Evan v The Corporation of Avon
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 15 November 1860 |
| Date | 15 November 1860 |
| Court | High Court of Chancery |
English Reports Citation: 54 E.R. 581
ROLLS COURT
S. C. 30 L. J. Ch. 165; 6 Jur. (N. S.) 1361; 3 L. T. 347; 9 W. R. 84.
[144] evan v. the corporation or avon. Nov. 15, 1860. [S. C. 30 L. J. Ch. 165 ; 6 Jur. (N. S.) 1361 ; 3 L. T. 347 ; 9 W. E. 84.] Prima facie a municipal corporation has full power to dispose of all its property, like a private individual, and ifc lies on the person alleging the contrary to establish a trust. A pleading is to be taken most strongly against the pleader, and a general allegation of the Defendant being a trustee cannot support a bill, unless there are facts alleged shewing the trust. Demurrer allowed to a bill by a member of a municipal corporation, to restrain them from selling their estates, and for an account of the estates sold, his alleged rights being in hia corporate and not his individual capacity. 582 EVAN V. THE CORPORATION OF AVON 29 BEAV. 1. A suit against a corporation to compel the performance of a public trust should l e by information by the Attorney-General. This bill was filerl by John Evan, a senior burgess of the borough of Avon, in Glamorganshire, against " The Portreeve, Aldermen and Burgesses of Avon, otherwise Aber-avon," Griffith Williams their solicitor, and the Attorney-General. It stated that the portreeve, &c., were a corporation consisting of a portreeve, &e., &c., and about seventy burgesses, but that it was not included in the Municipal Corporation Act of 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76. That the Corporation (previous to the sales thereof) was seised of certain hereditaments in Avon, and that their rights originated in "certain" charters or deeds, including the following:- It then set out three charters or deeds, the first, without date, of Leyson-ap-Morgan, lord of Avon, which granted to all his English burgesses and his chancers of Avon certain libertie, bote, pasture ground, &c., &c. The second, dated 24 Edw. 3, of Thomas de Avene, confirming the former, with additions. The third, dated in the 47th Edw. 3, of Edward le Despener, lord of Glamorgan and Morganwg, granting to the burgesses liberties, or market and right to receive toll, the portreeve accounting for them to the grantor. None of these charters, as set out, shewed any private trust in favor of any individual members of the Corporation. [145] The bill alleged that the Corporation afterwards acquired other property, and the sixth, eighth and ninth allegations were as follows :- " 6. All the hereditaments so vested in the Corporation have always been, and are, subject to certain trusts in favor of the individual members of the said corporate body, and also (as to certain proportions of the rents, issues and profits of all of the said hereditaments, to certain trusts in favor of the town and inhabitants generally of Avon, and every burgess, on his admission as a burgess, has, from time immemorial, taken and still takes an oath to preserve the hereditaments belonging to the said Corporation for the benefit of the said Corporation and of the said town and inhabitants, and not to consent to or join in alienation prejudicial to the said Corporation or town. The said private and public trusts are evidenced by divers provisions, rules and ordinances, contained in charters, or which have obtained by custom, or been duly made by the said Corporation." "8. All the burgesses of the said borough are well entitled to, and of right ought to enjoy, the right of pasture for their cattle in and upon all the marsh and mountain lands of the said Corporation, and also a voice in the management of the property of the Corporation. The...
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