SUPREME COURT TO HEAR APPEAL IN R (LEWIS) V REDCAR AND CLEVELAND BOROUGH COUNCIL

 The Supreme Court has granted permission to Mr Lewis to appeal against the Court of Appeal's controversial decision on prescriptive acquisition of rights, in the context of the Commons Act 2006. The hearing will take place in the week beginning 18^th January 2010.

The Court of Appeal held that the common law test of user ‘as of right' meant more than simply user ‘without force, secrecy or permission' (nec vi, nec clam nec precario) and that it was also necessary to consider whether "user is such as to give the outward appearance to the reasonable landowner that the user is being asserted and claimed as of right". That decision has significant implications for the law governing acquisition of private rights such as easements, and public rights such as rights of way and village green registration.

Charles George Q.C. and Jeremy Pike appear for the Appellant, Kevin Lewis, instructed by Irwin Mitchell LLP