Maude and Others v Murphy and Others

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 20 April 1934
• Date: 20 April 1934
• Docket Number: (1931. No. 348 P.)
• Court: High Court (Irish Free State)

[Meredith, J., I.F.S.]

Maude and Others

and

Murphy and Others

Claim disputed by tenant-purchasers under the Land Acts - Holdings purchased abutting on portion of Lough Melvin - Presumption that bed and soil of Lough ad medium filum passed - Whether presumption applicable to holdings purchased under Land Acts - Purchase agreements - Construction- Boundaries - "Pink Schedule" -Folio - Registration map - Local Registration of Title (Ir.) Act, 1891 (54 55 Vict. c. 66), s. 55.

The tenants of a certain estate in County Leitrim, whose holdings adjoined Lough Melvin, purchased their holdings under the Land Acts of 1903 and 1904. After the sales had been completed and the holdings vested in the tenants and their titles registered pursuant to the Local Registration of Title (Ir.) Act, 1891, they challenged the right of the representatives of their former landlord to the exclusive right of fishing for salmon and trout in that part of the Lough opposite their holdings, relying (inter alia) on the presumption of law that on a conveyance of land adjoining a non-tidal river (or lake) half of the bed of the river (or lake) passes by the conveyance. They contended that by virtue of the purchase agreements, vesting orders thereon, and the said registration, the...