A matter of authority but not of principle: acquisition by lessees of easements by long enjoyment

Abstract

Lord Millett, sitting as a judge of Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal, has examined and dissected two long-standing rules of English law concerning the acquisition of rights of way and other easements by long enjoyment and found them to be devoid of principle. His lordship declared that these rules were not part of the common law of Hong Kong and suggested that, were they now to be considered by the highest court of the United Kingdom, they would not be upheld as part of the common law of England.