Intro Flashcards
Corporeal hereditaments
Rights with real, tangible quality. They are part of the land.
Including anything growing on the land (e.g: trees) & things found under the found (e.g: minerals)
Incorporeal hereditaments
Intangible rights in land; e.g: right to use your neighbour’s garden as a short cut.
Including mortgages, leases, restrictive covenants, easements: affect the exact nature of your neighbour’s rights over his land.
Civil Aviation Act 1982
Minimum flight high 1000m- no trespass; vertical boundary
Hatton v UK
Night flights over people’s homes near Heathrow
Claim: disproportionate interference with Art 8 right
ECtHR Held: not disproportionate- no infringement
Re the Queen in right of Manitoba and Air Canada 1968
Province of Manitoba attempted to put taxes on sales of goods on board of commercial airplanes flying over province.
Held: failed, no one could claim ownership of that part of airspace
Bernstein v Skyviews:
Basic test (vertical boundary) Owner has rights to such height as is necessary for the ordinary use of and enjoyment of his land and the structures upon it
Law of Property Act 1925 s. 62(1):
Any conveyance of land is taken to include all buildings then attached along with any other fixtures, erections etc without specification otherwise
Elitestone v Morris:
Three fold distinction:
- Fixtures: affixed to the land but potentially removable
- Buildings: ‘part and parcel’ of the land- removable only by complete destruction
- Chattels: not part of the land
Chelsea Yacht and Boat Co v Pope
Boat is a chattel
Chattel or fixture?
Two-fold test: 1) Default rule: Degree of annexation Gravity test and test of permanency 2) Displaced by: Purpose of annexation Objective test
Elitestone v Morris:
If a thing rests on its own weight (most likely a chattel) it may become a fixture if its purpose is the improvement of the realty
Berkley v Poulett 2008
If an object cannot be removed without serious damage to part of the realty- case for its having become a fixture is a strong one
Land Registration Act 2002
Purpose: key mechanism by which competing interests in land are regulated; Obstacle: informal agreements- many not considering whether they have a right or not
Estate in land
Right of possession to that land. How long a person is allowed to enjoy the land.;
Two types:
Freehold estate: absolute ownership
Leasehold estate: absolute ownership for a defined period of time
Freehold estate
absolute ownership
Leasehold estate
absolute ownership for a defined period of time
Currency of Estates
- Estate in possession
- Estate in remeinder
- Estate in reversion
Estate in possession:
o Have it currently
o Enjoyment immediate
o Could include a landlord as he is still enjoying the land through collection of rent
Estate in remainder:
o Enjoyment deferred until expiry of some prior right
o Present right to future enjoyment
Estate in reversion:
o Present right to future enjoyment
o Residue of the owner’s interest after he has granted some away
o Reverts to you on the death of the grantee
Limitation of Estates (before 1925)
- Absolute
- Determinable
- Conditional
- Contingent
Absolute estate:
o Not subject to any determining condition
o Unlimited
Current estates after LPA ‘25
(i) Estate in fee simple absolute in possession
(ii) Term of years absolute
Conveyance of legal estate by joint legal owners
o Validly conveyed only by document signed by both legal trustees
o But- even if this is not done- if new owner’s title is registered it becomes conclusive of his legal ownership S.58 LRA 2002
National Provincial Bank Ltd v Ainsworth [1965]
About s 70 of LPA’25; Husband was registered proprietor of house which he & wife lived in. After desertion wife remained there by order of the court. Husband remortgaged the house, following default on which the bank sought possession; no proprietary interest in the land which was capable of amounting to an overriding interest; mere personal right; did not confer on her any equitable estate or interest in the house
