Philip Brelsford and 3 others v Providence Estate Ltd and another (Montserrat)
[2022] UKPC 46
Under Saint Lucia's Torrens system, registration confers title. Rights acquired by prescription before the system's implementation are not automatically recognized unless a claim was made during the initial registration process.
Land Adjudication Act 1984 & Land Registration Act 1984
Article 2103A of the Saint Lucia Civil Code allows acquisition of immovable property title by 30 years' uninterrupted possession.
Saint Lucia Civil Code, Article 2103A
Overriding interests, including rights in the process of being acquired by prescription, are recognized under the LRA, but only for possession commencing *after* the introduction of the Torrens system unless a claim was made during the LRTP.
Land Registration Act 1984, Section 28(f)
Proprietary rights can only be removed by clear statutory wording (principle of legality).
R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex p Pierson [1998] AC 539; R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex p Simms [2000] 2 AC 115
Appeal dismissed.
The court found that the legislative scheme was clear and comprehensive, requiring claims to be made during the LRTP to protect any interest in land, including those in the process of being acquired by prescription. Failure to make a claim extinguished pre-1987 possessory rights.
[2022] UKPC 46
[2023] UKPC 31
[2024] UKUT 14 (LC)
[2024] UKUT 57 (LC)
[2023] EWHC 3337 (Ch)