1868 GRANT with the soil under the river, as in the rates are mentioned, or of any rateable property whatsoever, unless and so far only as the facts hereinbefore stated may, in the opinion of the Court, LOCAL BOARD. make them such owner or occupier of the whole or any part thereof, and liable to be rated in respect of such ownership or occupation. V. OXFORD 13. No such barge, landing stage, platform, post, or other thing connected therewith as mentioned in the rates, have, or has at any time been assessed to rates for the relief of the poor, nor has any part of the property in this case above mentioned been at any time taxed, rated, or assessed in any manner or for any purpose whatsoever. The appellant contends-1. That the property rated is not liable to be rated or assessed. 2. That the club is not the owner or occupier of the land or soil, or of anything connected therewith. 3. That there is not, and cannot be, any such occupation or right to occupy the posts, landing stage, platform, floating barge, house boat, and other things connected therewith, or any part thereof so standing and being in and upon the highway, as to render the same rateable property or the club liable to be rated in respect thereof. The question for the opinion of the Court is, whether the club, or any member thereof, is liable upon the above statement to be rated for the whole or any, and if any, what portion of the property described in the rates. Nov. 11. Maule, Q.C. (H. R. Clarke and Davenport with him), for the appellant, contended that the University Boat Club had no property in the soil of the bed of the river or in the post, and that the mere fact of attaching their boat to the post did not make them rateable: Williams v. Jones (1); Watkins v. Overseers of Milton-next-Gravesend. (2) Nov. 14. Mellish, Q.C. (J. O. Griffits with him), for the respondents, contended that the boat club having used the post for twenty years could not take advantage of their own wrong, and say they were trespassers and not occupiers, and that to hold that (1) 12 East, 346. (2) Law Rep. 3 Q. B. 350. they were not rateable, would be inconsistent with all the authorities: Reg. v. Leith (1); Reg. v. Forest (2); Electric Telegraph Company v. Overseers of Salford (3); Reg. v. Morrison. (4) COCKBURN, C.J. I think our judgment should be for the appellant, and I rest my opinion upon extremely narrow grounds. It does not appear to me to be necessary to consider the decisions upon this subject; as I do not think any of the cases are in point, because all the decisions in which matters like the present have been held to be rateable rest upon occupation. A rate can only be made on an occupier. It is not necessary in the present case to decide whether a person occupying a post or any other form of permanent landing place in a river, and attaching barges thereto, and allowing other persons for profit to attach barges thereto, is or is not rateable. It appears to me in this case the proof of occupation altogether fails; and it is, therefore, unnecessary to consider whether, if it had been established that the boat club were occupiers, it would follow that this particular description of landing place and means of access from the shore to the barge, and the barge with it, were rateable or not; it is unnecessary to decide that. It seems to me that there is nothing to shew that the posts are not at the present moment in the occupation of the owners of the soil. The posts have been permanently fixed in the soil; how they came to be fixed, by whom or by what authority, does not appear; whether it was by permission of the owners of the soil or not, we do not know, or whether it was a mere act of encroachment and trespass. But there is nothing to satisfy me that the University Boat Club have the exclusive enjoyment of these posts in them. I see nothing which at all satisfies me that if any other person, navigating that part of the river, were minded to treat these posts as a mere mooring place in the bed of the river for the general convenience and accommodation of the public, and came and attached other barges or vessels to one of these posts, or did any other act which might interfere with (1) 1 E. & B. 121; 21 L. J. (M.C.) 119. (2) 8 E. & B. 890; 27 L. J. (M.C.) 14. 96. (3) 11 Ex. 181; 24 L. J. (M.C.) 146. 1868 GRANT v. OXFORD LOCAL BOARD. 1868 GRANT v. OXFORD the assumed enjoyment or occupation of these posts on the part of the boat club, the boat club would have a remedy by action of trespass or otherwise against the persons so interfering with this LOCAL BOARD. assumed right on their part. There does not seem to be any exclusive occupation in the club, and inasmuch as exclusive occupation must necessarily be the foundation of their rateability, it seems to me it would be wrong in this case to say that this property in their hands is capable of being rated. HANNEN, J. I am of the same opinion. The substance of the thing is this, that the University Boat Club occupy a floating boat, the particular place where it is is a mere accident, and has nothing to do with the substantial enjoyment which they have of that boat; it is simply because it is not worth any one's while to require them to move away from that place, that they have continued in the same place for a good number of years. Then it is said that they occupied the posts, and in that sense it is argued that the attachment of the boat to the posts is ancillary to the enjoyment and occupation of the posts. It is obvious that nothing can be more artificial than such reasoning, and I do not think it is sound, because I think that the use made of these posts is not changed from the first hour when the boat was tied to it, in whatever way it may have been, whether by rope or by a chain; the thing became more permanent from nobody thinking it necessary to require the boat to be removed away from its place. By fixing rings round them the character of the use of the posts seems to me to remain just the same as it was at first; it is simply a means by which a floating boat is attached to a projection from the soil of the river. It seems to me on the facts stated no exclusive right to these posts has been obtained, and that anybody else may come and tie their boats to the posts in the same way as this University boat is attached to them. For these reasons I think that our judgment must be for the appellant. HAYES, J. I entirely agree in the plain, clear, and concise view which has been taken by my Lord and my Brother Hannen, that judgment must be given for the appellant. I think the cases have gone quite far enough in deciding that things which are 1868 GRANT v. OXFORD substantially chattels are rateable as real property. This boat is a chattel, and it would certainly be a strong thing to say that it could be rated as real property, such as a tenement or an hereditament, unless there is a clear case of occupation, an occupation LOCAL BOARD. of something which is firmly and permanently affixed or attached to the soil itself; therefore it seems to me there is no ground for this rating. Judgment for the appellant. Attorneys for appellant: Davies, Son, Campbell, & Reeves. THE QUEEN, ON THE PROSECUTION OF THE OVERSEERS OF GREEN- Poor-rate-Beneficial Occupation-Sewers, Wharf, Engine-house, Pumping Station, Rateability of. The Metropolitan Board of Works were empowered by 21 & 22 Vict. c. 104, and other statutes, to make the necessary sewers and works for the improvement of the main drainage of the metropolis. The sewers, except at the pumping stations, passed under the public highways of the metropolis, or under land on which the board had no property. The pumping stations were erected upon land the property of the board, but were used solely as part of the main drainage scheme. The board were also in occupation of a wharf, lay-by for barges, tramways, engine houses, coal sheds, and dwelling house, all of which were occupied for the purposes of the main drainage scheme. The board derived no pecuniary advantage from the sewers and other drainage works, but the whole were maintained out of funds raised by a rate made in pursuance of the statutes: Held, that the sewers were not rateable to the poor-rate, on the ground that they were not the subject of a beneficial occupation; but that the rest of the property had an occupation value, and the board were rateable in respect of them, as there was nothing in the statutes exempting them from rateability. ON appeal to the quarter sessions of the western division of Kent against a poor-rate and a general rate made by the overseers of the parish of Greenwich, in accordance with a valuation list made by the vestry of that parish, the sessions confirmed the rate, subject to the opinion of the Court upon the following case : Νου. 25. 1. The appellants are the Metropolitan Board of Works, constituted and incorporated by 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120 (amended by 19 & 20 Vict. c. 112, 21 & 22 Vict. c. 104, and 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, 26 & 27 Vict. c. 68, and 28 Vict. c. 19), for the local management of the metropolis in respect of the sewerage and drainage, and the paving, cleaning, lighting, and improvements thereof. 2. The respondents are the churchwardens and overseers of the parish of Greenwich, and under 9 Geo. 4, c. xliii., have power to levy certain rates for the relief of the poor, and for general purposes within the parish. (1) 3. By s. 135 of 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, it was enacted that the main sewers then vested in the Commissioners of Sewers of the city of London, and in the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers respectively, with the walls, defences, banks, outlets, sluices, flaps, pen (1) 9 Geo. 4, c. xliii. s. 20:-"Once in every year, or oftener, it shall be lawful for the churchwardens, overseers, and parishioners assembled at a vestry meeting, to make rates upon all persons who shall occupy, hold, or use any houses, buildings, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or possess any rateable property within the said parish; that is to say, one rate for defraying the expenses of maintaining and employing the poor of the said parish, and all other expenses relating thereto; and one other rate. . . for the maintaining of the highways," &c. |