Some Of The Oddest Property Law Precedents

Property being as fascinating as it is, commercial property solicitors often look at a broad scope of situations and previous legal precedents are used as a basis to determine how a court’s decision is likely to end up. 

 

Because people are unique, and anybody can file a legal case for any reason, you see a range of bizarre cases that are used as precedents to this very day. 

 

Here are some of the oddest and yet very important legal precedents in property law. 

Also known as the chancel liability case, this 2003 case changed conveyancing and created the entire field of chancel liability insurance for the few unfortunate property owners who had property on former church land. 

 

It concerned Andrew and Gail Wallbank, who were given a £100,000 demand to fund repairs of the medieval church of Aston Cantlow, which ended with the parochial church council winning and a £350,000 bill for the Wallbanks to pay. 

 

To this day, conveyancers still perform chancel liability checks to ensure that buyers do not receive an unexpected bill later down the line. 

Known as the Cricket Case, Mr and Mrs Miller had bought a property near Lintz cricket ground, a small field where cricket had been played for 70 years. They sued to try and prevent cricket from being played there after seeing a few balls land in their back garden. 

 

Whilst the case is interesting for having the injunction denied, it also included one of the most famous openings to a judgement in British legal history, with such lines as “the animals did not mind the cricket”. 

 

In the end, the Millers moved house, and the Lintz Cricket Club continued to play. 

Known also as the Pepsi Points case and an important, hilarious case that highlighted the limits of where a legitimate contract ends and advertising puffery begins. 

 

Much like the amazing Miller v Jackson case, the court transcript has some fantastic moments, 

 

including the point where it was pointed out that the 7m Pepsi Points translated to $700,000, which was a mere 3 per cent of the original price. 

 

The best line is where the “callow youth” depicted in the advert is described as a “highly improbable pilot” and that no reasonable person could have believed the offer was legitimate.