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25 February 2010 / Carl Calvert
Issue: 7406 / Categories: Features , Expert Witness , Profession
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Best laid plans

Is there appropriate certainty in mapping boundaries? asks Carl Calvert

Describing what land is bought and sold is often well understood at the very onset of subdivision of land but as one parcel is carved from another and buildings appear, sometimes close, sometimes touching, sometimes far away, the description of that land may fail to describe the legal estate in that land. To assist matters it has often been the practice of placing a deed plan with the deed as an indication or description of the land.

Construing a conveyance is a matter of law: Sara Colin in Boundaries and Easements, p 9, says there is sufficient authority for the parcels clause to be construed together with the conveyance plan and not each in isolation. In Wiggington & Milner v Winster Engineering 1978]1 WLR 1462, [1978] 3 All ER 43 Buckley LJ stated that the court must “…have a regard to the conveyance as a whole”.

Sometimes the plan is no better than a crumpled toffee paper while in other cases the plan

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Haynes Boone—Jeremy Cross

Haynes Boone—Jeremy Cross

Firm strengthens global fund finance practice with London partner hire.

DWF—Stephen Webb

DWF—Stephen Webb

Partner and head of national planning team appointed

mfg Solicitors—Nick Little

mfg Solicitors—Nick Little

Corporate team expands in Birmingham with partner hire

NEWS
Contract damages are usually assessed at the date of breach—but not always. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Gascoigne, knowledge lawyer at LexisNexis, examines the growing body of cases where courts have allowed later events to reshape compensation
The Supreme Court has restored ‘doctrinal coherence’ to unfair prejudice litigation, writes Natalie Quinlivan, partner at Fieldfisher LLP, in this week' NLJ
The High Court’s refusal to recognise a prolific sperm donor as a child’s legal parent has highlighted the risks of informal conception arrangements, according to Liam Hurren, associate at Kingsley Napley, in NLJ this week
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Mazur may have settled questions around litigation supervision, but the profession should not simply ‘move on’, argues Jennifer Coupland, CEO of CILEX, in this week's NLJ
A simple phrase like ‘subject to references’ may not protect employers as much as they think. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, analyses recent employment cases showing how conditional job offers can still create binding contracts
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