Hanning and Others v Top Deck Travel Group Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 05 May 1993 |
| Date | 05 May 1993 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Dillon, Lord Justice Kennedy and Sir Roger Parker
Easement - acquisition - illegal user
An easement could not be acquired by prescription where the use of the route was illegal by statute.
The Court of Appeal so held in allowing an appeal brought by the plaintiffs, John Guy Hanning, Charles Stuart Shackerley-Bennett, David Garne Trefgarne and Philip David Robbins, suing as trustees for and on behalf of Horsell Common Preservation Society, against the decision of Mr John Lindsay QC, sitting as a deputy judge of the Chancery Division, on January 22, 1992 when he held that section 193 of the Law of Property Act 1925, as amended, did not prevent the defendants, Top Deck Travel Group Ltd, from acquiring an easement by user of a track for commercial purposes, when that user was illegal under section 193(1)(c).
Section 193 of the 1925 Act provides: "(1) Members of the public shall … have rights of access for air and exercise to any land which is a metropolitan common … or manorial waste, or a common … and to any land which at the commencement of this Act is subject to rights of common … provided … (c) such rights of access shall not include any right to … drive upon the land a carriage, cart, caravan, truck, or other vehicle…
"(4) Any person who, without lawful authority … drives upon any land to which this section applies any carriage, cart, caravan, truck or other vehicle … shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine…"
Mr Michael Templeman and Mr Barry Payton for the plaintiffs; Mr Vivian Chapman for the defendants.
LORD JUSTICE DILLON said that on May 1, 1947 a lease was granted to the former trustees of Horsell Common from December 25, 1946. The lease was held on trust with a view to the preservation of the common and the trustees acquired the freehold reversion in 1966.
The defendants owned land which adjoined the common and known as Young Stroat Farm. Up to January 1, 1964 that was in common ownership with Shaw's Farm. There had been no use of Young Stroat Farm up to 1965 when commercial use of it began. There were several tracks and paths forming part of the common and running across and around it. One of them was the track defined in the plaintiffs' statement of claim and ran from close to the buildings at Young Stroat Farm southward across the common to join the public highway.
The track was nowadays and had for...
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Bakewell Management Ltd v Brandwood and Others
...Lord Scott of Foscote and Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe. I agree with them, for all the reasons that they have given, that Hanning v Top Deck Travel Group Limited (1993) 68 P & CR 14 was wrongly decided and must be overruled, and I too would allow the 3 The result of this case will come as ......
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Bakewell Management Ltd v Brandwood and Others
...no-one can now say that they were guilty of any criminal activity. The appellants' problem. 14 They do have a problem. It is Hanning v Top Deck Travel Group Ltd. (1993) 68 P & CR 14, a decision of this court. It is not suggested that it can be distinguished from the case before us. Applied......
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Epping Forest District Council v Martin Arnold Philcox
...manner claimed. 16 The second strand of authority relied on one upon the law of prescription. In Hanning v Top Deck Travel Group Ltd [1993] 68 P&CR 14, the plaintiff claimed by prescription an easement to convey vehicles along a track. It was argued against him that the acquisition of such ......
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Massey v Boulden
...breach of a criminal statute is well established and (subject to paragraph 30 below) not in dispute before us—see particularly Hanning v Top Deck Travel Group Ltd (1993) 68 P&CR 14 and Robinson v Adair The Times, 2 March 1995. Central to the appellants' case on illegality is s34 of the Road......
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The Lands of the Lord
...22 P&CR 978. 44 Norman v Department of Transport (1996) 72 P&CR 210. 45 [1982] 2 All ER 1031, (1984) 48 P&CR 85, [1985] 1 WLR 741. 46 (1993) 68 P&CR 14. the house owner could insist on having a legal right of way at a price determined according to rules authorised by Parliament. The subsequ......
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Creation of Rights of Way
...[2002] EWCA Civ 1634, where the eiusdem generis rule was held not to apply to the wording in Road Traffic Act 1988, s 34(1)(b). 50 (1993) 68 P&CR 14. statute. However, the decision in Hanning v Top Deck Travel was overruled by Bakewell Management Ltd v Brandwood . 51 A landowner has lawful ......
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Table of Cases
...2 WLR 1481, 82 P & CR 341, [2001] RTR 397, CA 85 xviii Public Rights of Way: The Essential Law Hanning v Top Deck Travel Group Ltd (1993) 68 P&CR 14, [1993] 22 LS Gaz R 37, (1993) The Times , 6 May, CA 22, 23 Hanscombe v Bedfordshire County Council [1938] 1 Ch 944, [1938] 3 All ER 647, 36 L......
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Table of Cases
...10.1, 10.2, 11.9, 12.8, 25.5, 27.4 Hanbury v Hussey (1851) Ch Cas 152, 14 Beav 152, 51 ER 244 8.3 Hanning v Top Deck Travel Group Ltd (1993) 68 P & CR 14, [1993] EGCS 84, [1993] NPC 73, CA 6.6 Harbin v Green (1617) Moore KB 887, 72 ER 975 17.3 Harthan v Harthan [1949] P 115, [1948] 2 All ER......