The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-24 00:00:00

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Important Decision under the \*#atvv's!,l.
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Local Managem gentgfrif-71--p----41 41.
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At the Highgate Police-cc iu rt yestNay,flV.,r..-J4j
Lake, of The Grove, Highgate, • iv as summoned before
Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Mills, at the instance of the
vestry of the parish of St. Pam cras, to show cause
why he should not pull down a new building he
had erected without the consen t of the Metropolitan
Board of Works or the vestry of St. Pancras.

Mr. W. D. Cooper, the so Ucitor to the vestry,
attended to support the comp's' int, and Mr. Layton,
vestry clerk of Islington, watcl Led the case on behalf
of some of the freeholders of 1 'he Grove.

The facts of the case need sot be given, as they
are fully recapitulated in the j ucigment.

• Mr. Bodkin gave judgment as follows:—This
case comes before us in co nsequt nce of a complaint
made by the vestry of t he pt ,rich of St, Pancras
under the 7th section of the Metropolis Lcc:l
Amendment Act, 1862, agairest7Mr. Lake, for that he
being the owner of a certain be i_diog and erection,
known as No. 1, The Grove, Highgate, did erect
there a certain building beyond rho general line cf
building without the consent of the raietropolitaa
Board of Works, the distance of such line of build-
ing from the highway not exceeding EOft. We have
given the best consideration in our power to what
was urged on either side upon the hearing of this
complaint; and it appears to us that the case on
behalf of the complainants was established without
question. I.; was proved by them, or admitted by
the defendant, that The Grove is within the Metro-
politan district; that the general line of building
has been decided by the superintending architect
to the Metropolitan Board of Works, as set forth
in a certificate duly made and signed by him,
which, with a plan annexed thereto, was laid before
us at the hearing—that the general line of band-
ing is within 50ft. of a high way—that the erection
which is the subject of complaint projects be-
yond such general line, and that it has been
erected without the sanction or the consent in
writing of the Metropolitan Board of Works- The
defendant objected firstly that the road in front of
the houses in " The Grove," and within 50 feet of
the line described as the general line," is a private
road, and not a highway within the meaning of the
75th sectioo of the act in question, and he referred
to section 80, which repeals the proviso of section
106 of the Local Management Act of 1855, as to re-
pairing streets vet being highways, and to sections
105 and 108 of the act of 1862. Secondly,. that
"The Grove," is nit a street, row, or place within
the meaning of the ae'la Thirdly, that the buildings
on an old substructure, and
complained of is erecter:
are raised on walls previously existing ; that there
is no prohibition in the act as to raising a building
except in cases specified in section 89 of the act of
1862, which does not apply to the buildings in
question, but he admitted that a pa,"t of the more
projecting portions of those buildings ie not erected
on any previously existing wall ; and fourthly,
that the Metropolitan Board of Works have no
jurisdiction in this matter; that they have- no power
to deal with an application to erect in his ea se; that
it is not necessary to have their consent in writing
to such erection, and that the application alleged to
have been made by him to the board, was meede
really in consequence of a notification from t tae
builder whom he employed in reference to the struc•e
ture itself, and not in relation to any consent re-
quired for the erection beyond the alleged "general
line." Upon a fall consideration of 11jr. Lake's
objection, and after inspecting the premises, we
consider that "The Grove" is undoubtedly a high-
way within the meaning of the act. It has been for
many years a footway, freely used by the public as a
general and unrestricted thoroughfare ; and as to
the roadway running parallel thereto the inhabi-
tants appear to as to have lost any control which
they may have once had over it by their failure
for more than one year to claim the right of
closing it. Mr. Lake's argument, that the
parish cannot repair it without notice under sec-
tion 106 of the act of 1855, and that no notice of
such intention has ever been given, appears to us to
lean the other way, since it would tend rather to
show that the parish deemed itself liable to repair
without the notice which must be given were it a
private road. But there is really no force in this
argument, since it is not contended that the parish
has ever repaired the road, or intend to do so; the
parochial authorities have asserted their right over
the road in another way, namely, by cleansing and
lighting it ; besides these two, both footway and
road are, in our judgment, undoubtedly streets or
highways, within the meaning of the interpretation
clause of the act of 1855, which (sec. 230) defines
the word " street " to apply to any highway, road.
footway, passage, whether a thoroughfare or not,
ar.e. 2. Tnat " The Grove" is a " row "of houses
within the meaning of the act, although the houses
are not attached one to the other. The words of the
75th section of the act of 1862 are ample to include
such a row of houses as " The Grove." These houses
are not semi-detached villas, or are at a considerable
distance from each other, and from the road within
their own grounds, and which in that case it is pre-
sumed might be altered according to the tastes of
their respective owners, without prejudice to the
public interests: 3. And with reference to the only
substantial objection by the defendant, that the
buildings are not sew buildings, but the alteration
of existing ones, we consider that the projections
complained of are manifestly separated into two
distinct buildings, and must be separated, as they
are differently circumstanced. There is first the
projecting portion of a three story building, adjoin-
ing, the house, the ground-floor story of which has
been built a considerable time, probably for many
years. The defendant has added thereto, or raised, a
superstructure of two floors, and we conceived that
he was fully justified in doing this without the con-
sent of the Metropolitan board of Works, the juris-
diction of the board being limited to new buildings
only, it appeared to us that the word " raise,"
used in one part of the 75th section of the act
of 1862 must be construed to mean " erect," and not
"heighten." The other part of the projection, viz.,
the two buildings in front of the three-storied
erection stands in very different circumstances.
This is entirely a new building, erected, except a
very small portion, on the north side upon an en-
tirely new foundation, and covering ground the
greater portion of which was previously uncovered.
We are of opinion, therefore, that the present is a
building within the meaning of the act, and that it
has been erected beyond a "general line," within 50
feet from a highway, and without the consent in
writing of the Metropolitan Board of Works ; and
that the defendant's fourth objection
is untenable.
We therefore determine that the said
complaint,s
so
far as it relates to the low buildings be-
yond the three storied portion, is projecting
proved to our sa-
tisfaction, and we order that the defendant do demo-
lish so much of the buildings complained of which
are beyond the " general line,"
and is comprised in
the projecting low buildings in front of the three-
storied building, and that he do pay the costs in-
curred.

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