Cases - Allen v Greenwood
Record details
- Name
- Allen v Greenwood
- Date
- [1980]
- Citation
- Ch 119
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Rights of light - prescription - actionable infringement - extent of right acquired by prescription - whether a right to light entitles the dominant owner to the sun's warmth - whether a right to an exceptional amount of light can be acquired by prescription - whether a greenhouse had acquired a right to an exceptional amount of light - whether entitled to sufficient light for growing plants - Prescription Act 1832, s. 3
- Summary
-
This case concerned interference with the access of light to a greenhouse. The Court of Appeal found that a dominant property may acquire a prescriptive right to an extraordinary level of light provided that the servient owner is fully aware of the use of the property. It illustrates the point made in Ough v King.
The Court of Appeal held that the greenhouse was entitled to the amount of light necessary to use the greenhouse for the purpose of growing plants. As the access of light to the greenhouse had been enjoyed for the purpose of growing plants for over 20 years before proceedings were commenced, the Court of Appeal held that the greenhouse had acquired a prescriptive right to receive an exceptional amount of light.
One interesting question raised by the Court, which still remains unanswered, is the extent to which heat from the sun might be separated from its light, and whether a claim might lie for interference to the former and not just the latter, for example, in a case involving solar heating panels.