Cases - Smith & Co (Orpington) v Morris

Record details

Name
Smith & Co (Orpington) v Morris
Date
(1962)
Legislation

Prescription Act 1832

Keywords
Rights of light
Summary

The plaintiff owned an open-sided garage, used for housing lorries, which had 7 bays. The dispute concerned a window over a bench in one of the bays. A dispute arose as to whether the plaintiff had a right to light in relation to that window.

One of the issues was whether the structure was a building for the purposes of section 3 of the Prescription Act. The judge in this case (like the judge in Clifford v Holt) did not consider that a building had to be analogous to a dwelling-house or workshop in order to fall within the phrase 'or other building'. He concluded that the main points to be considered in determining whether a structure was a building were:

  1. Did the structure give substantial shelter from the elements?
  2. Was it one which ordinarily required light by means of windows or fixed apertures?
  3. Had it got windows?
  4. Was it so attached to the soil as to pass under a conveyance of the land without special mention?

In this case, the judge decided that the answer to all these questions was 'yes' and therefore he held that the structure was a building.