Healy v Thorne

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Common Pleas Division (Ireland)
• Judgment Date: 18 June 1870
• Date: 18 June 1870

Com. Pleas.

HEALY

and

THORNE

In re Belfast Dock Act I. R. 1 Eq. 128.

Duke of Beaufort v. SwanseaENR 3 Ex. 413.

Attorney-General v. JonesENR 2 H. & C. 347.

Calmady v. RoweENR 6 C. B. 861, 880.

Chad v. TilsedENR 2 Br. & B. 403.

Howe v. Stawell Alc. & Nap. 348.

Patent from the Crown — Islands — User.

Von. IV.] COMMON LAW SERIES. A patent of James I. granted the Priory of Holmpatrick, &c., and also the four islands to the said Priory belonging, &a.; to wit, the island called Shen-nick, containing three acres, &c. ; and the patent further used large general words granting wreck of the sea, flotsam, jetsam, &c., and all the appurteÂnances, &c., to the said Priory belonging. Held, that these words, coupled with proof of enjoyment for seventy years of the foreshore, by letting to tenants to take seaweed, &c., were sufficient evidence to support a finding that the shore passed under the grant. THIS was an action of trespass brought by the Plaintiff, alleging, in the first count, a trespass by the Defendant on the Plaintiff's close, on the seashore of Shennick Island, in the Co. Dublin ; the second count was for trover and conversion by Defendant of Plaintiff's goods : to wit, a quantity of seaweed. The Defendant pleaded a traverse of the seashore or the seaweed being the Plaintiff's, and several special defences. The case was tried before Mr. Justice Keogh. It appeared on the evidence at the trial that, by patent of King James I., dated the 30th of June, 1605, the Priory of Holmpatrick, situate at Skerries, together with several islands, was granted to the Earl of Thomond ; and that his descendant, by a conveyance, dated the 21st of January, 1721, conveyed to John Hamilton, the ancestor of the present Ion T. Hamilton. That the Plaintiff was the tenant of Mr. Hamilton for the sea-shore of Shennick Island, from which the seaweed was taken. It was proved by the witnesses that, for eighty years past, the seaÂshore of Shennick Island between high and low water was rented from the Hamilton family, and receipts going as far back as 1811 were produced ; that the several tenants of the Hamilton family were in possession of the seashore, which appeared to consist of rocks, by cutting the seaweed growing upon it ; and the witnesses for the Plaintiff proved that no one attempted to cut the seaweed or take it away except by stealth, until the occasion which gave rise to this action, and which was in July, 1869. (1) Before the full Court. 496 THE IRISH REPORTS. The...