subject to an inclosure award of 1743, in exchange for other land which had made the owner a lay rector. The land was subject to the burden of a duty to maintain the chancel of the parish church. The defendants had been found liable to repair the chancel, but appealed on the basis that the Council was a public authority and the notice was served in breach of the defendants human rights to peaceful enjoyment of their land. By attaching what was in effect a tax to private land, the law allowed discrimination between land ownership. It was neither appropriate not proportionate to single out former glebe land as having responsibility to maintain public buildings.

Citations:

Gazette 01-Jun-2001, Times 15-Jun-2001, Gazette 21-Jun-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 713, [2002] Ch 51

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Human Rights Act 1998, Chancel Repairs Act 1932

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal fromParochial Church Council of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote With Billesby, Warwickshire and Another ChD 7-Feb-2000
A lay rector could be liable for the physical upkeep of the chancel of the church by virtue of the Act, and such liability was not removed by the new Human Rights Act. Such liability could exist whether or not he had notice of the liability when . .

Cited by:

Appeal from (Disapproved)Parochial Church Council of the Parish of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley, Warwickshire v Wallbank and another HL 26-Jun-2003
Parish Councils are Hybrid Public Authorities
The owners of glebe land were called upon as lay rectors to contribute to the cost of repairs to the local church. They argued that the claim was unlawful by section 6 of the 1998 Act as an act by a public authority incompatible with a Convention . .
CitedRegina v Lambert HL 5-Jul-2001
Restraint on Interference with Burden of Proof
The defendant had been convicted for possessing drugs found on him in a bag when he was arrested. He denied knowing of them. He was convicted having failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that he had not known of the drugs. The case was . .
CitedRegina v Kansal (2) HL 29-Nov-2001
The prosecutor had lead and relied at trial on evidence obtained by compulsory questioning under the 1986 Act.
Held: In doing so the prosecutor was acting to give effect to section 433.
The decision in Lambert to disallow retrospective . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Land, Ecclesiastical

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147549