11. The Defences Question

This chapter examines land law's priority rules, conceptualized as the defences question. Priority rules refer to a set of rules that determine the circumstances in which a property right held by one party (B) against another party's title (A) can be enforced when A transfers the title to a third party (C) or grants a mortgage over the title to C as security for a loan. The chapter considers the circumstances in which C has a defence against B's claim to priority, focusing on priority rules that apply in registered land. It also discusses the specific rules provided in the Land Registration Act 2002 for registered dispositions of registered estates for valuable consideration and two defences that operate outside the provisions of the Act; the defence of consent and overreaching.

10. Freehold Covenants

This chapter examines the proprietary effect of covenants relating to freehold land as agreements that can be enforced against subsequent owners of the servient land by subsequent owners of the dominant land. It first considers the terminology and structure used to create freehold covenants relating to land before discussing the enforceability of the burden of freehold covenants to define who can sue for breach of covenant. It then looks at indirect enforcement of positive obligations and explains how freehold covenants relate to the acquisition and defences questions. It also analyses the entitlement to the benefit of freehold covenants to define who can sue for breach of covenant, the common remedies for breach of a freehold covenant, and the statutory jurisdiction to alter outdated covenants. Finally, it evaluates a number of proposals to reform the law governing land covenants.

9. Easements

This chapter examines easements and how they relate to the content, acquisition and defences questions. Easement refers to the right of a landowner to enjoy a limited use of neighbouring land. An essential feature of an easement is the need for two pieces of land: the dominant land to which the benefit of the easement is attached and the servient land over which the easement is exercised. This chapter considers the four defining characteristics of an easement: there must be two distinct areas of land — dominant land and servient land; the dominant and servient land must be owned by diffrent people; the easement must ‘accommodate’ the dominant land; and the right must be capable of forming the subject matter of a grant. It also discusses the express creation vs. implied creation of an easement, along with defences that can defeat an easement.

2. Human Rights

This chapter explores the impact of human rights upon property rights and relations, with particular emphasis on Article 1 Protocol 1 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which has been incorporated into English domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998. It first provides a background on the particular jurisprudence of human rights reasoning before discussing the import of Article 1 Protocol 1, in protecting possessions, and Article 8, in requiring respect for the home. The focus is on home repossession (Article 8), protection against discrimination (Article 14), and right to a fair trial (Article 6). It also considers adjudication under the Human Rights Act 1998, along with the justification formula developed by the Strasbourg Court and how it operates in the context of the particular human rights that relate to land. Finally, it examines the so-called vertical effect and horizontal effect.

12. Concepts and Contexts

This chapter explores some of the wider issues raised by the rules applying to private rights to use land, along with the nature of the challenges faced by judges and Parliament when deciding how best to develop those rules. It begins by discussing the importance of concepts and contexts in land law, as well as the tension between concepts and contexts and the effect of different judicial approaches to land law. It then considers the relative merits of judicial and legislative reform of land law and goes on to examine the impact of statutory reform, particularly of registration statutes, in land law. It also assesses the impact of human rights and regulation on land law, citing the Supreme Court ruling in Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd (2015), before concluding with an analysis of the role of non-doctrinal approaches in evaluating land law.

8. Mortgages and Security Interests in Land

This chapter examines the law governing security interests that can exist in land, with particular emphasis on the legal charge by way of mortgage in the social setting of home ownership. It first considers the four different types of security interest that can exist in land — the pledge, the lien, the mortgage, and the equitable charge — before discussing the equity of redemption and its significance into the realm of the legal charge by way of mortgage. It then explains the rights and powers of the lender on the enforcement of the security and the ways in which the law seeks to protect the borrower as the more vulnerable party during the course of the mortgage transaction. It also explores the principle of procedural fairness in transactions involving surety mortgages, focusing on the concept of undue influence, and concludes with an analysis of regulatory control of mortgage terms.

7. Leases

This chapter deals with leases and how they relate to the content, acquisition, and defences questions. It first considers the distinction between a lease and a licence, noting that such a distinction reflects the most fundamental distinction in land law: between a property right and a personal right. It then tackles the content question by focusing on the concept of exclusive possession, the requirement that a lease must have a certain term, the nature of a ‘Bruton lease’, the question of rent, and the intention to create legal relations. It also examines the acquisition question by explaining how leases may be created or transferred, and the defences question by distinguishing between legal leases and equitable leases. Finally, it discusses the nature and operation of leasehold covenants as well as the use of leases in the ownership of flats.

5. The Acquisition of Equitable Interests

This chapter considers the acquisition question in relation to certain equitable interests, and more specifically the principal circumstances in which equitable property rights can be acquired. The discussion is centred on equitable interests that arise under a trust and on those acquired through the doctrine of proprietary estoppel. Equitable interests that arise under a trust are also known as beneficial interests. Interests that exist under a trust are necessarily equitable, but not all equitable interests require a trust. The chapter first considers how a beneficial interest under a trust can be acquired and how express trusts of land are created before turning to the acquisition of beneficial interests through resulting and constructive trusts. It then describes four types of constructive trust and goes on to explain the doctrine of anticipation. It also assesses the relationship between proprietary estoppel and constructive trusts.

3. Personal Rights and Property Rights

This chapter examines property rights in land and personal rights that may allow a party to make a particular use of land. It first considers the distinction between personal rights and property rights before addressing the content question: whether the type of right claimed by a party counts as a property right. To answer that question, a distinction is made between different types of property right. The most important distinction is between legal property rights, on the one hand, and equitable property rights, on the other. The chapter also discusses licences to use land and contrasts their operation and effect with those of property rights in land. It highlights the nature of licences and the controversy over contractual and estoppel licences and concludes with an analysis of the relationship between the law of leases and of licence.

1. What is Land Law?

This chapter introduces the reader to land law and explains why land law is studied at all. It also tackles three fundamental questions that are used to understand and structure the often complex rules encountered in land law: the content, acquisition, and defences questions. Three specific case law examples are discussed: National Provincial Bank v Ainsworth (1965), Williams & Glyn's Bank v Boland (1981), and City of London Building Society v Flegg (1988). Other topics covered in this chapter include: the importance of the statutory framework established by the Law of Property Act 1925 and the Land Registration Act 2002; the focus of land law on private rights to use land; the key distinction between personal rights and property rights; the importance of equitable rules and of statute in shaping land law; and the key role played by land registration in modern land law.