The Estate of George Harding, Owner, John Julian, Petitioner

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 12 January 1874
• Date: 12 January 1874
• Court: Incumbered Estates Court (Ireland)

L. E. Court.

IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF GEORGE HARDING,

OWNER,

JOHN JULIAN,

PETITIONER.

Bright v. WalkerENRUNK 1 Cr. M. & R. 211. [S. C. 4 Tyrw. 508.]

Palk v. Shinner 18 Q. B. 568.

Wilson v. StanleyUNK 12 Ir. C. L. R. 345.

Easement — User — Prescriptive right — Renewable leasehold — Fee-farm grant —

620 THE IRISH REPORTS. [I. R. L. E. Court. IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF GEORGE HARDING, 1873. - OWNER, JOHN JULIAN, PETITIONER. Easement-User-Prescriptive right-Renewable leasehold-Fee farmgrant The Prescription Act. Uninterrupted user, for thirty years next before 1873, of an easement (waterÂÂÂing cattle) over lands held under a lease for lives renewable for ever which, in 1865, was converted into a fee-farm grant under " The Renewable Leasehold Conversion Act" :-Held, that the time during which the lands were held under the lease should be excluded in the computation of the prescriptive period, and that, therefore, no right to the easement had. been acquired under the PreÂÂÂscription Act. MoTioN to dispose of an objection to the final notice to tenants, filed by one Ellen Meara, widow (an occupying tenant of lands adjoining the lands ordered to be sold in this matter) (1), who claimed a right which she stated by affidavit she, or she and her late husband, had exercised without interruption for upwards of thirty years, to water cattle at a watering-place marked " disÂÂÂputed" on the map of the premises. The premises were held under a fee-farm grant dated the 4th of February, 1865, previously to which date they had been held by the same owner under a lease for lives renewable for ever. Mr. E. H. Kelly, for the Petitioner.-Previously to the year 1865 these lands were held under a lease for lives renewable for ever; therefore there can be no prescription against the fee ; and under the 2 & 3 Wm. 4, c. 71, no title is gained by a user which does not permanently affect the fee : Bright v. Walker (2). Mr. G. Perry, for the objecting tenant.-In Bright v. Walker the question was as to the exclusion of a tenancy for life, but here the question is as to the exclusion of a tenancy for lives renewable (1) [That a tenant cannot by user v. Mifatt, L. R. 4 Ch. App. 133.] acquire a right to an easement over (2) 1 Cr. M. & R. 211. [S. C. 4 the land of his landlord, see Gayford Tyrw. 508.] VoL. VIII.] EQUITY SERIES. 621 for ever, which a statute converts into a tenancy in fee. The lease for L. E. Court lives renewable for ever, under...