Fraser & Anor v Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance & Anor, Court of Appeal - Chancery Division, May 14, 2003, [2003] EWHC 1075 (Ch)

Reporting Judge: [2003] EWHC 1075 (Ch)

President: Fraser & Anor v Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance & Anor

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Fraser & Anor v Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance & Anor, Court of Appeal - Chancery Division, May 14, 2003, [2003] EWHC 1075 (Ch)

Case No: HC01C02805

Neutral Citation No: 2003 EWHC 1075 (CH)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

CHANCERY DIVISION

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Date: 14th May 2003

Before :

THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE LEWISON

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Between :

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Mr. Christopher Nugee QC and Mr. Thomas Baxendale

(instructed by William Blakeney) for the Claimants

Mr. Vivian Chapman (instructed by Furley Page) for the First Defendants

Hearing dates : 6th, 7th, & 8th May 2003

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Approved Judgment

I direct that pursuant to CPR PD 39A para 6.1 no official shorthand note shall be taken of this Judgement and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic.

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Mr. Justice Lewison

Mr. Justice Lewison:

Introduction

1. St Philips School, Maidstone was opened in 1863. A Church of England School was run on the same site until its closure in 1995. The land on which the school was situated was the subject of a conveyance made under the School Sites Act 1841. Under section 2 of that Act a reverter of the land takes place if the land ceases to be used for the purposes for which the land was conveyed. The Reverter of Sites Act 1987 abolished reverter, but substituted a trust mechanism. However, the substitution did not apply to titles that had become statute barred before the coming into force of that Act.

2. On 28 January 2002 Master Bowles ordered the trial of a preliminary issue. The issue I have to determine is whether a reverter took place before 17 August 1975, that is to say more than twelve years before the coming into force of the 1987 Act. If it did, then the Claimants' title is statute barred. If it did not, then subject to proof that they are the successors to the original grantors, they are entitled to t...

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