289 APPENDIX. ANNO SECUNDO ET TERTIO GULIELMI IV. REGIS. CAP. LXXI. An Act for shortening the Time of Prescription in certain Cases. [1st August, 1832.] WHEREAS the expression "time immemorial, or time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," is now by the law of England in many cases considered to include and denote the whole period of time from the reign of King Richard the First, whereby the title to matters that have been long enjoyed is sometimes defeated by showing the commencement of such enjoyment, which is in many cases productive of inconvenience and injustice; for remedy thereof, be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that no claim which may be lawfully made at the common law, custom, prescription, or grant, to any right common or other profit or benefit to be taken and à prendre, not by of Claims to right of common and other profits to be defeated years' enjoy enjoyed from or upon any land of our sovereign after thirty lord the King, his heirs or successors, or any land ment by showing the commence ment; being parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster or of the Duchy of Cornwall, or of any ecclesiastical or lay person, or body corporate, except such matters and things as are herein specially provided for, and except tithes, rent, and services, shall, where such right, profit, or benefit shall have been actually taken and enjoyed by any person claiming right thereto without interruption for the full period of thirty years, be defeated or destroyed by showing only that such right, profit, or benefit was first taken or enjoyed at any time prior to such period of thirty years, but nevertheless such claim may be defeated in any other way by which the same is now liable to be defeated; and when such right, years' enjoy profit, or benefit shall have been so taken and enjoyed as aforesaid for the full period of sixty years, the right thereto shall be deemed absolute and indefeasible, unless it shall appear that the same was taken and enjoyed by some consent or agreement expressly made or given for that purpose by deed or writing. after sixty ment the right to be absolute, unless had by consent or agreement. In claims of right of way or other easement the twenty years and forty years. II. And be it further enacted, that no claim which may be lawfully made at the common law, periods to be by custom, prescription, or grant, to any way or other easement, or to any watercourse, or the use of any water, to be enjoyed or derived upon, over, or from any land or water of our said lord the King, his heirs or successors, or being parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster or of the Duchy of Cornwall, or being the property of any ecclesiastical or lay person, or body corporate, when such way or other matter as herein last before mentioned shall have been actually enjoyed by any person claiming right thereto without interruption for the full period of twenty years, shall be defeated or destroyed by showing only that such way or other matter was first enjoyed at any time prior to such period of twenty years, but nevertheless such claim may be defeated in any other way by which the same is now liable to be defeated; and where such way or other matter as herein last before mentioned shall have been so enjoyed as aforesaid for the full period of forty years, the right thereto shall be deemed absolute and indefeasible, unless it shall appear that the same was enjoyed by some consent or agreement expressly given or made for that purpose by deed or writing. 20 years in unless shown by consent. III. And be it further enacted, that when the Claim to the use of light access and use of light to and for any dwelling enjoyed for house, workshop, or other building shall have been defeasible, actually enjoyed therewith for the full period of to have been twenty years without interruption, the right thereto shall be deemed absolute and indefeasible, any local usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding, unless it shall appear that the same was enjoyed by some consent or agreement expressly made or given for that purpose by deed or writing. tioned periods IV. And be it further enacted, that each of the Before-menrespective periods of years herein-before mentioned to be deemed shall be deemed and taken to be the period next before some suit or action wherein the claim or those next before suits for claims to which such periods matter to which such period may relate shall have relate. In actions on the case may allege his right generally, as at present. the same shall have been or shall be submitted to or acquiesced in for one year after the party interrupted shall have had or shall have notice thereof, and of the person making or authorising the same to be made. V. And be it further enacted, that in all actions the claimant upon the case and other pleadings, wherein the party claiming may now by law allege his right generally, without averring the existence of such right from time immemorial, such general allegation shall still be deemed sufficient, and if the same shall be denied, all and every the matters in this Act mentioned and provided, which shall be applicable to the case, shall be admissible in evidence to sustain or rebut such allegation; and that in all pleadings to actions of trespass, and in all other pleadings wherein before party used to the passing of this Act it would have been necessary to allege the right to have existed from time immemorial, it shall be sufficient to allege the enjoyment tioned in this thereof as of right by the occupiers of the tenement In pleas to trespass and other plead ings, where allege his claim from time imme morial, the period men Act may be alleged; and in respect whereof the same is claimed for and exceptions or other matters to be replied during such of the periods mentioned in this Act as specially. may be applicable to the case, and without claiming in the name or right of the owner of the fee, as is now usually done; and if the other party shall intend to rely on any proviso, exception, incapacity, disability, contract, agreement, or other matter herein-before mentioned, or on any cause or matter of fact or of law not inconsistent with the simple fact of enjoyment, the same shall be specially alleged and set forth in answer to the allegation of the party claiming, and shall not be received in evidence |