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25 October 2013 / Mair Coombes Davies
Issue: 7581 / Categories: Features , Property , ADR
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A fresh approach

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ADR in property disputes is a new way to solve an old problem proposes Mair Coombes Davies

There is nothing quite like an argument over who owns the last 6 inches of land to bring out the fighting spirit. It and other property disputes have tested the skills of some of the most astute minds in law and arbitration.

For example, in 1559 Sir Robert Dudley and Sir William Cordell, Master of the Rolls, were appointed by the court to arbitrate between three heiresses to Edward Griffith’s landed estate in Caernarfonshire and Anglesey and the male heir in a dispute which had festered for some six years (“Disputes and settlements in Medieval Wales: the role of Arbitration”, English Historical Review No.CCCCXXI October 1991). However, by 7 December 1559 the parties had entered into recognisances binding themselves to “stande, to obey and bide the awarde, order, judgement and dome” of the two arbitrators. Despite their efforts towards “a loving and friendly end”, the arbitrators found the disputants “so precisely addicted and bent to their

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A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
The winners of the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026 have now been announced, marking another outstanding celebration of excellence, innovation, and impact across the legal profession
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
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