Cases - Aldin v Latimer, Clark Muirhead & Co
Record details
- Name
- Aldin v Latimer, Clark Muirhead & Co
- Date
- [1894]
- Citation
- 2 Ch 437
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Easements
- Summary
-
The plaintiff bought the timber business of a Mr Munro and also took a lease from him of the premises which he owned and at which he had traded. Under the lease the plaintiff was obliged to carry on the business of timber merchant at the premises. Mr Munro continued to occupy the property next door until he died, at which point it was sold to the defendants. The defendants sought to develop this property, and the plaintiff complained that in doing so they were interfering with the access of air to his drying sheds next door used in connection with his business as a timber merchant. The Court held that the lease granted to the plaintiff was specifically for the purpose of carrying on a timber business and that the passage of air to the drying sheds was necessary for this activity, and that accordingly Mr Munro had been subject to an obligation not to do anything on his adjoining property to substantially interfere with that activity. The defendants, as successors in title to Mr Munro, were bound by that obligation.
In certain circumstances, the courts may be willing to go so far as to imply an easement of necessity to allow an owner to go onto adjoining land to construct a channel to provide for the access of air to his property.