Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2010] All ER (D) 333 (Jul)
Neutral Citation: [2010] UKSC 35
Court: Supreme Court
Judge:

Hope, Walker, Brown, Collins and Clarke SCJJ
Representation Jonathan Gaunt QC, Michael Beloff QC and Edward Peters (instructed by Denton Wilde Sapte LLP) for the claimant.
  Michael Driscoll QC and Ciaran Keller (instructed by Norton Rose LLP) for the defendant.
  James Strachan (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the Intervener (the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change).
Judgment Dates: 28 July 2010

Catchwords

Damages - Trespass to land - Oil - First defendant company having licence to extract oil from oilfield neighbouring claimant's land - Oil wells sunk beneath claimant's land - Claimant commencing proceedings against defendants for trespass - Whether claimant having ownership of strata beneath surface of land - Whether claimant having 'factual' or 'exclusive' possession of strata - Whether value of underground ancillary right to be assessed on same basis as compulsory purchase of land - Whether land having any 'key' or 'ransom' value - .

The Case

Damages Trespass to land. The Supreme Court held that a freehold landowner's possession of land extended at least as far below the earth as mineable strata, and that the defendant mining company had committed an actionable trespass by sinking three oil wells beneath that land without obtaining an underground wayleave from the freeholder. The Court further held, by a majority, that the ordinary principles of assessing the valuation of the land under compulsory land purchase applied to the purchase of rights under the and that the land had no 'key' or 'ransom' value, with the result that the value of the right infringed was 82.50.

If you are a LexisLibrary subscriber you can read more about this case here.

Lexis®Library

  • An Official transcript is the final version of the judgment prepared by shorthand writers. LexisLibrary contains all judgments from the High Court and aboveView Judgment
  • Cases related to this particular case that are related to, or discuss this caseView related cases
  • Commentary discussing this particular case from LexisLibrary's comprehensive range of titles including Butterworths, Halsbury's and TolleyView related commentary
  • The All England Law Reports comprises judgments with headnotes and catchwords indicating the area of law and key issues of the case prepared by legally qualified editorsFind AllER Reports