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NLJ this week: Forgotten farm files hold key to land disputes

18 July 2025
Issue: 8125 / Categories: Legal News , Expert Witness , Property , Landlord&tenant
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Overlooked wartime agricultural records can resolve modern land access disputes: Professor John Martin of the Museum of English Rural Life sheds light on this valuable but little used resource in this week's NLJ

He points to the National Farm Survey (1941–43) and War Agricultural Executive Committee (WAEC) files as rich sources of data on land use, ownership and farm conditions. These records, held at the National Archives and county record offices, offer detailed insights into land management and farmer competence—often missing from oral histories or modern documentation.

Martin urges legal professionals to explore these archives, including the Museum of English Rural Life’s collections and Dudley Stamp’s Land Utilisation maps. With many records now digitising, these sources could prove decisive in contentious cases. Despite their value, they remain underused.

Martin’s call is clear: dig into the archives—because the past may hold the answers to today’s land law puzzles.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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