Roadstone Ltd v Commissioner of Valuation

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1962
• Date: 01 January 1962
• Court: Supreme Court

Roadstone Ltd. v. Commissioner of Valuation

ROADSTONE LIMITED

Appellants

and

The COMMISSIONER OF VALUATION, Respondent (1)

Supreme Court.

Rates - Rating - Annual value - Quarry - Whether quarry "land" within the meaning of the Valuation Acts - Whether quarry a separate hereditament from the land comprising it - Net annual value - Whether output of stone relevant to determination of net annual value - Whether evidence of price of similar land containing stone conclusive as to rent to be expected - Method of valuation of land containing quarry - Case stated - Poor Relief (Ir.) Act, 1838 (1 & 2 Vict., c. 56), ss. 63, 64, 67 - Valuation (Ir.) Act, 1852 (15 & 16 Vict., c. 63), ss. 10, 11, 12, 15, 29, 30 - Valuation (Ir.) Act,1854 (17 & 18 Vict., c. 8), ss. 4 and 5.

Roadstone Limited (hereinafter referred to as "the Company") bought certain lands in County Kildare for £16,000. The Company redeemed the land annuity issuing out of the lands for £700 and became the full owners free of any rent or charge. At the time of the purchase the lands were ordinary agricultural lands but contained greenstone in large quantities and this was the chief reason for the Company acquiring the lands. The Company opened a large quarry thereon and operated it. When purchased, part of the lands designated as Carrick were shown in the "land" column of the valuation list as containing 56 a., 1 r., 3 p., with a valuation of £9. In 1952 the relevant entry was 51 a., 1 r., 3 p., with a valuation of £8., and 5 acres were shown as "waste" in the same column with no valuation attached. In 1953 the words, "land and quarry," were added. The land was shown as valued at £8, but in the miscellaneous column was entered the sum of £800 in respect of the quarry. The total valuation was shown as £808. Against this valuation the Company appealed to the Circuit Court and the Circuit Court Judge stated a consultative case under s. 16 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1947, for the opinion of the Supreme Court. The Case Stated raised the following questions:—

(1) Should the valuation of the quarry hereditament be made upon an estimate of the net annual value thereof as being land within the meaning of s. 11 of the Valuation (Ireland) Act, 1852?

(2) Is the quarry on the quarry hereditament to be treated as a separate hereditament from the land comprising the quarry hereditament, namely as a profit to be had or received or taken out of land, or as an addition to the value of the hereditament consisting of the said land?

(3) Is evidence of the output of raw stone from the quarry hereditament admissible to determine the said net annual value?

(4) Is the direct evidence of the price for which similar land containing stone can be obtained conclusive as to the rent which a tenant would be expected to pay and, therefore, conclusive as to the net annual value of the quarry hereditament?

Held by the Supreme Court that the above questions should be answered as follows:—

(1) No, except in so far as portions of the quarry hereditament are used for agricultural or pastoral purposes;

(2) That portion of the quarry hereditament which is being used as a quarry must be valued as a separate hereditament on the basis laid down by s. 64 of the 1838 Act;

(3) Yes, but only in as much as the amount of stone expected to be extracted might be an element which would influence a tenant and a landlord in arriving at a rent, and, as such, to be considered in connection with all the other elements which would affect the final bargain as to the rent to be paid;

(4) The evidence of the price, or rent, for which similar stone can be obtained is not conclusive as to the rent which a tenant would be expected to pay, but is an element in arriving at a conclusion as to what such rent would be likely to be.

Case Stated under the provisions of s. 16 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1947, by the Circuit Court Judge of the Eastern Circuit (Judge Fawsitt).

The Case Stated was as follows:—

"This is a Case Stated by me, Diarmaid Fawsitt, sitting as Judge of the Eastern Circuit at Naas in the County of Kildare, pursuant to s. 16 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1947 (No. 20 of 1947), in the appeal in the title hereof, for the opinion of the Supreme Court.

1. There is pending before me a matter, namely, an appeal by the above named appellants against the revised valuation of the properties set out in the title hereof of which the appellants are the rated occupiers upon the grounds that the said valuations are excesive." [A copy of the appellants' notice of appeal and a copy of a certified extract from the valuation lists for the year ended the 28th February, 1954, were incorporated with, and formed part of, the Case Stated]. "At the hearing of this appeal that part of the appeal which refers to the houses, workshops, tarmac plant, etc. on the lands of Pluckerstown in the Electoral Division of Rathernan and County of Kildare was withdrawn and there is now before me only that part of the appeal which relates to the revised valuation of the hereditament decribed in the valuation list as 'Quarry and Land' on the lands of Carrick, Electoral Division of Rathernan and County of Kildare, which is hereinafter described as 'the quarry hereditament.'

During the hearing of the appeal herein, before me, the documents set out in the schedule hereto were produced and are incorporated herewith.

Schedule of Documents.

(a) The relevant certified extracts from the valuation list for the year ended the 28th February, 1954.

(b) The certificate of incorporation under the Companies Acts of the appellant Company.

(c) A map showing the lands the subject of the appeal.

(d) Four photographs of the quarry face and Hill of Allen.

3. The appellants are a limited liability company having their registered offices at Naas Road in the County of Dublin. The appellants carry on the business of the extraction and processing of stone, gravel and sand, for the purposes of roadmaking, road repairing and similar purposes. For the purposes of their business the said Company own and occupy certain land situate at the Hill of Allen in the Electoral Division of Rathernan and County of Kildare, which said lands include the quarry hereditament." [A map of all the lands owned and occupied by the appellant Company on the Hill of Allen accompanied and formed part of the Case Stated.]

4. The following facts were either proved or admitted at the hearing of the appeal before me:—

(a) The quarry hereditament which is the subject of Folio 9793 of the Register of Freeholders for the County of Kildare was purchased by the appellant Company subject to an annuity payable to the Irish Land Commission for the sum of £1,600 in the month of July, 1949, from one, Thomas Flood, and the said annuity was subsequently redeemed for the sum of £700. The lands comprised part of the lands of Pluckerstown containing 42 acres 2 roods 12 perches and part of the lands of Carrick containing 56 acres 1 rood 3 perches. The appellants are registered as full owners of the said lands the subject of Folio 9793. At the time of the purchase the vendor was aware of the existence of greenstone in the lands, and that the land was being purchased for the extraction of the stone. Prior to the purchase of the quarry hereditaments by the appellants they had acquired other land on the other side of the Hill of Allen from the quarry hereditament and were thereon carrying on quarrying operations on a small scale. In the year 1953 after the extraction of stone from the quarry hereditament had been in progress for four years, other areas of land containing greenstone in quality and quantity similar to that in the quarry hereditament were purchased by the appellants in the immediate vicinity of the quarry hereditament for prices varying from £20 per acre to £25 per acre. No rent is reserved in respect of the lands forming the quarry hereditament nor is any royalty paid by the appellants on or in respect of the stone being quarried and extracted therefrom.

(b) On the quarry hereditament the appellants are quarrying rock therefrom by means of blasting operations and removing the rocks so quarried by them to the adjoining lands of Pluckerstown upon which are situated all the appellants' manufacturing premises which are named in the title hereto, and in respect of which a separate rateable valuation is fixed. The stone so removed from the said manufacturing premises was converted thereat into road metal and tarmacadam.

(c) No part of the manufacturing premises of the appellants was situated upon the quarry hereditament, nor are there any buildings of any nature whatsoever situated upon the said lands, nor is there any roadway laid down from the quarry face to the manufacturing premises.

(d) The quarry hereditament at Carrick is used solely for the purpose of obtaining greenstone by blasting for subsequent converting into road making and repairing materials. The stone when taken from the quarry hereditament at Pluckerstown is in a unprocessed and raw state.

(e) The lands of Pluckerstown upon which the manufacturing premises of the appellants are situated are marked pink on the map" [which was incorporated with the Case Stated] "and the buildings thereon are indicated by the word, 'plant.' The quarry hereditament adjoins and is to the south-east of the said lands of Pluckerstown and the quarry face is shown thereon. That part of the lands marked pink upon which appear the words, 'quarry face,' which are enclosed by the red line form the quarry hereditament.

(f) No works of improvement, development or construction whatsoever have been carried out upon the quarry hereditament. The only work done by the appellants has been the quarrying of the greenstone which lies beneath a thin layer of soil on the Hill of Allen, which forms part of the quarry hereditament.

(g) The stone found in the Hill of Allen on the lands of Carrick is a greenstone which is very common and may be...