Cases - News of the World Ltd v Allen Fairhead & Sons Ltd

Record details

Name

News of the World Ltd v Allen Fairhead & Sons Ltd

Date

[1931]

Citation

2 Ch 402

Keywords

Rights of light

Summary

The plaintiffs were lessees of premises opposite the defendants' property. Windows in the plaintiffs' premises had the benefit of rights to light over the defendants' premises. However, the plaintiffs then pulled down their property and constructed a new building. No proper plan was drawn up showing the coincidences between the old and new windows and the architect did not have in mind the need to preserve the rights of light. After the plaintiffs' building was rebuilt, the defendants demolished and began to rebuild their own building. The building was designed to be much higher than the original construction. The plaintiffs started an action claiming an injunction and damages for interference with their rights oflight. The defendants argued that because the plaintiffs had no intention of preserving the rights to lights on rebuilding, this meant that they should be presumed to have abandoned those rights.

The judge held that a mere lack of evidence of an intention to preserve a right of light was not by itself sufficient to prove an intention to abandon the plaintiffs' rights. However, he also held that above the ground floor the lack of precise evidence as to the identity of the old and new windows made it impossible to hold that any right of light had been retained. On the ground floor, he held that there were substantial coincidences between some new and old windows. However, he found that the plaintiffs had failed to establish a nuisance. He rejected the plaintiffs' argument that they could prove a nuisance by asking the court to disregard all the light coming through the new apertures except those parts that coincided with the old windows. This would mean that the plaintiffs' own acts would have greatly increased the burden on the servient property. The judge also took into account, in rejecting the plaintiffs' claim on the ground floor, the great uncertainty as to the exact dimensions of the old windows.