Dimes against The Company of Proprietors of The Grand Junction Canal
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1846 |
| Date | 01 January 1846 |
| Court | Court of the Queen's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 115 E.R. 1353
QUEEN'S BENCH
S. C. 3 Railw. Cas. 34; 16 L. J. Q. B. 107; 11 Jur. 429. See proceedings in House of Lords, 3 H. L. C. 759; 10 E. r. 301.
[469] dimes against the company of proprietors of the g-rand junction canal. 1846. Stat. 11 G. 4 & 1 W. 4, c. 65, s. 9, enacting that no infant shall forfeit copyhold land for his neglect or refusal to be admitted, doea not prevent tbe lord from seizing quousque. So held by the Court of Exchequer Chamber, reversing the judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench. A canal company was authorized by statute (33 G-. 3, c. 80) to purchase land, on voluntary or compulsory sale by the persons interested (at prices to be agreed upon, or ascertained by commissioners or a jury); and a form of conveyance was prescribed, purporting that the party granted all his " right, title, and interest, to and in the same, and every part thereof, to hold to the said company forever." The company were authorized to enter upon payment of price, or tender, &c.; and were made liable to render compensation for damage done by their works, &o,, if claimed within six months. A copyholder in fee executed a conveyance in the statutory form to the company, who paid him the price, and entered. Held by the Court of Exchequer Chamber. That this conveyance passed only such interest as the copyholder could convey without the lord, and that, on the copyholder's death, no other person having been admitted, the lord might seize quousque for want of a tenant, and maintain ejectment, and an action for mesue profits, against the company. That, the copyholder having devised generally his property called F., which comprehended the land in question, subject to payment of his debts, ana other payments, the legal title to tbe laud in question did not pass to the devisee, but descended to the copyholder's heir at law. That, in an action by the lord against the company for mesne profits,'it appearing by special verdict that the steward bad made a warrant of seizure, commanding the bailiff, generally, "to seize " the land " into the bands of tbe lord of the manor," and the bailiff did, in pursuance of the warrant, seize into the hands of the lord until a tenant should come in and be admitted, this must be considered only a seizure quousque. That, in order to entitle the lord ao to seize, there ought to be proclamations at three consecutive courts baron. But that, when, in an action by the lord in his own name for mesne profits, a special verdict found a custom to seize after three consecutive courts baron, and that there had been a recovery in ejectment on the lord's demise (which recovery was not put on the record by way of estoppel), and that proclamation had been made in three courts, but it was not found whether they were, or were not, consecutive, it must be considered that the proclamations were regular, though the jury would have been at liberty to find the contrary. [S. C. 3 Eailw. Cas. 34; 16 L. J. Q. B. 107 ; 11 Jur. 429. See proceedings in House of Lords, 3 H. L. C. 759 ; 10 E. B. 301.] Trespass foe mesne profits. The declaration charged that defendants, on 18th May 1836, with force, &c., broke and entered certain closes of plaintiff, in the parish of Eickraanawortb, otherwise Rickmersworth, in Hertfordshire, and ejected and expelled plaintiff, &c., and kept and continued him so expelled, &c., and took the issues and profits, &c. Fleas : 1. Not guilty, Issue thereon. 2. That the closes in which, &c., in the declaration [470] mentioned, at the said times whet), &a, were not, nor was either of them or any part thereof, the closes or close of plaintiff, in manner, &c. Conclusion to the country. Issue thereon. On the trial, before Lord Abinger C.B., at the Hertfordshire Summer Assizes, 1840, a special verdict was found, the material parts of which are as follows. One Joseph Skidmore died, previously to the 14th of April 1784, seised of certain copyhold lands, described in the presentment of admittance next mentioned, lying and (a) The case has hitherto proceeded no farther. K. B. xliv.-43* 1354 DIMES V. THE GBAND JUNCTION CANAL COMPANY 9Q.B.471. being within the manor of Bicktnans worth, in Hertfordshire. The verdict then traced the title to Joseph Skidmore's son, named also Joseph Skidmore, and found that the last mentioned Joseph Skidmore waa, on 30th March, 1785, admitted as tenant of (among other parcels) a copyhold messuage or tenement, farm, &a, called Frogmores, together with a meadow thereto belonging called .Hogshaws, otherwise Bound Mead, situate, &c. in the parish of Bickraersworth, to hold unto him, his heirs and assigns, of the lord by the rod, at the will of the lord, according to the custom of the manor. The verdSct then stated the passing, afterwards, and before the commencement of this suit, on days severally named, of certain Acts of Parliament, viz. : stats.(o) [471] (a) These statutes contain enactments relating to the Grand Junction Canal Company. Several sections of the Acts were cited by counsel in the argument, as illustrating the general policy of the Legislature with respect to the rights and liabilities of the company; but the only clauses on which the Court rested their judgment are the following. Stat. 33 G. 3, c. 80, is entitled, " An Act fur Making and Maintaining a Navigable Canal from the Oxford Canal Navigation, at Braunston, in the County of Northampton, to join the Biver Thames at or near Brentford, in the County of Middlesex, and also certain Collateral Cuts," &c. Sect, 1 incorporates " The Company of Proprietors of the Grand Junction Canal " by that name, empowers them to purchase lands for the use of the navigation, to make and complete a canal, to be called " The Grand Junction Canal," to supply it with water from brooks, &c., within certain distances, to make machines, reservoirs, soughs, &c., to cleanse, enlarge, &c. streams, &c.; "and for the purposes aforesaid," the company are " hereby authorized and empowered to enter into and upon the lands and grounds of any person or persons, bodies politick, corporate or collegiate, whatsoever, and to survey and take levels of the same, or any part thereof, and to set out and ascertain such parts thereof as they shall think necessary and proper for making," the canal, reservoirs, &c., and to bore, dig, &c., carry away, and lay earth, stone, trees, &o. or other things which may be dug or got, in making the canal, &c., or out of the lands adjoining, which may be proper for making, &c. the canal, &c., and to make, on the canal, &c. or lands adjoining, bridges, aqueducts, reservoirs, houses, machines, &c., and do all other matters and things which they shall think convenient for making, &c., the canal and other works; doing as little damage as may be, " and making satisfaction in manner hereinafter mentioned, to the owners or proprietors of, and alt persons interested in the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, waters, watercourses, brooks, or rivers respectively, which shall be taken, used, removed, diverted, or prejudiced, for all damages to be by them sustained in or by the execution of all or any of the powers of this Act; and this Act shall be sufficient to indemnify the said company of proprietors and their deputies," &c., "and all other persons whomsoever, for what they or any of them shall do by virtue of the powers hereby granted, subject neverthless to such provisoes and restrictions as are hereinafter mentioned." Sect. 5 provides for a map and books of reference describing the line of the canal, &c. Sect. 9 enacts : " That after any such part or parts of the said lands or grounds shall be so set out and ascertained as aforesaid for making the said canal," &c., "and for providing and constructing the wharfs, and other works and conveniences hereinbefore mentioned, or any of them, it shall be lawful for all bodies politic, corporate, or collegiate, corporations aggregate or sole, tenants for life or in tail, husbands, guardians, trustees, and feoffees in trust, committees, executors, and administrators, and all other trustees or persons whomsoever, not only for and on behalf of themselves, their heirs and successors, but also for and on behalf of their eestui que trusts, whether infants, issue unborn, lunatics, idiots, femes covert, or other person or persons, and to and for all femes covert who are or shall be seised, possessed, or interested in their own right, and for every other person or persons whomsoever, who is, are, or shall be seised, possessed of, or interested in any lands, grounds, and hereditaments which shall be so set out and ascertained for the purposes aforesaid, to contract for, sell, or convey the same, and every part thereof, unto the said company of proprietors; and if it shall happen that by making the said canal, or collateral cuts, or any of them, or the conveyance of water thereto, the property of any land owner or land owners shall be separated into small parcels, so as to render the 9Q. B. ?J. DIMES V. THE GRAND JUNCTION CANAL COMPANY 1355 33 G. 3, c. 80, 34 G. 3, c. 24, 35 G. 3, c. 8, 35 G. 3, c. 85, 36 G. 3, c. 25, and stats, (local and personal, public) 38 G. 3, c. xxxiii., 41 G. 2 (U. K..), c. Ixxi., [472] 43 G. 3, c. viii., 45 G. 3, c. Ixviii., 51 G. 3, c. clxix., 52 G. 3, c. cxi., 52 G. 3, c. cxcv., 35 G. 3, c. xxxii., 56 G. 3, c. Ixxxv., 58 G. 3, s. xvi., 59 G. 3, c. Ixvi., 1 & 2 G. 4, c. xliii., 7 G. 4, c. cxi. occupation thereof inconvenient, it shall be lawful for such bodies politic," &c., "and all such other person and persons as aforesaid, by and with the consent of the commissioners hereby appointed, or any five or more of them to be testified by writing," &c., " to contract for, sell, and dispose of, or to convey in exchange for other lands, all or any part of such small parcels of land to any person or persons whomsoever, for such price or prices in money or other equivalent, as to such...
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Ebner v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy
...forms of tenure: Megarry and Wade, The Law of Real Property, 6th ed (2000) at §2–036. 39 See Dimes v The Grand Junction Canal Company (1846) 9 QB 469 at 518 [ 115 ER 1353 at 1372n] and actions noted by Sharman, ‘Feudal Copyholder and Industrial Shareholder: The Dimes Case’ (1989) 10 Journal......
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Ebner v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy
...forms of tenure: Megarry and Wade, The Law of Real Property, 6th ed (2000) at §2–036. 39 See Dimes v The Grand Junction Canal Company (1846) 9 QB 469 at 518 [ 115 ER 1353 at 1372n] and actions noted by Sharman, ‘Feudal Copyholder and Industrial Shareholder: The Dimes Case’ (1989) 10 Journal......
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