''Wheeldon v Burrows'' (1879) LR 12 Ch D 31 is an

English land law English land law is the law of real property in England and Wales. Because of its heavy historical and social significance, land is usually seen as the most important part of English property law. Ownership of land has its roots in the feudal sy ...

case confirming and governing a means of the implied grant or grants of

easement An easement is a Nonpossessory interest in land, nonpossessory right to use or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B" ...

s — the implied grant of all continuous and apparent inchoate easements (quasi easements, that is they would be easements if the land were not before transfer in the unity of possession and title) to a transferee of part, unless expressly excluded. The case consolidated one of the three current methods by which an easement can be acquired by implied grant. It was little altered by subsequent case law by 1925 but has been further consolidated by section 62 of the

Law of Property Act 1925 The Law of Property Act 1925 ( 15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 20) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It forms part of an interrelated programme of legislation introduced by Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The progr ...

. Both types of implied grant are widely excluded in agreements by sellers of part and to some extent other transferors of part, so that the retained land can be developed subject to general and local planning law constraints.

Facts

Mr Tetley owned a piece of land and a workshop in Derby, which had windows overlooking and receiving light from the first piece of land. He sold the workshop to Mr Burrows, and the piece of land to Mr Wheeldon. Mr Wheeldon's widow (Mrs Wheeldon, the plaintiff) built on the piece of land, and it obstructed the windows of Mr Burrows' workshop. In response, Mr Burrows dismantled Mrs Wheeldon's construction, asserting an easement over the light passing through Wheeldon's lot. Mrs Wheeldon brought an action in trespass.

Judgment

Thesiger LJ held that because the seller had not reserved the right of access to light the windows, no such right was passed to the purchaser of the workshop. So the buyer of the land could obstruct the workshop windows with building. However, the principles governing the area of law where are referred to said the following.(1879) LR 12 Ch D 31, 49

Notes

{{Reflist, 2 English property case law 1879 in British law English land case law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases 1879 in case law

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes