Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter discusses rules common to all three forms of prescription; user ‘as of right’ (without force, without secrecy and without permission), presumed acquiescence, user must be continuous, user must be by or on behalf of a fee simple against a fee simple, and user must be against a servient owner capable of granting an easement; prescription at common law; prescription by lost modern grant; prescription under the Prescription Act 1832; prescriptive easements and profits as legal interests; and extinguishment of easements.
Chapter
19. Prescription for Easements (and Profits)
Chapter
3. Law, Equity, and Human Rights
In addition to the concepts of tenure and estates, another fundamental aspect of England’s Land Law is the impact of equity. The intervention of equity was originally based upon the need to enforce obligations of conscience and to redress defects in the common law, and also gave rise to the trust. But while the trust might be equity’s greatest creation, the intervention of equity also addressed other areas of Land Law where the common law position was considered to be defective or oppressive. A notable example is the law of mortgages. Aside from modifying the common law, equity also recognized other rights that did not result in the beneficial entitlement to the land. This chapter discusses the historical basis of equity in England, the creation of equitable rights, the enforceability of equitable and legal rights, and human rights.
Chapter
12. Freehold Covenants
People who wish to develop their land, or build upon it, must obtain planning permission, applications for which are made public and those who may be affected by the action may make representations. The law governing this area is a highly complex one and involves the public control of land use. Private control of land use involves landowners seeking to regulate how land is used within a particular locality. This chapter deals with covenants made between freeholders and how successors in title to the original parties to the covenant can either acquire the benefit of a covenant or take subject to the burden of it. It first discusses the privity of contract before turning to the transmission of covenants, common law, equity, and restrictive covenants, and also considers remedies available in case a breach of covenant arises, discharge of covenants, and positive covenants.
Chapter
2. The structure of land law
This chapter discusses the origins and structure of modern land law, tracing the development of two kinds of estates and interests: at common law and in equity. It discusses the meaning of estates in land, and legal and equitable rights; examines the differences between the two; and explains why it matters whether a right in land is legal or equitable. The different effects of legal and equitable interests on purchasers of land are noted, because common law acts in rem and equity in personam. This gave rise to the doctrine of notice. The reforms introduced by the 1925 Property Acts are explained, including reduction of legal estates in land to two: the fee simple absolute in possession (freehold) and term of years absolute (leasehold)—Law of Property Act 1925, s. 1(1). Registration of land charges partially reformed the doctrine of notice, and overreaching was introduced. The Land Registration Act 1925 introduced compulsory registration of title; there are now two systems: registered and unregistered land.
